On Thursday, April 13th, 2006 this is the HNC Birding Report: SNOWY EGRET
New Migrants! BROAD-WINGED HAWK FORSTER'S TERN NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW PINE WARBLER FIELD SPARROW CHIPPING SPARROW SAVANNAH SPARROW Common Loon Red-necked Grebe Great Blue Heron Great Egret Black-crowned Night-Heron Turkey Vulture Wood Duck American Wigeon American Black Duck Mallard Blue-winged Teal Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail Green-winged Teal Osprey Sharp-shinned Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk Rough-legged Hawk Golden Eagle Merlin Peregrine Falcon Greater Yellowlegs Wilson's Snipe Caspian Tern Belted Kingfisher Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Northern Flicker Eastern Phoebe Brown Creeper Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Hermit Thrush Yellow-rumped Warbler Eastern Towhee Field Sparrow Fox Sparrow Swamp Sparrow Warm breezes from the south have sparked migration once again. This weeks jewel was the sighting of a SNOWY EGRET on the habitat islands seen off of Eastport Drive in Burlington. The bird was present up until 8:00 p.m. last night. In its company many Black-crowned Night Herons roosting in the trees with them. Also here in numbers are Caspian Terns and a couple of times on the bay this week FORSTER'S TERNS have made their debut as they pass through the area. On the bay this week a group of thirty American Coots were seen halfway between Desjardins Canal and Bayfront Park. Also reported from Bayfront Park were Great Egret, Foster's Tern, and a NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW. The Niagara Peninsula Hawk Watch has seen the first of the BROAD-WINGED HAWKS go through this week. I suspect their numbers will pick up over the next few days. Good to watch for the occasional rarity in with these birds. Other birds seen this week were Osprey, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk, Golden Eagle in addition to some non-raptor sightings of Common Loons, Eastern Phoebe, Fox Sparrows, and Eastern Towhee. The NPH has their open house tomorrow. Come up to Beamer Conservation Area and check it out! Up in Saltfleet this week, the ducks continue to be present in the flooded fields between 8th and 10th Road East. American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged and Blue-winged Teal along with a group of six Greater Yellowlegs were seen last weekend. Wilson's Snipe were present in the traditional area of 5th Road East south of Powerline Road. Yesterday at Shoreacres and Tuck Creek, migrants of Northern Flickers (many), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Brown Creeper, Hermit Thrush, Yellow-rumped Warblers and Eastern Towhee seem to have arrived with the warmer weather. On Saturday, a Merlin flew over Shoreacres/Paletta. Wood Ducks were seen there yesterday as well. In the odds & sods this week, today FIELD SPARROWS were seen and heard at the top of Kerns Road near Hwy 5, a CHIPPING SPARROW was seen at the RBG Arboretum, a Great Egret was seen on Harvest Road along with singing Eastern Meadowlarks and SAVANNAH SPARROW, PINE WARBLERS could be heard trilling at LaSalle Park at the end of Waterdown Road. Exciting news for the Peregrine Falcon Watch. Madame X is on 4 eggs at present in downtown Hamilton. Developments can be watched live on the web cam at http://www.hamiltonnature.org/hamfalcam.html. Have a great long weekend. Report your sightings, there could be some interesting finds. Good birding, Cheryl Edgecombe HNC Hotline 905-381-0329
