Taking advantage of light winds and relatively warm temperatures, I birded Rattray Marsh this afternoon for three hours and covered virtually all the trails with good result. Highlight were a Tufted Titmouse feeding in large dispersed flock of chickadees high in the poplars over the trail that runs off the 'knoll trail' and which backs onto the houses along Nautalex Court), Long-eared Owl (3 - roosting in the large hemlocks just down the trail opposite the school on that street) and Yellow-rumped Warbler (feeding on the ground under White Pine only about 100 m into trail from the parking lot at the intersection of Watersedge and Old Poplar Row). My experience with Tufted Titmice (!) is that they often forage higher in the trees than do most chickadees and therefore are likely often overlooked. Other notable finds were 1 Red-bellied Woodpecker, 7 Golden-crowned Kinglets (all foraging very close to the ground!), one Eastern Screech-Owl (peaking out of a woodpecker in a dead stump near Sheridan Creek and Meadowwood Rd./close to the parking area) and a Winter Wren (near the second bridge across Sheridan Ck). In the area where the titmouse was seen there impressive numbers of Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, White-breasted Nuthatches, American Tree Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncoes. Also there a couple of small flocks of Cedar Waxwings and a Cooper's Hawk having a go at a flock of House Sparrows at a bird feeder behind a house that fronts onto Watersedge Road. No Blue Jays, robins or creepers.
Directions as per my previous posting. Those unfamiliar with this area should definitely get a map because it's quite difficult to visualize where you are on any given trail at any given time. I think it's the most under-birded area in Mississauga, which I don't undestand, given it's convenient location and fact that it contains an impressive diversity of habitats (include some major groves of mature hemlocks) in a relatively small area. Wayne Renaud _______________________________________________ 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
