A few owls were found on Amherst Island at the beginning of the week; at least 3 N. Saw-whet and 3 Long-eared in the Owl Woods on Sunday and a Short-eared along the Front Road on Monday. It should be noted that there is not much sign of vole activity as yet and other raptors such as N. Harriers and Red-tailed Hawks, although present, are not in numbers to forecast a banner year on the island. Note: the small ferry is still in use.
A KFN field trip on Sunday also found singletons of both Horned and Red-necked Grebes, a large raft of Greater Scaup containing a significant number of Redheads, and a lone Bufflehead off the east end of the island. On the KFN property we had a couple of Am. Pipits, an Am. Bittern and an immature Black-crowned Night-Heron. At the gravel bar there were still a few shorebirds: Black-bellied Plover, Dunlin, Sanderling and Greater Yellowlegs. A few Snow Buntings along the shore were a bit of an omen. Elevator Bay and Little Cataraqui Creek continue to harbour an excellent variety of waterfowl. Amongst the scaup, mergansers and Mallards are lots of Ring-necked Ducks, a few N. Pintails and 3 Ruddy Ducks. The 2 Sandhill Cranes on the adjacent penitentiary property were last seen on the 23rd. A few winter finches have put in an appearance locally. Purple Finches were at Bedford Mills and Elginburg, but only showed up one at a time. A Pine Siskin visited the Elginburg feeder on Saturday. The Bedford Mills feeder had 4 Evening Grosbeaks and a House Finch (an uncommon bird in the shield country north of Kingston) on Monday. Rarest birds of the week include a young Red-headed Woodpecker that is frequenting a feeder near Battersea and an immature Golden Eagle over Devil Lake. Happy Hallowe'en 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/
