On Friday, June 20th, 2008, this is the HNC Birding Report: Wild Turkey Pied-billed Grebe Red-necked Grebe Least Bittern Great Egret Black-crowned Night Heron Northern Harrier Merlin Peregrine Falcon Sandhill Crane Killdeer Spotted Sandpiper American Woodcock Common Tern Yellow-billed Cuckoo Black-billed Cuckoo Common Nighthawk Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Eastern Bluebird Veery Wood Thrush Blue-winged Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Black-and-White Warbler Ovenbird Northern Waterthrush Common Yellowthroat Field Sparrow Swamp Sparrow Brown-headed Cowbird Orchard Oriole Baltimore Oriole
It has been a quiet week here in Hamilton. There were no migrant reports this week and a significant number of sightings of birds are birds with young in the nest or fledging. Probably the most exciting news is that all four of the Peregrine Falcon chicks appear to have fledged successfully from the nest at the Sheraton Hotel keeping Falcon watchers busy. No updates of the youngsters at the lift bridge but as you pass over the bridge, if you don't veer into the other lane, you can see the chicks sitting up on the nest platform. This is a huge success story as well here in Hamilton. Another neat sighting this week was of Least Bittern in the Bronte Marsh. At least two and possibly three males have been calling in the marsh all week. This would be a great nesting record for this location as Least Bitterns are hard to find anywhere here. Also nesting down at Bronte Harbour are the Red-necked Grebes. A sighting of a Merlin carrying prey here was intriguing. A walk around Windermere Basin cropped up many Black-crowned Night Herons which enjoy spending their time in the flat muddy areas there. There is a significant colony of Black-crowned Night Herons and across the basin a Common Tern Colony here. As you walk the gravel path, young Killdeer and Spotted Sandpipers can be seen scurrying through the grasses and agitated Tree Swallows dive bomb your head! Nearby at Van Wagners Ponds this week, Pied-billed Grebe, two Great Egrets, Eastern Kingbird and Baltimore Oriole were seen yesterday. Two more or most likely the same Great Egrets were seen on the small pond off South Service road east of Centennial. Up in Flamborough at a tract of land located on Safari Road West of Kirkwall, Wild Turkey, Veery, Wood Thrush, Black-billed Cuckoo, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Great-crested Flycatcher, Blue-winged Warbler (many), Black and White Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Swamp Sparrow and Field Sparrows were seen this week. A Northern Harrier was seen cruising over a field on Middletown Road near 6th Concession West. An interesting sighting photographed this week was of a Blue-winged Warbler feeding a Brown-headed Cowbird chick. Although not a pleasant sight, it is interesting how these birds manage to worm their way into other birds homes! In the odds and sods, Sandhill Cranes are regulars in flight over a house in Brantford, perhaps the ones which breed near Glen Morris or elsewhere along the Grand River. An American Woodcock was photographed in a puddle at the corner of Upper Middle and Bronte Road last Friday night. At the back of Bronte Creek Provincial Park from Hwy 5 and Tremaine, another American Woodcock was flushed and Orchard Oriole was seen here as well. Yellow-billed Cuckoos and Eastern Bluebirds were viewed in the campground there. Black-billed Cuckoos could be seen and heard in the HNC Cartwright Property off Patterson Road. A Common Nighthawk was seen over the Dundas Valley and finally another sighting of Great Egret at the Millcroft Golf Course in Burlington. That's the news for this week. If you can stand the mosquitoes this year, please get out there are report your sightings! Good birding, Cheryl Edgecombe HNC Hotline 905-381-0329 _______________________________________________ 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
