I ventured down to Rouge Park this morning around 9 am hoping to see the great egret posted yesterday and was immediately rewarded with 4 egrets feeding on the north side of the pond. Hoping to get at least 1 very far away picture, I again was rewarded with 1 egret who flew directly at me then landed in the water for great pictures. A group of geese sent him back to the other side where he rejoined the other 3 as well as a great blue heron which was now there. There were ducks on the pond (which I did not ID) and 1 lonely cormorant. Arlene Brazeau Toronto
Directions to Rouge: Exit the 401 at Port Union Rd (last stop leaving Toronto going East) go south to Lawrence, turn left which is east and follow Lawrence to where it ends. You have now arrived at Rouge Park. Good Luck! From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sat Aug 27 18:12:47 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from web88003.mail.re2.yahoo.com (web88003.mail.re2.yahoo.com [206.190.37.190]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 8387B63D20 for <[email protected]>; Sat, 27 Aug 2005 18:12:47 -0400 (EDT) Received: (qmail 47423 invoked by uid 60001); 27 Aug 2005 22:15:58 -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=gnyHydnUfm5j6++Y033r5n9vCm4AC4OSj6E8s8nx7Uc1BVCD+FIK3uK8cIY66pAhleWXrRve6jSOvv30CAGgHAvCG7A0IgpEoM0tnJ7TpYiO7wy5V+DKq9+ltOf1OAEBuETImbnrxCJumTDxq6TGcTHH70A3kDd9C5DBeVB7anY ; Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Received: from [70.28.198.240] by web88003.mail.re2.yahoo.com via HTTP; Sat, 27 Aug 2005 18:15:58 EDT Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 18:15:58 -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]Amherst Island Birds X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 22:12:47 -0000 I squeezed in some birding at the KFN property both today and yesterday (though ostensibly there for an anniversary getaway with my wife at the Poplar Dell B&B). My hopes of finding a reported Baird's sandpiper took me well out to the easternmost shoals of the island, but I did not see that species. Consolation came in the form of one molting adult BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, one AMERICAN COOT, one juvenile SANDERLING, two juvenile PECTORAL SANDPIPERS, two juvenile SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS, six SEMIPALMATED PLOVER and five LESSER YELLOWLEGS. There were also a lot of Caspian Terns, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpipers and several peeps moving around; the latter all appeared to be Least Sandpipers. There was also one AMERICAN BITTERN and one juvenile BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON at the KFN property yesterday (at the first ponds). There were also several Osprey, Red-tailed Hawks and Northern Harriers in the eastern part of the island. Although my wife and I cycled past the Owl Woods we did not actually go into it so I can't say how it was. There was certainly no shortage of passerine activity in the trees along the southeastern shoreline; with only a few short stops I saw several warblers, especially American Redstarts. On Saturday a helpful trio of Kingston birders told me where to look for shorebirds on the KFN property; they had just observed a MERLIN and had seen the Baird's. This morning an older, wiser Kingston birder reminded me to get back to my wife if I wanted to enjoy subsequent anniversaries on the island. Ron Fleming, Newmarket DIRECTIONS (as per Bruce Ripley): Directions To Amherst Island - Ontario Road Atlas, MapArt Publishing [Pg. 36, E54 & E55] Located 18 km. west of Kingston. Exit off Hwy. 401 at exit 593 (County Rd. 4, Camden East) and drive south to the very end (Millhaven). Turn right on Hwy. 33 and drive 100 metres until you see the sign for the Amherst Island ferry. The ferry (20 minute trip) leaves the mainland on the half hour and leaves the island on the hour. Cost is $5.00 Canadian round trip. There are no gas stations on the island. There are restrooms on the ferry, and at the island ferry dock. The East End K.F.N. property is at the easternmost part of the island on the east side of the Lower Forty Foot Road. To reach the Owl Woods, turn left (east) at the four-way stop sign by the general store and drive 3.4 km along Front Rd. to the (seasonal) Marshall Forty-Foot Rd. Marshall Forty-Foot Rd. is across the road from house #2320. Drive along Marshall Rd. to the mid-way point, where there is an "S" in the road (1.2 km, look for the K.F.N. kiosk). Park in the gravel lane or off the road edge. The chickadees can be hand fed. The Fishing Village (Emeric Point) is at the south-west tip of the island.
