I suppose it's Murphy's Law or some ornithological variation of it that brings the best birds one day after a set field trip. A pleasant hike with members of some local naturalists' clubs in the Newmarket area yielded some good birds but nothing spectacular yesterday: Aurora's Mackenzie Marsh yielded one pair each of Green-winged Teal and Hooded Merganser, four Ring-necked Ducks, an adult male Northern Shoveler and a female Common Merg. There were also several Great-Blue Herons and two tagged Trumpeter Swans (numbers recorded by one of the participants). At the Cawthra-Mulock nature reserve in northwest Newmarket we observed numerous White-crowned and White-throated Sparrows, Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, 80+ Yellow-rumped Warblers, three Blue-headed Vireos, and a Scaup that - after much debate - we concluded was a Lesser/Greater hybrid. In the two hours that we were there we also observed an interesting mix of raptors: Cooper's Hawk (1), Sharp-shinned Hawk (3), Red-tailed Hawk (3), Turkey Vulture (7) and Rough-legged Hawk (1). The best species of the weekend, however, came during a short walk with my teenage son this afternoon. As a means to getting him out of the house and away from excessive "screenage" (i.e. TV, computer, video games) I dragged him out for a hike at the C-M reserve in the late afternoon. We had a Palm Warbler and a few other odds and ends, but nothing special... until the end. On the way back to the car I heard a strange croaking sound, which I initially thought was one of a million bizarre sounds produced by teenage boys, but it was not him. Hearing it again, I thought it sounded like Sandhill Crane. Sure enough, Looking up I saw a flock of 34 Sandhills flying in a loose V-formation southward, roughly following the line of Bathurst Street which is just east of where we stood. This was my first observation of SACR in York Region. Ron Fleming, Newmarket The C-M Reserve is in north Newmarket just north of Green Lane on Bathurst Street.
