Fine specimen of a winter adult Thayers gull in mixed flock of Herring and Ring-billed gulls at Reesor Pond this afternoon - also one adult Iceland gull - the pond lies just N of Hwy 407 on Reesor Road in Markham - cheers - Stan Long From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Feb 23 07:21:12 2007 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from fep1.cogeco.net (smtp.cogeco.net [216.221.81.25]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CA595638F0 for <[email protected]>; Fri, 23 Feb 2007 07:21:11 -0500 (EST) Received: from videoedge (d141-150-198.home.cgocable.net [24.141.150.198]) by fep1.cogeco.net (Postfix) with SMTP id 2D8B11ADD; Fri, 23 Feb 2007 07:21:12 -0500 (EST) From: "Cheryl Edgecombe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 07:21:11 -0500 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Cogeco Webmail - complaints to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ( 24.141.150.198 - [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) X-Original-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] X-Originating-IP: 24.141.150.198 Importance: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2869 cc: Dagmar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Ontbirds] Hamilton Naturalists Club Birding Report - Friday, February 23rd, 2007 X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 12:21:12 -0000
On Friday, February 23, 2007 this is the HNC Birding report: GREAT BLUE HERON SANDHILL CRANE WILSONS SNIPE COMMON RAVEN YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER SAVANNAH SPARROW RUSTY BLACKBIRD American Wigeon Northern Pintail Redhead Ring-necked Duck Lesser Scaup Bufflehead Hooded Merganser Common Merganser Ruddy Duck Ring-necked Pheasant Red-throated Loon Turkey Vulture Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Rough-legged Hawk Merlin Northern Saw-whet Owl Short-eared Owl Long-eared Owl Northern Shrike Tufted Titmouse Carolina Wren Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Hermit Thrush Brown Thrasher Eastern Towhee White-crowned Sparrow Snow Bunting Brow-headed Cowbird As we come to the last weekend of winter birding, the weather has warmed a bit and birds are moving about again. This week a few different wintering birds were seen in the area to add to winter lists. I will start with these highlights. The SANDHILL CRANE present for quite some time is still present at the corner of Miles Road and Airport Road near the Hamilton airport as of last weekend. An very hardy overwintering GREAT BLUE HERON was seen on Derry Road just west of Bronte. A YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER was a nice surprise at a feeder in the Middletown Road and 5th Concession area. This bird has been present since Sunday A WILSONS SNIPE made a flyby past the offices of Canada Centre for Inland Waters on Tuesday. COMMON RAVENS, known to nest in the area last year, were found at Lynden Road just north of 4th concession last Saturday. On Britannia Road just east of 5th Line, two SAVANNAH SPARROWS were flushed from the road. On Eighth Line in the same area, just south of Britannia Road, four White-crowned Sparrows were seen and a RUSTY BLACKBIRD was found at the Desjardins Canal. TURKEY VULTURES were seen in two areas this week, six at a farm near Smithville and six more near the bridge at Cayuga. These may be overwintering birds but may be a few brave soldiers that wandered up during the brief warm spell that we had on Tuesday. Down at LaSalle Park this week, two American Wigeon have been playing hide and seek with some and posing for gripping pictures for others. A Northern Pintail was also seen here during the week on the quickly disappearing ice. A number of Bald Eagles have been seen from here out on the ice on the bay. Carolina Wren, Winter Wren, Brown Thrasher and Eastern Towhee are also present here this week. Another hotspot for ducks is the Windermere Basin where Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, White-winged Scoter, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, Common Merganser and Ruddy Ducks are enjoying the open water. Hawks and owls are in the area in numbers this week. Long eared owls seem to be in numbers here this winter with various reports of these birds in yards. One lucky family this week in East Hamilton near the Windermere Basin peered out the back window only to have one sitting on their barbeque and another one landed in a back yard in the Chatham and Dundurn Area of Hamilton. In Bronte Creek Provincial Park 29+ were found on the west side of the park and 16+ were found in the campground on the east side. Also on this east side, one Northern Saw-whet Owl was found and a Ruffed Grouse was found in this unlikely area. Short-Eared Owls were seen flying at dusk on Kohler Road east of Cayuga. Rough-legged Hawks both light and dark morphs have been seen in significant numbers throughout the area with five present in a field on Lynden Road just north of Fourth Concession where the Common Ravens were seen. A Northern Harrier was seen at King Road and the North Service Road. A Merlin was seen crossing Walkers Line just north of New Street and a Peregrine made a pass through a murder of crows at the Linc and Upper James. Lots to report in the odds and sods this week. Three male pheasants were seen on the Dofasco Trail between 8th and 10th Road East. A fair sized group of Brown Headed Cowbirds were seen at a feeder on Green Mountain and 8th Road East. Another Northern Shrike was seen at Elm Tree Road east of Sawmill Road and on 10th Road East. A Red-throated Loon made a fly by at Fifty Point. A group of 4-500 Snow Buntings were seen on Side Road No. 1 west of Tremaine along with a very hungry Northern Shrike. A Hermit Thrush and Golden-crowned Kinglet were interesting wintering birds in the Patterson Tract on 4th Concession west of Woodhill Road where White-winged Crossbills were seen a couple of weeks ago and another Eastern Towhee visited a yard in the Appleby Line and Lakeshore Road area again this week. This week marks the start of the Niagara Peninsula Hawk Watch up at Beamer Conservation Area in Grimsby. This is the unofficial start to migration here in Hamilton so on days of south winds, come up and have a look! Thats the news for this week, please report your sightings this week, winter listing is coming to an end and we are expecting that migration in its early stages will pick up soon! Have a great week. Cheryl Edgecombe HNC Hotline 905-381-0329
