On Thursday, April 20th, 2006, this is the HNC Birding Report:
EURASIAN WIGEON New Migrants COMMON MOORHEN SOLITARY SANDPIPER PECTORAL SANDPIPER DUNLIN BLUE-HEADED VIREO NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW BARN SWALLOW BROWN THRASHER CHIPPING SPARROW VESPER SPARROW SAVANNAH SPARROW Pied-billed Grebe Red-throated Loon Osprey Broad-winged Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk Merlin Peregrine Falcon Ruffed Grouse Greater Yellowlegs American Woodcock Bonaparte's Gull Forster's Tern Great Horned Owl Long-eared Owl Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Northern Flicker Eastern Phoebe Tree Swallow Brown Creeper Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird Hermit Thrush Yellow-rumped Warbler Eastern Towhee Field Sparrow Fox Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Purple Finch More migrants this week as we move into the latter part of April. This week the bird of the week was a EURASIAN WIGEON present at the extreme northwest portion of the Hamilton Study Area in Neibauer's Marsh on County Road 32 near Guelph. The bird was last seen on Sunday. While on a futile journey to see this elusive Wigeon on Monday (no bitterness here), I found a COMMON MOORHEN at the back of Mountsberg C.A. on Leslie Street along with Barn Swallow and Eastern Bluebird. Last Sunday was an HNC outing to the LaFarge Trail between 8th and 10th concession in Flamborough. An excellent day for a walk produced several drumming Ruffed Grouse, Broad-winged Hawk, Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglet, VESPER SPARROW, CHIPPING SPARROW, SAVANNAH SPARROW and Purple Finch. The lakefront properties have been slow this week but today the first BLUE-HEADED VIREO was seen in Shell Park along with BROWN THRASHER, NORTHERN ROUGH WINGED SWALLOW, BARN SWALLOW, Great Horned Owl, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Phoebe, Hermit Thrush, Yellow-rumped Warbler, both Kinglets, SAVANNAH SPARROW, Fox Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow. Shoreacres/Paletta Park in Burlington had Eastern Phoebe, Northern Flicker (many), Brown Creeper (many), Winter Wren and Swamp Sparrow. >From the Saltfleet area last weekend, a scan of the flooded fields on 10th Road East produced Greater Yellowlegs, PECTORAL SANDPIPER, DUNLIN and SOLITARY SANDPIPER. A number of Bonaparte's Gull were seen off of Fifty Road and at the Grimsby Sewage Lagoons, two Pied-billed Grebes were present. The Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch has reported Red-shouldered Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Osprey, Peregrine Falcon, Merlin along with BROWN THRASHER and three species of swallows this week. Unfortunately the open house was a bit saugy but a beautiful Golden Eagle was on display for the hundred or so soldiers who came out. In the odds & sods department this week, Forster's Terns were reported from the Desjardins Canal and Bronte Harbour, a Long-eared Owl was seen behind the arena near Ford Drive/Cornwall Rd in Oakville, American Woodcock were seen in the orchard near Cumberland and Harvester, Red-throated Loons were seen migrating over Victoria Park and another pair of Great Horned Owls are also nesting in Kings Forest. This week should be busy, even though rain is forecast for the weekend, no one will melt. Get out there and find the migrants that have dropped!! Report your sightings to the hotline. Good birding, Cheryl Edgecombe 905-381-0329 HNC Hotline
