There has been considerable freeze-up of late and consequently waterfowl numbers are down. With Elevator Bay frozen many ducks have moved into the Dupont lagoon; mostly Mallards, Blacks, Gadwall and Am. Coots but enough of other species to make it worth a look. There was also a large group in the open water at the Wolfe Island ferry dock off Ontario Street. Tundra Swans are trying to hang on; there were 27 on Amherst on Sunday and another 20 on Wolfe on Monday.
Raptor numbers are still good on Wolfe and picking up on Amherst. Forty-six Rough-legs last Saturday was the high for the week on Wolfe and a total of 26 raptors, including 11 Red-tail and 9 Rough-legged Hawks were tallied on Amherst on Sunday. Bald Eagles are now to be expected on almost every outing but 16 on Wolfe last Sunday was impressive. There were also 2 reported from north of the city on Devil Lake. One Short-eared Owl and a Long-eared Owl were seen on Amherst on Sunday, and there is a concentration of Short-eared Owls at the northwest end of Wolfe; 12 birds on the 27th and 10 on the 31st, usually only visible at dusk. There are at least 6 Snowies on Wolfe but none on Amherst. Other sightings included a Merlin at Dupont on Saturday, a Sharp-shinned at Bedford Mills on Sunday and Monday, and A Cooper's on Wolfe last Monday. A flock of 75 Wild Turkeys was seen twice this week on Wolfe and both Wolfe and Amherst had several Ring-necked Pheasants. Finch numbers seem to have picked up; 8 Pine Grosbeaks at an Elginburg feeder yesterday, 29 Evening Grosbeaks last Friday,( the platform feeder wouldn't hold any more) and huge numbers of Common Redpolls, 200 at Camden East on Tuesday and closer to 500 on Wednesday in the windstorm; the trees looked like they had leaves there were so many birds. There were at least 5 Hoaries seen this week amongst the hordes. Miscellaneous sightings for the week included a Brown Creeper at Bedford Mills on Sunday, Am. Robins on Wolfe and both Glaucous and Iceland Gulls at the Violet Dump yesterday. Cheers, Peter Good Kingston Field Naturalists 613 378-6605 _______________________________________________ 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
