On Thursday, July 21st, 2005 this is the HNC Birding report: Red-necked Grebe Great Blue Heron Great Egret Osprey American Bittern Lesser Yellowlegs Semipalmated Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Stilt Sandpiper Short-billed Dowitcher Tufted Titmouse Eastern Wood Pewee Acadian Flycatcher Brown Thrasher Rose-breasted Grosbeak Indigo Bunting
Things are still relatively quiet this week in the Hamilton Area however a few more reports of shorebirds in the week gave this report some spice. No capitalized rarities this week however a great find in the week was that of a young American Bittern, well photographed at Grimsby Sewage Lagoons in Stoney Creek. Also present here were about 10 Great Blue Herons and a Stilt Sandpiper. Another hotspot in the Hamilton region is Congestion Ponds, storm ponds located at Guelph Line and the North Service Road. Here this week were Lesser Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper and Short-billed Dowitcher. Other shorebird reports in the week were a Semipalmated Sandpiper on the NE shore of the Harbour and a family of Spotted Sandpipers at Tollgate ponds. Another great sighting in the week was that of a Tufted Titmouse in Caledonia bringing fledglings into feed at a backyard feeder. Truly a great yard bird for the area and an added bonus for the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas records. At Rattray Marsh this week, sightings include, Great Egret, Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs and Red-necked Grebes in numbers out on the lake. Near Borers Falls this week, the Eastern Screech Owls reported in the last two weeks continue to call along with Eastern Wood Pewee, Great Crested Flycatcher, ,Brown Thrasher, Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Indigo Bunting. In the odds and sods department, 2 Ospreys were seen flying over the high level bridge and Acadian Flycatcher was seen at the Spooky Hollow, the HNC property down near Normandale. Thats the scoop for this week, keep up the sightings reports and dont forget to include any breeding evidence for the OBBA. Until next week, good birding. Cheryl Edgecombe HNC Hotline 905-381-0329 From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sat Jul 23 16:08:02 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from web88012.mail.re2.yahoo.com (web88012.mail.re2.yahoo.com [206.190.37.231]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 90D38634B5 for <[email protected]>; Sat, 23 Jul 2005 16:08:01 -0400 (EDT) Received: (qmail 75928 invoked by uid 60001); 23 Jul 2005 20:14:40 -0000 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=rogers.com; h=Message-ID:Received:Date:From:Subject:To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding; b=BzyfqHY3CupoUoniISCUCui0YsXjL1SAfsKMe4sfMomWhkps+9An/JoUMMuXx9FpnwJPDibVReRTMbuMEHnH1kfhqOpgyf4RLa10XT2ZjPeoF9wFSZ2uOiaF7GxpxXvJtnX2GfqYw1inue6TVzQ6xX51n66kaHl5aKoKj8t2b1s ; Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Received: from [70.28.198.110] by web88012.mail.re2.yahoo.com via HTTP; Sat, 23 Jul 2005 16:14:40 EDT Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2005 16:14:40 -0400 (EDT) From: RON FLEMING <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: OFO Bird Sightings <[email protected]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.1 Subject: [Ontbirds]Wasaga Area Birds X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2005 20:08:02 -0000 Just returned from a week at Wasaga Beach, where I squeezed in some birding each morning before the heat and familial responsibilities kicked in (i.e. before my wife and kids woke up). Wednesday at Tiny Marsh I did a full circuit of the 8 km dike trail on my mountain bike. There were at least 40 BLACK TERNS actively feeding over the marsh with several juvenile birds among them. The low water levels offered extensive mud flats for shorebirds on the west side of the marsh; I observed a minimum of 5 LEAST SANDPIPERS, 14 LESSER YELLOWLEGS, 5 SPOTTED SANDPIPERS and 8 SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS. Because of the awkward gymnatistics involved with carrying a spotting scope on my bike I had only binocular views of these birds; there were others farther from me on the west side of the north-south "Trotter" dike trail. I also observed three OSPREY, several PIED-BILLED GREBES (including three young), a pair of AMERICAN BITTERNS, plus numerous Turkey Vultures and Great Blue Herons. Along the east-west "North Carolina" I observed one COMMON LOON, then on the loop back which follows the little canal/creek, I saw a family of WOOD DUCKS and two Belted Kingfishers, one of them a juvenile. At Wasaga that afternoon I rode my bike to Beach 1 in an effort to see the Piping Plover that is (hopefully) nesting there but I could not find it. As consolation I did see several CASPIAN TERNS, a pair of SPOTTED SANDPIPERS and - best of all - a single WHIMBREL. Please note that, if you were to drive a car into the provincial park where this plover has been seen, you would have to pay a rather outrageous $12 to park! Also note that there is a War of 1812 reenactment going on there this weekend and the loud bangs involved might not be conducive to good birding. In an effort to help with some lightly-covered atlassing squares, I spent the early parts of Thursday, Friday and Saturday (today) in the general vicinity of Stayner and Creemore, just southwest of Wasaga Beach. A pleasant surprise was some productive birding near the little town of Randwick, which is directly south of Stayner on Hwy. 42 (Airport Road). Flanking Airport Road east of Randwick is 7th Line EHS and on the west, 5th Line EHS, both of which were very good, especially south of the Mulmur-Nottawasaga Townline. Highlights included several GRASSHOPPER SPARROWS, CLAY-COLOURED SPARROWS, a very vocal (and visible) NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD, some singing WINTER WRENS, several BLACK & WHITE WARBLERS, a single DARK-EYED JUNCO (aren't they supposed to be farther north?), and a juvenile YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER. In the Randwick County Forest on the west side of Hwy. 42 there were - among other birds -several BROWN CREEPERS, OVENBIRDS, BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLERS, a pair of EASTERN TOWHEES, and at least two singing YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS. This morning just southwest of Stayner I observed a pair of PILEATED WOODPECKERS, four WILD TURKEYS, two BROWN THRASHERS and a female NORTHERN HARRIER. Northeast of town, at the Stayner sewage lagoons, there were at least a dozen LESSER YELLOWLEGS, a pair of GREEN HERONS, a pair of BUFFLEHEAD, and a single PIED-BILLED GREBE. Although the water levels were high, the southwestern cell (one of four) seemed to have the best shorebird habitat and held most of the yellowlegs mentioned above. For atlassing purposes this is an excellent time to get out since so many birds are now foraging as "family units"; the Fledged Young rating is there for the upgrading if you get out early, perk up your ears, and keep your eyes peeled. Ron Fleming, Newmarket DIRECTIONS: Tiny Marsh is just northwest of Elmvale and northeast of Wasaga Beach, accessible by taking #29 north from Hwy. 92 right in between those two towns. At Tiny-Flos Concession 1 turn east. Please note that the dike trails described above are, for some reason, closed this weekend. Randwick, as stated, is directly south of Stayner along Hwy. 42 (Airport Road). 7th Line and 5th Line parallel 42 on the east and west, respectively. The Stayner sewage lagoons are accessed by driving north from Stayner on Hwy. 42, then taking 27/28 Sideroad east to Mowat Road. Turn south and drive to the green property marker that says #300. Turn west (right) and follow the lane to the gate. Since I was there today - a Saturday - there was no one around; on a weekday there might be some township workers. From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sat Jul 23 21:47:38 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from BAYC1-PASMTP02.bayc1.hotmail.com (bayc1-pasmtp02.bayc1.hotmail.com [65.54.191.162]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5593E63F53 for <[email protected]>; Sat, 23 Jul 2005 21:47:38 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-Originating-IP: [70.49.19.68] X-Originating-Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Received: from user26e8f47460 ([70.49.19.68]) by BAYC1-PASMTP02.bayc1.hotmail.com over TLS secured channel with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.211); Sat, 23 Jul 2005 18:54:20 -0700 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Karl Egressy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Ontbirds" <[email protected]> Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2005 21:54:15 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_000C_01C58FD1.117C1AD0" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 24 Jul 2005 01:54:20.0518 (UTC) FILETIME=[9B977860:01C58FF2] X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.1 Subject: [Ontbirds]Birding in Pinary P. Park. X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 24 Jul 2005 01:47:39 -0000 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_000C_01C58FD1.117C1AD0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Just got back from a day visit to Pinery Park. The birds were not as vocal as in May, but birding was good as always We still found fifty-two species in a few ours in the morning and early afternoon. We visited two trails, Riverside Trail and Nipissing Trail and a site referred to as Burley Bridge. We were allowed to enter only at 8:00 AM so we missed the productive early hours including the two Yellow-billed Cuckoos, that Maris Apse's party saw at Riverside Park Trail. We enjoyed watching juvenile Great -crested Flycatchers and juvenile Tufted Titmice bagging for food. Canoeing on the channel produced only five Belted Kingfishers and a lonely juvenile Wood Duck. No Great Blue Herons along the channel which was a surprise. In the afternoon we went over to Burley Bridge and had a good look of a BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO right at the bridge. The other highlights at the bridge were a family of one adult and two juvenile BALD EAGLES sitting in the same tree for as long as we stayed, and we stayed long. At the Grand Band Sewage Lagoons we had eleven species of shorebirds if I identified the Baird's Sandpipers correctly. Also there were an amazing amount of Wood Duck duckling in the last cell, probably sixty or more. Have a good birding in Pinery or the place you plan to go to. Karl & Marienna Egressy www.kegressy.com ------=_NextPart_000_000C_01C58FD1.117C1AD0--
