Good evening. Today Ian Cannell and I headed for the Burlington area to try and find a Bohemian Waxwing or any birds actually.
We first stopped at the Valley Inn area and after parking at the start of the Hendrie Valley trails we walked back and across the bridge heading up the road to the railway tracks. We proceeded up the hill and under the railway bridge where we saw a small flock of Cedar Waxwings land further up the road. We climbed the road to them and they had increased to about 100 birds spread over 3 or 4 trees. With a sigh we started to sort through these birds and at almost the same instant Ian and I spotted a nice Bohemian Waxwing among these birds. Just before heading back down the road to the car we noticed other flocks of Cedars joining the original ones until there were about 300 birds. A nice sight. We now headed under the railway bridge and back down the hill another large flock of Waxwings flew into the trees above us and to our surprise we were looking at a flock of about 100 Bohemian Waxwings. Not a bad haul at all. Other good birds seen in the Valley Inn area were 2 Great Egrets, a large flock of Trumpeter Swans, 3 cackling Geese, N. Shovelers, 5 Killdeer and a singing Carolina Wren. From here we went back up the road to Woodland Cemetery and though we did not find any more Waxwings we did see ( on the harbour ) 14 A. Coots and 16 Ring-necked Ducks and in the trees were 2 Common Redpolls, another Carolina Wren, 3 N. Flickers and overhead and flying west was a N. Harrier, N. Goshawk and a Rough-legged Hawk. Now off we went to the Grays Road area in Stoney Creek and off Grays Road we found the previously reported male Barrow's Goldeneye among the 500 or so Common Goldeneyes as well as all 3 Scoters and off Sayers Park we found a nice raft of about 75 Black Scoters as well as some Surf and White-winged Scoters. Other highlights of our day were an amazing 5000 Bufflehead at the start of the Niagara River in Fort Erie as well as Pied-billed and Horned Grebes and on Peter Street in Chippawa we came up with 3 Tufted Titmice and 2 Red-bellied Woodpeckers among the A. Goldfinches and House Finches. We also noted that along the Niagara River from Fort Erie to Niagara Falls were approx. 500 Bonaparte's Gulls and a few Great black-backed Gulls and finally at Niagara-on-the-lake we did see a N. Mockingbird. DIRECTIONS:- VALLEY INN AREA IN BURLINGTON Exit the QEW Highway at Plains Road East and drive west on Plains past Waterdown / LaSalle Park Roads. About 2km after passing Waterdown you will pass Holy Sepulchre Cemetery on your left. Be sure to be in the left or centre lane and just at the west end of the above cemetery turn left on Spring Gardens Road. Drive past Woodland Cemetery and continue to the bottom of the hill. The mud flats etc. are on your right at the bottom of the hill. The noisy bridge is on your left but you don’t have to cross it. If you are coming from the direction of Dundas on Highway 403 then exit off of 403 at Waterdown Road and drive south to Plains Road East/West. Turn right here and drive past Holy Sepulchre Cemetery on your left. Be sure to be in the left or centre lane and just at the west end of the above cemetery turn left on Spring Gardens Road. Drive past Woodland Cemetery and continue to the bottom of the hill. GRAY ROAD, LAWRENCE SAYER’S PARK & GREEN ROAD IN STONEY CREEK >From the Toronto direction exit the QEW highway at Centenial Parkway on the >south end of the Burlington Skyway. Drive under the QEW and drive a short >distance to the North Service Road, turn right and drive along the Service >Road to Drake Drive (just past the Gray Road overpass). Turn left on Drake and >drive the short distance to Frances Avenue and turn left, drive to Gray Road >and turn right and drive to the lake. Alternately you can turn right at Frances Avenue and drive to Green Road, turn left at Green Road and drive to the lake. For Lawrence Sayer’s Park you can turn right off Gray Road just before you get to the lake and drive to the park (obey the no parking signs here as others have received a ticket). Or you can drive straight down Drake to the park from the Service Road. PETER STREET IN CHIPPAWA ( NIAGARA FALLS AREA ) In Niagara Falls drive upriver along the Niagara Parkway past "The Falls" and the Control Dams until you bump into a Tim Hortons in Chippawa, turn right here ( or go in for a coffee first ) and at the first street ( Chippawa Parkway ), turn left and drive to Peter St. This is a crescent, so drive down to where it doubles back and on the left and in front of you will be 2 houses with a number of feeders. Park here keeping well to the right of the road and watch the show. Be sure to keep an eye out for birds in the woods and overhead. Norm Murr Richmond Hill, ON "Sils mordent, mords les" _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdssetup.php ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdsguide.php
