Note a membership or day pass is required to be in the Ganraska Forest Follow Doug McRae's Red Crossbill note I thought some might be interested in the finch numbers in the Ganaraska Forest. The seed crop in the Ganaraska Forest was quite heavy this year which has made for good finch numbers. Recently noteable has been a few singing male Pine Siskins and a pair (appeared to be entering a nest) in a Spruce plantation off Carscaden Road. Purple Finches are literally everywhere in and over the forest. Working in there daily since May researching birds it has been remarkeable that they are more common in the hardwood forests than the conifers. The Ironwood and Beech crop was very large last year which is likely the driving factor. Crossbills are less noticeable but are heard a few times a week. A nest and many fledged young were observed in May and June of both Crossbill species but Reds well outnumbered White-winged.
The finches are spread throughout the forest and therefore it is difficult to give directions to any exact location. It is difficult to give locations in the Ganraska Forest anyway. They do seem to be easier to find in the West Forest (Durham County) than the Central Forest (Northumberland County). Also of note has been the large influx of Hooded Warblers there this summer. As the breeeding season for them is coming to an end I don't mind sharing this information but due to the large number of people playing tapes for birds (particularly a Louisiana Waterthrush that appears to have been driven off by people playing tapes after being there for at least 7 years), I will not give direct locations of any of them as they are not only there for our enjoyment. If you are so inclined to look for them they are mostly in the west end of the west forest in the Wilcox Road area. But PLEASE do not play tapes for them, enjoy them acting naturally. Also in the west end of the forest are a few scattered Magnolia Warblers. Early in the morning there are still good numbers of forest birds singing including less common species such as Blackburnian Warblers, Black-throated Blue Warblers and Blue-headed Vireos. These species are all actually quite numerous in the Gnaraska Forest so llok for them anywhere. To get to the Ganraska Forest follow Highway 115 (located east of Oshawa, west of Port Hope) to Durham Regional Road 9. Take Durham regional road 9 east to Cold Springs Camp Road. Follow Cold Springs Camnp Road north for approx. 3kms where you will see a large sign and entrance to the Forest. turn right ande you will be at the gatehouse where you can purchase a permit and get maps. Cold Springs Camp road continues north and is the dividing line between (Durham County = the West Forest and Northumberland County = the Central and East Forests). If you are interested in purchasing a membership you can also enter the forest off Wilcox Road (further north on the 115 than Regional Road 9) and purchase a membership at Ganraska Leathercraft. This is the better entrance birdwise. Good Luck, Ben Walters From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sat Jul 28 15:21:15 2007 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from mail.ebtech.net (sun.ebtech.net [206.186.35.25]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 07613638FB for <[email protected]>; Sat, 28 Jul 2007 15:21:13 -0400 (EDT) Received: by mail.ebtech.net (Postfix, from userid 1001) id EB4C7C8426; Sat, 28 Jul 2007 15:20:34 -0400 (EDT) Received: from mail.ebtech.net (unknown [206.186.35.27]) by mail.ebtech.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id AE4F2C845A for <[email protected]>; Sat, 28 Jul 2007 15:20:34 -0400 (EDT) Received: from oempc (unknown [206.186.152.220]) by mail.ebtech.net (Postfix) with SMTP id 5F1BFC8426 for <[email protected]>; Sat, 28 Jul 2007 15:20:34 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Scott Connop" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2007 15:26:37 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 X-AV-Checked: ClamAV using ClamSMTP X-MailFilter.pl: Execution-Time: 0 seconds X-Mailman-Approved-At: Sat, 28 Jul 2007 17:25:01 -0400 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.1 Subject: [Ontbirds]Re: Ganaraska Forest Finches and Others X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2007 19:21:15 -0000 With respect to Mr. Walters very helpful note on Ganaraska birds, I would like to caution anyone about making unsubstantiated statements about tape/sound use. First of all, playback use should not be necessary because of the species involved and time of year and I always advise birders to avoid using sound unless there is a compelling reason that is more in the bird's interest than disturbance by " conventional " methods. If anyone would like further information on this subject, I have prepared several articles for international magazines on the subject. Please respond off list at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Scott From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sat Jul 28 20:43:19 2007 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from tomts25-srv.bellnexxia.net (tomts25-srv.bellnexxia.net [209.226.175.188]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9059663482 for <[email protected]>; Sat, 28 Jul 2007 20:43:18 -0400 (EDT) Received: from brucedb4u2q8ov ([64.230.80.81]) by tomts25-srv.bellnexxia.netESMTP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> for <[email protected]>; Sat, 28 Jul 2007 20:43:02 -0400 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Bruce Di Labio" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "ontario birds" <[email protected]> Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2007 20:43:07 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.3138 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3138 Subject: [Ontbirds]Ottawa: Shorebirds & migrants X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2007 00:43:20 -0000 Hi Everyone Today, made an early morning visit with my son Ben to the Almonte Sewage Lagoon. There was a good variety of shorebirds in the first cell, closest to the highway. Highlights included 4 ad. Short-billed Dowitcher, 1 ad. Stilt sandpiper, 2 ad. Pectoral Sandpiper, and 12 Wilson's Snipe. We observed 4 juv. Green Herons flying arrived the lagoon. Also, had 36 ad. Semipalmated Sandpiper and 3 Semipalmated Plover. It was interesting,during a heavy down pour, to watched 2 downy Killdeer taking cover under the spread wings of the adult. Good spotting Ben! At dawn this morning, there was lots of activity overhead in Carp with numerous Yellow Warblers and Bobolinks. The male Northern Parula was still singing in the Manitoba Maples, present since July 21st, in our backyard. At the Britannia Conservation Area, there was lots of activity late morning, with 100+ Yellow Warbler, numerous ad./juv. Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole, Scarlet Tanager and American Redstart. At Deschenes Rapids, 14 ad. and 1 juvenile Bonaparte's Gull were observed feeding below the rapids. The water level is still high along the Ottawa River with no exposed mudflats except for a small sand bar at the east end of Andrew Haydon Park (Ottawa Beach). At Shirley's Bay 68 Double-crested Cormorant and 17 Common Tern were observed feeding. good birding, Bruce Directions: Almonte Sewage Lagoon: From Ottawa take Hwy. 417 west to exit 155/March Road and turn left and proceed west through the town of Almonte. At CR29 continue west and watch for the lagoons on the right side of road. If you require additional information, please email me privately. Bruce Di Labio 400 Donald B. Munro Drive P.O.Box 538 Carp,Ontario,K0A 1L0 (613)839-4395 Home (613)715-2571 Cell Di Labio Birding Website Courses and Field Trips http://www3.sympatico.ca/bruce.dilabio/
