On Friday, December 5th, 2008, this is the HNC Birding Report: KING EIDER SANDHILL CRANE BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER
Tundra Swan Green-winged Teal Ring-necked Duck Pied-billed Grebe Red-necked Grebe Great Blue Heron Black-crowned Night Heron Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Merlin Peregrine Falcon American Coot Killdeer Dunlin Iceland Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull Glaucous Gull Eastern Screech Owl Snowy Owl Great Horned Owl Long-eared Owl Belted Kingfisher Northern Shrike Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird American Pipit White-winged Crossbill Winter listing has started and a few goodies have turned up this week with birders out scouring the Hamilton Study Area to add to the list. The female BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER remains at LaSalle Park being seen along the boardwalk that skirts the bay. Keep your eyes low as this warbler likes to crawl around with its companion a Winter Wren and feed on the Buckthorn berries and moths that are found here. During the search, other birds found here include, Tundra Swan, Ring-necked Duck, American Coot, Great Blue Heron, Pileated Woodpecker, Eastern Screech Owl and Golden-crowned Kinglet. A couple of lingering shorebirds have been found this week. A Dunlin with an injured foot was present at Burloak Park at the border of Oakville and Burlington in the green algae that lines the shore on Wednesday. Unfortunately the bird did not stick around. A Killdeer was flushed up by a Snowy Owl at Tollgate Pond off Eastport Drive on Tuesday and seen again Wednesday. Snowy Owls continue to be seen in the area with another unfortunate casualty on the Skyway Bridge, one individual at Tollgate Pond and another one at Bronte Harbour. Perhaps the most spectacular sighting for this area this week has been the mass migration of SANDHILL CRANES. This species once considered scarce in this neck of the woods have been seen in large flocks migrating over Bronte Creek Provincial Park, Walkers Line and the QEW and Cootes Paradise over the past two days. Three individuals were seen this afternoon over Lynden Road and Highway 5. The invasion of White-winged Crossbills continues to happen with flocks being seen at Scenic Drive and East River Road near Brantford, west of the Patterson Tract on 4th Concession and Lynden Road, in the Patterson Tract on 4th concession just west of Woodhill, in Carlisle and at Bronte Creek Provincial Park in Oakville. While looking for the White-winged Crossbills in Bronte Creek, Northern Harrier, Great Horned and Long-eared Owl, Northern Mockingbird, Eastern Bluebird and Northern Shrike were seen. At the Waterdown Garden Supply on Highway 5 just west of Peters Corners, gull numbers have decreased this week. Lesser Black-backed, Glaucous and Iceland Gulls can be found and earlier in the week a group of three American Pipits were seen. In the odds and sods this week, female KING EIDERS have been seen off Millen Road throughout the week. Two lingering Green-winged Teal were seen at Princess Point today. A juvenile Peregrine Falcon was seen at Windermere Basin on Thursday. Immature Black-crowned Night Herons were seen at the Desjardins Canal and at VanWagners Ponds. A Pied-billed Grebe and two Belted Kingfishers are also present at Desjardins Canal in Dundas. There have been a few reports of Bald Eagles, near Glen Morris, over York Road, over Hwy 6 and the 403 and one adult seen today over Princess Point. Merlins seem to be setting up winter territories with one being seen at Tollgate Ponds and another seen a couple of times this week near Sioux Lookout Park in Burlington. Two Red-necked Grebes were seen within Bronte Harbour on Wednesday afternoon. That's the odds and sods this week. Please keep your winter sightings coming in. Stay warm and good birding! Cheryl Edgecombe 905-381-0329 HNC Hotline _______________________________________________ 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
