Although cold temps had firmed up the muddy surface of Hochreiter Road (east of Bradford/west of Holland Landing) enough to make it driveable this morning, a skin of ice on the flooded fields apparently prompted last weekend's visiting waterfowl to search for open water elsewhere. Only about 50 N. PINTAIL out of a group that exceeded 300 on Sunday afternoon were present today and ALL of the swans from last week (approx. 40 Tundras and 3 Trumpeters) were gone. This left only four GW TEAL, a pair of BUFFLEHEAD, and four BLACK DUCKS to find open water not claimed by the ubiquitous Mallards and Canada Geese. Warmer temps and spring rains may once again set the stage for migrant waterfowl in the weeks ahead, but today the duck show on Hochreiter was quiet. Still, the sun was bright, the sky was blue, and a male RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER gave me an adrenalin jolt by "kwirring" loudly from a tree near the roadside, then flying to an even closer perch to grant me better views. This species is not rare here, but it is not an everyday sight. It is the first I have seen since last autumn. Despite the morning chill, most of the ice in the Holland Landing lagoons turned out to be melted and there were some waterfowl swimming in the first two cells: WOOD DUCK (6), RING-NECKED DUCK (2), COMMON MERGANSER (2), HOODED MERGANSER (2), and - of course - several more Mallards and Canadas. In the trees west of the ponds there was one very vocal PILEATED WOODPECKER and one drumming YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER (my first of the spring). Two BROWN CREEPERS were singing their high, sweet songs from the flooded hardwood bush on the north side. Northeast of this location by 3 or 4 kms, the 2nd Concession (Main Street out of Newmarket) also held some good spring arrivals north of the Queensville Sdrd.: TREE SWALLOW (1), NORTHERN FLICKER (2), NORTHERN HARRIER (1 male), AMERICAN KESTREL (1 female spooking the Killdeer on the sod fields), and a COOPER'S HAWK doing a display flight above the distant trees to the west (scoped, of course). The MacKenzie Marsh in north-central Aurora was also largely free of ice today. Several ducks were there including three pairs of Ring-necks, a pair of Hooded Mergs, and a pair of Common Mergs. The Cawthra Mulock reserve continues to host some transient GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS while Eastern Phoebes were proclaiming territory in three different places. I almost stepped on an AMERICAN WOODCOCK in the woods near the orchard. Turkey Vultures continue to tilt their way across the sky across York region, clearing flight paths for the Broad-wings, Osprey, and other hawks still to come. Ron Fleming, Newmarket Newmarket is halfway between Toronto and Barrie. From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Mar 29 22:25:43 2007 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from fep7.cogeco.net (smtp2.cogeco.ca [216.221.81.29]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 64377634C9 for <[email protected]>; Thu, 29 Mar 2007 21:25:43 -0500 (EST) Received: from videoedge (d141-150-198.home.cgocable.net [24.141.150.198]) by fep7.cogeco.net (Postfix) with SMTP id 20E72108F; Thu, 29 Mar 2007 22:25:44 -0400 (EDT) From: "Cheryl Edgecombe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2007 22:25:31 -0500 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.6604 (9.0.2911.0) Importance: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2869 cc: Dagmar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Ontbirds] Hamilton Naturalists Club Birding Report - Thursday, March 29th, 2007 X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2007 02:25:43 -0000
On Thursday, March 29th, 2007 this is the HNC birding report: OSPREY CASPIAN TERN YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER EASTERN PHOEBE TREE SWALLOW CHIPPING SPARROW FIELD SPARROW Snow Goose Cackling Goose Tundra Swan Wood Duck American Wigeon Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail Green-winged Teal Harlequin Duck Wild Turkey Horned Grebe Turkey Vulture Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Northern Goshawk Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Rough-legged Hawk American Kestrel Peregrine Falcon American Woodcock Sandhill Crane Iceland Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull Long-eared Owl Northern Saw-whet Owl Northern Shrike Tufted Titmouse Brown Creeper Golden-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird Hermit Thrush Eastern Meadowlark Rusty Blackbird Purple Finch What a great time of year, migrants are appearing daily here in the HSA! Among the new migrants appearing this week, the Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch at Beamer Conservation Area recorded its first OSPREY on Monday. Other raptors seen in the week were numerous Turkey Vultures, Bald Eagles, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Northern Goshawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk and American Kestrel. Last Friday was a banner day with over 1500 raptors passing through. Of course there are other birds passing overhead with SNOW GOOSE, Wood Duck, EASTERN PHOEBE, YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER and Eastern Bluebird all being seen this week. Nearby at the area known as Saltfleet, Eastern Meadowlarks have returned to their old haunt on 10th Road East south of Ridge Road. A Northern Shrike is also still lurking about on 10th Road East ready to move north soon. On the next road over 8th Road East a flooded field provided an excellent venue for duck identification last Saturday. In between the corn stalks were hundreds of Canada Geese along with Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler, Wood Duck, Green-winged Teal and American Wigeon mixed in. When the birds took to air there were hundreds of waterfowl filling the skies! Wild Turkey also seem to be flourishing here with a number of mid-sized flocks being seen at various points from 1st Road West to 8th Road East on the mountain. A group of 15 - 20 were seen on 1st Road West along with a Northern Shrike. The earliest record of CASPIAN TERN was recorded this week with a single bird being seen on Wednesday in front of Canada Centre for Inland Waters. Other birds seen here were a first year Iceland Gull and a first year Lesser Black-backed Gull. The number of Ring-billed Gulls and Double-crested Cormorants continues to grow at and astounding rate out here. A number of American Wigeon (52) were present on the harbour last Monday. Many reports of Tundra Swans have also come in this week from various places on the bay and the lake. A couple of other good early migrants to report this week. TREE SWALLOWS were seen on Kirkwall Road and at Merrick Orchard in the Dundas Valley. An early record of FIELD SPARROW was noted at the Jerseyville Rail Trail and a CHIPPING SPARROW was reported in the Dundas area at a feeder. As predicted, American Woodcock numbers have increased this week with birds being heard at the orchard at Cumberland and Harvester, at Rattray Marsh and off of York Road this week. The lakefront properties in Burlington were full of water and birds this week as heavy rains made an interesting walk through both Shoracres/Paletta in Burlington and Shell Park in Oakville. Among migrants seen here were Eastern Phoebe, Brown Creeper and Golden-crowned Kinglet at Shell Park. At Shoreacres, Hermit Thrush, Fox Sparrow and a singing Purple Finch were highlights in the week. In the odds and sods this week, the Peregrine Falcons have been putting on a spectacular show at the two nesting spots that they have in the Hamilton Area. The pair on the lift bridge have been seen in active chase and the pair on the Standard Life Building have been exhibiting mating behaviour as well. A neat link to view our Hamilton birds on the Standard Life Building is http://www.hamiltonnature.org/hamfalcam.html. Check it out to see the progress of Madame X and Serge. Three Sandhill Cranes were calling and seen over southwest Grimsby near Puddicombe Farms on Tuesday. A flock of SNOW GEESE were seen over Woodland Cemetery. At Bronte Creek Provincial Park Long-eared and Northern Saw-whet Owl are still being reported. A Tufted Titmouse was a delight to see at a feeder in a Burlington back yard and over a hundred Rusty Blackbirds were reported from the Middletown Marsh area last weekend. Purple finches and Great Blue Heron were reported passing through the Grand River area of Brantford. That's the news for the week. Keep reporting your sightings. Its going to get busy here at the hotline. Have a great week, Good Birding, Cheryl Edgecombe 905-381-0329
