Hey there, Some 15 OFO members enjoyed a mostly sunny but blustery day. Standing at Hawk Cliff in the brisk southwest winds proved fruitful only that we saw an adult Golden Eagle at close range just over the treetops above us, as it coursed along tacking into the wind. The only other hawks we saw in the "wrong" wind, were a Red-tailed Hawk, a Cooper's Hawk, and a Sharp-shinned Hawk. Few migrants were going along the cliff today, nor in the woods. We did see a hungry Red-bellied Woodpecker eating apples on a wild apple tree.
The official hawk counters at Hawk Cliff had abandoned that spot and headed inland as they usually do on a south wind. We ended up at the so-called Sparta Ridge, where we saw a few Red-tailed Hawks using the updrafts there. Bailing on such a slow morning of hawk watching, we headed over to Port Stanley Harbour where we ate at Mackies Restaurant and looked at the gulls on the break-wall. On the way there, the leaders grabbed a quick view of a N. Goshawk, but being in cars, the trailing vehicles missed the bird. In the Harbour, a Double-crested Cormorant was seen but the best birds were two adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls. On we went to the Port Stanley Sewage Lagoons, where we saw a dozen species of waterfowl including Tundra Swan, N. Shoveller, Common Coot, and a Horned Grebe. Also noted were about 5 Dunlin and 3 Killdeer. We decided that since most of our group lived east of there, we would head over to Aylmer on highway 73, where we visited the Aylmer Sewage Lagoons and the Aylmer Wildlife Management Area. At the former location we found a lot of waterfowl including a couple of Blue-winged Teal, and many Bonaparte's Gulls and amongst them one Little Gull. Our final stop was at the Aylmer Wildlife Management Area, but nothing new was added there. We had a group total of 55 species recorded, some on our way to and from the trip, and we thank those who turned out and helped make it a successful day. For any information on any of the locations above or the birds seen on the trip, contact Ian or me. Pete Read and Ian Platt _______________________________________________ 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/
