Yesterday (May 4) and today Ian Richards, Colin Jones and I observed three different Ruffs at the flooded fields NE of Angus. In addition to the two males previously reported, Ian and I observed a female (Reeve) in the company of the black morph male the evening of May 4. He was displaying occasionally to her, but still lacked the ornate, floppy, full alternate breast and head feathers. We checked for them today, but could only locate the chestnut morph male and an alternate Stilt Sandpiper. It seemed that about 40-50% of the birds present the day before had departed - ie/ about 150 birds were present this afternoon.
Directions (from J. Schmelefske): Turn north on McKinnon Rd. which is off Hwy 90 at the eastern outskirts of Angus. About a Km. up there is a large sod field on the left. Past this are grassy flooded fields and a new construction corridor for a hydro right-of-way. The Ruff and were on the west side of McKinnon Rd, just past the Hydro right-of-way. The Godwit was quite a bit farther down the road. As you proceed north the road becomes quite muddy and we parked our car and walked the rest of the way, past the next concession road. The road bends and then comes to a house with good bird feeders in the driveway. Across from this house on the west side of the road is a wet grassy area where the godwit was sitting with a bunch of Yellowlegs. _______________________________________________ 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
