Maybe it's Friday the 13th or maybe it's the inch of wet snow that has all the trees bent to the ground, but in looking at the reports I have received this week there really isn't much new in the local bird world. The Eurasian Wigeon reported last Tuesday was still present yesterday in Elevator Bay amongst large numbers of Greater Scaup, Ring-necked Ducks, Redheads, and American Wigeon.
The only shorebirds noted were both yellowlegs, Black-bellied Plover and White-rumped Sandpipers on Amherst Island Tuesday. Also on Amherst, the Carolina Wren first found on Sept. 26th near the fishing village at the southwest end of the island was still there on Oct. 10th. Despite several forays no Saw-whet Owls have been found as yet. The numbers of White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows have fallen off or people have stopped mentioning them after the initial influx; however 15 Fox Sparrows on Amherst on Tuesday and a flock of 9 Vesper Sparrows on the Florida Road Wednesday was an interesting change of pace. With this first taste of winter and increasing numbers of waterfowl, the KFN field trip to Wolfe Island this Sunday should prove interesting. Cheers, Peter Good Kingston Field Naturalists 613 378-6605
