On Thursday, July 27th, 2006, this is the HNC birding report: Pied-billed Grebe Red-necked Grebe Great Blue Heron Great Egret Black-crowned Night-Heron American Wigeon Osprey Bald Eagle Peregrine Falcon Killdeer Lesser Yellowlegs Solitary Sandpiper Spotted Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper American Woodcock Caspian Tern Common Tern Eastern Screech-Owl Eastern Wood Pewee Willow Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Cliff Swallow Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Brown Thrasher Cedar Waxwing Blue-winged Warbler Common Yellowthroat Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Song Sparrow Eastern Meadowlark Baltimore Oriole
Hot unstable weather seems to have made for quiet birding this week. Thunderstorms have driven up the water levels in some of the storm ponds making it hard for shorebirds to wade so the report is a little weaker in the shorebird department. Smithville Sewage Lagoons last Saturday had Pied-billed Grebe, Killdeer, Lesser Yellowlegs, Solitary Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper and Pectoral Sandpiper. The Stilt Sandpipers seem to have left area. At Grimsby Sewage Lagoons, the water is high however attractive for American Wigeon, Caspian Tern, and 18 Great Blue Herons. On the way into the lagoons two American Woodcock were flushed from the path. The vegetation is extremely high here, bring your machete!!! A couple of sightings for the week which are of note, two Ospreys were seen in the week perhaps on a migratory path, one over a yard in Dundas and the other over downtown Hamilton moving toward the Binbrook Area. Great Egret sightings have also been more numerous this week with four being seen in the Dundas Marsh and one at the Dundas Hydro Ponds, one flew by Canada Centre for Inland Waters and one has been seen in the Valley Inn area for the past week. Also seen in the Dundas Marsh and Dundas Hydro Ponds a number of Black-crowned Night Herons both adult and juvenile. Time to look out for those Yellow-crowned Night Herons!!! (make sure you call the hotline, I need this for Hamilton!) A couple of Bald Eagle sightings reported in the week. A Bald Eagle was reported in the Dartnall Road area of Hamilton and another juvenile was seen over Courtcliffe Park in Carlisle. Also reported from Courtcliffe park, Great Blue Heron, Eastern Kingbird, Eastern Wood Pewee, Willow Flycatcher, Great Crested flycatcher, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Cedar Waxwing, Eastern Meadowlark, Common Yellowthroat, Blue-winged Warbler, Field, Song, Savannah and Chipping Sparrow, and Baltimore Oriole. Today at LaSalle Marina, the Common Tern colony seems to be doing well however the whole colony flushed today as a Peregrine Falcon came flying over the rock islands and eventually perched in a tree along the shore. At Bronte Harbour, the Red-necked Grebes are nesting again with a pair building a nest behind a boat named the Pisces and another nest with five eggs is located in the floating tire. In the odds & sods this week a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was seen in a yard in Dundas perhaps an early migrant, a family group of Great Crested Flycatchers was seen beating a cicada into a tree trunk for a nice tasty meal, swallows have been seen congregating on the lakeshore with Cliff Swallows checking out the new tower at Confederation Park, a small colony of Cliff Swallows are also at the Valley Inn Bridge, a Brown Thrasher was seen and a Least Flycatcher was photographed at the Hopkins Tract, an Eastern Towhee was seen on the rail trail near Mineral Springs and Binkley Road and an Eastern Screech Owl family was reported from a yard again near Walkers Line and New Street area of Burlington. That's the report for the week, many of the birds above have been around this summer but are becoming more active as breeding season is over for some. Time to get out there and look for these and other birds which may be soon on the move. Have a great week, good birding, Cheryl Edgecombe HNC Hotline 905-381-0329
