On Thursday, April 12th, 2007, this in the HNC Birding Report: EARED GREBE WESTERN GREBE
New Migrants! Blue-winged Teal Black-crowned Night Heron Lesser Yellowlegs House Wren Palm Warbler Wood Duck Green-winged Teal Red-breasted Merganser Ring-necked Pheasant Common Loon Pied-billed Grebe Horned Grebe (leucistic) Red-necked Grebe Turkey Vulture Osprey Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Peregrine Falcon Sandhill Crane Glaucous Gull Caspian Tern Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Eastern Phoebe Northern Shrike Tree Swallow Brown Creeper Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Hermit Thrush Brown Thrasher American Pipit Eastern Towhee Fox Sparrow Song Sparrow Swamp Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco A cool Easter weekend hampered efforts for birds to continue to move north. The big story again in the HSA was the capability of a five grebe day with both the EARED GREBE at Grimsby Sewage Lagoons and WESTERN GREBE at the end of West Street in Oakville, sticking around all weekend. The last report of these birds were last Monday. They might still be around. Along with the WESTERN GREBE down at Bronte Harbour was a distant Glaucous Gull, many Red-breasted Mergansers, two Common Loons, many Red-necked Grebes, and a really neat find, a leucistic Horned Grebe. This little ghost in the water is worth a look at and can be seen on the OFO site this week. http://www.ofo.ca/photos/ In the EARED GREBE's neighbourhood, many Pied-billed Grebes were present at the lagoons this week and up the mountain at the quarry located between 10th Road and 11th Road East, as many as six were present. Up at Beamer Conservation Area in Grimsby at the Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch, things have been a little slow with persistent north winds and rainy conditions this week. Turkey Vultures continue to move through along with a smattering of Sharp-shinned, Coopers and Red-tailed Hawks. The feeders however are busy there with many Dark-eyed Juncos, Fox Sparrows (which seem to be abundant this year), Song Sparrows and a Brown Thrasher. Migrating Common Loons, Wood Duck, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Phoebe and Golden Crowned Kinglet were also seen in the week. Following the peregrines this week has been difficult with Madame X located down at the Sheraton Hotel keeping close to the nest in the cold damp weather. As of this week there are three and possibly four eggs in the nest. The birds can be viewed on http://www.hamiltonnature.org/hamfalcam.html. All the lakeshore properties such as Shoreacres/Paletta Park in Burlington and Shell Park in Oakville seem to have birds present. Large numbers of Fox Sparrows are present in Shell Park along with Winter Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Brown Creeper and as a surprise two PALM WARBLERS were hanging out on the west side of the Creek last weekend. Down at Shoreacres, the same mix of species (less Palm Warbler) were present along with a drake Wood Duck, a few Black-crowned Night Herons, a few Eastern Phoebes, Hermit Thrush and two Swamp Sparrows. Another excellent early find this week was a HOUSE WREN singing in a backyard in Brantford today. Lots to report in the odds and sods (because I can't figure out how to tie them all in). Six American Pipits were seen near Raspberry House last weekend. Another pipit was seen on a front yard in the Walker's Line and New Street area, just far enough away to leave it off my yard list. A Blue-winged Teal was seen with many Green-winged Teal in a flooded field near Powerline Road and 5th Road East last Sunday. An Osprey seems to be setting up shop at the Valley Inn. More Caspian Terns were seen here as well. A Ring-necked Pheasant was seen on Concession 2 near Brantford and five Sandhill Cranes flew over a house in the Brantford/Paris Area. Two Lesser Yellowlegs were present in Spencer Creek on the west side of the Middletown Road bridge, our only sighting of migrant shorebirds this week. A Common Raven was seen at the intersection of Brock Road and 5th Concession in Flamborough and another one was seen in the quarry near Mt. Nemo bordered by Guelph Line, Cedar Springs Road and Colling Road. Tree Swallows have been reported from the Dundas Marsh Area and unfortunately many tree swallows from various parts of the southern regions of the HSA are being reported dead, likely from lack of food in this cold spring. A Northern Shrike was seen and photographed on 5th concession near Brock Road in Flamborough. Now is a good time to look for those Loggerheads mixed in! The weather has to get warmer or many of us are going to start migrating south. Hopefully the break in the weather over the next couple of days pushes some more new migrants into the area. Send your reports here! Have a great week. Cheryl Edgecombe HNC Hotline 905-381-0329
