The only open water locally includes Chaffey's Lock with a male Wood Duck, a Green-winged Teal and 16 Trumpeter Swans last weekend; the Dupont lagoon which has a variety of waterfowl if one is patient enough to sort through all the Mallards, Blacks and Gadwall and the ferry channels that usually have some mergansers and goldeneye along with a few gulls.
It has been an excellent week for raptors. Bald Eagles were widespread; 1 on Amherst last Friday, 3 more at Chaffey's on Saturday and another near Amherstview on Tuesday. The high count for the week was 32 Rough-legged Hawks on Amherst last Friday. There was a Merlin on Amherst on Tuesday and a Peregrine Falcon has been roosting on a 9th floor windowsill on the Queen's campus for the last couple of weeks. Certainly the highlight of the week was 3 Golden Eagles with Common Ravens feeding on a carcass at the west end of Amherst. There was still one eagle at the site on Tuesday. Owls continue to draw people to Amherst. Although numbers vary from day to day, this week tallied 16 Long-eared, 6 Short-eared, 2 N. Saw-whet, and 1 Boreal in the Owl Woods and 9 Snowy Owls across the island. Finches and waxwings continue to be reported mainly from north of the city. Common Redpolls, Cedar Waxwings and Pine Siskins (in very large numbers) were reported from the usual feeders in Elginburg, Camden East and Bedford Mills. There are a few Purple Finches about and White-winged Crossbills were seen at Chaffey's and on Amherst. There were 80 Bohemian Waxwings near Perth Road Village last Saturday and a Hoary Redpoll visited the Elginburg feeder yesterday. Other birds of note; 4 N. Shrikes, 2 Hermit Thrush, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, 3 Golden-crowned and 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a couple of large flocks of Snow Buntings and a Song Sparrow on Amherst; a Brown Creeper and a Red-breasted Nuthatch at Bedford Mills, a White-crowned Sparrow at Elginburg and a male Red-winged Blackbird along the Little Cataraqui Creek in the city. The latter tempts one to think of spring. 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/
