Pine Siskins remain the feeder bird of the week with several people reporting 40, 50, 75 and 90 birds on a given day. Flocks of Am. Goldfinches and Common Redpolls are variable with some feeders attracting 2 or 3 and others 2 or 3 dozen. White-winged Crossbills remain ubiquitous; 25 in Amherstview, 40 on the Front Road, another 40 at the Little Cataraqui Conservation Area, 100 on Amherst Island, 150 at Chaffey's Lock, and an impressive 600 at a pine plantation on Wolfe Island. In much smaller numbers, other finches included a Pine Grosbeak at Bedford Mills, a Hoary Redpoll at Elginburg, 4 Purple finches near Camden East and 2 Red Crossbills in the LCCA.
The owling continues to be excellent despite the loss of a Boreal Owl to an unknown predator. On Monday there were 18 Snowy and 2 Short-eared Owls on Wolfe Island and on Amherst the high counts for the week were 2 Boreal, 8 N. Saw-whet, 19 Long-eared, 24 Short-eared and 19 Snowy Owls. With the bitter cold, waterfowl are confined to those few areas that don't freeze. There were 10 Trumpeter Swans and a male Wood Duck below the dam at Chaffey's Lock last Saturday. The Dupont lagoon has several Am. Coots as well as a selection of puddle ducks and divers. Noteworthy were 4 Ring-necked Ducks there as well as another Ring-necked at the Lennox Generating Station on the 11th. There was a White- winged Scoter on Howe Island last Saturday and 4 N. Pintails in the Wilton Creek south of Napanee on Sunday. No doubt these are long gone. Bald Eagles were reported near Newboro north of the city, Howe and Amherst Islands, Bath, and along the Front Road in the city. Cooper's and Sharp-shinned hawks continue their wintertime feeder patrol with a Hairy Woodpecker at Camden East and a Blue Jay at Bedford Mills the unfortunate victims. A Peregrine Falcon on Amherst was also observed flinging feathers to the wind. Hawk numbers on Amherst remain substantial; 34 Rough-legged, 28 Red-tailed and smaller numbers of Am. Kestrel and N. Harrier. Most of the waxwings remain well north of the city. There was a flock of 40 Bohemians on the Opinicon Road last Saturday and a flock of 250 near Bedford Mills on Sunday had about 75 Bohemian and 175 Cedar. Miscellaneous sightings for the week include large flocks of Wild Turkeys at Railton and on the Opinicon Road, Great Blue Herons on Division Street and Howe Island, 2 Horned Larks, a Hermit Thrush, a Red-bellied Woodpecker and a N. Flicker on Amherst, and a Song Sparrow, another Red-bellied and 18 Rusty Blackbirds at a feeder on Howe Island. A White-crowned Sparrow has been visiting an Elginburg feeder all week. Locally, the rarest bird of the winter so far was found on Wolfe Island on Monday; a Townsend's Solitaire at the corner of Baseline Road and the 7th Concession. 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 information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
