Hi All, For those who are still interested.....I just had time to stop by the lagoons on arriving home from T.O. today....and I found the RED KNOT still feeding in the right-hand (western most) cell at about 8:40 pm.
It was getting a bit dark and I didn't have my scope with me so I didn't get to check all the other cells for anything else new. Perhaps tomorrow :) Good Birding! Dave J Brown Mitchell, ON [EMAIL PROTECTED] Directions to Mitchell Lagoons: >From the East (Guelph, Kitchener-Waterloo, GTA) - take Hwy 8 thru Stratford heading west to first lights in Mitchell (Wellington St) and turn left (south) and continue till you hit the "T" intersection at the ball diamond. Lagoon cells are straight back behind the ball diamond and soccer fields and the sewage treatment plant. >From the London area....take Hwy 23 into Mitchell from the south and just after you pass the "Welcome to Mitchell" sign...watch for Frank St...go right on Frank St and head down over the bridge till you get to the ball diamond (will be on your right). Again...the cells are behind the ball diamond and soccer fields. >From Southampton area....take Hwy 21, to Goderich and then Hwy 8 to Clinton and down to Mitchell, turn south on Hwy 23 to Frank St. and turn left on Frank St. and head over the bridge to the ball diamonds (which will be on your right). Walk down the side of the soccer fields to the lagoons behind. From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tue Aug 9 21:17:26 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from web88004.mail.re2.yahoo.com (web88004.mail.re2.yahoo.com [206.190.37.191]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 01D6E63A32 for <[email protected]>; Tue, 9 Aug 2005 21:17:26 -0400 (EDT) Received: (qmail 91683 invoked by uid 60001); 10 Aug 2005 01:26:49 -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=Rg/duYlA48ETRUybM5VaGLGSgPnTnIlF9S9kidG9nwZp3uhSlFMKw665vOprw4UhoRl1n1fYAuUsaSp//3sNLMHrYYAHZGCH3BayXLiajIKIbOuw6ANtO6tjfvmeIM+jL/jFC9l4okpep6XZwIaBIsI5shmoqgrbZkcq8io5T+0 ; Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Received: from [70.28.198.110] by web88004.mail.re2.yahoo.com via HTTP; Tue, 09 Aug 2005 21:26:49 EDT Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 21:26:49 -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]York Region Shorebirds X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 01:17:26 -0000 Although no rare shorebirds have shown up (yet...) in the Newmarket area of York region, there is good shorebird habitat at both the Holland Landing and Schomberg sewage lagoons, both of which have been hosting a decent number of migrant shorebirds since late July. The former site, to date, has offered a slightly higher number of birds due to lower water levels. Visits to both locations today yielded the following: HOLLAND LANDING - Lesser Yellowlegs (65) about a 60/40 juvenile/adult split from what I could tell with an "old" Bushnell scope and "young" molt-identification skills; Pectoral Sandpiper (18); Least Sandpiper (4 juv./2 adult); Spotted Sandpiper (6); Solitary Sandpiper (4); Killdeer (15); Semipalmated Plover (4). There were also numerous Mallards, Canada Geese, a mixed flock of Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal (approx. 60 birds), a dozen Wood Ducks, and 120 Bonaparte's Gulls (most of them adults in prebasic molt). SCHOMBERG - Lesser Yellowlegs (30); Greater Yellowlegs (2); Pectoral Sandpiper (12); Least Sandpiper (15); Semipalmated Sandpiper (8); Spotted Sandpiper (8); Killdeer (15). The Holland Landing lagoons are at the end of Cedar Street in the north part of Holland Landing, accessed by turning east from Yonge Street (look for the white wagon wheels in front of the house on the corner of Yonge and Cedar). Cedar St. is between Doane Road (on the south) and Queensville Sdrd. (on the north). There are four cells, the first two (particularly the second one) offering the best shorebird habitat. You can walk around the whole property by going all the way to the farthest pond, then taking the slightly overgrown (but still quite passable) path south, then turning west along the southern perimeter of the ponds to the also slightly overgrown (but still quite passable) path that goes north and back to the secondary gate. Holland Landing is north of Newmarket and southeast of Bradford. The Schomberg lagoons are west of Hwy. 400. Take Hwy. 9 west to Hwy. 27 (which runs north out of Nobleton). Turn south and take the next left, which is Proctor Road (you will see a "Harvest House" furniture place on the east side of 27). As you approach the end of Proctor, turn right (south) just before the Schomberg Fire Hall. Park out of the way at the bend in the short gravel road. There is a gate, beyond which are three lagoons. The muddy perimeter of the second pond is best for shorebirds. For specific entry suggestions, contact me. If any one happens to try either of these lagoons, I'd be curious to know what you find. Many thanks to Ron Pittiway for his tips on shorebird ID, particularly his excellent article from OFO News in June 1999 entitled "Soutbound Shorebirds". Ron Fleming, Newmarket
