On Friday, April 9th, 2010, this is the HNC Birding Report: Cackling Goose Wood Duck Blue-winged Teal Green-winged Teal Red-breasted Merganser Common Loon Horned Grebe Red-necked Grebe Turkey Vulture Osprey Northern Harrier Sharp-shinned Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Rough-legged Hawk Sandhill Crane Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Pectoral Sandpiper Dunlin Wilson's Snipe Bonaparte's Gull Iceland Gull Glaucous Gull Caspian Tern Common Tern Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Northern Flicker Common Raven Tree Swallow Northern Rough-winged Swallow Barn Swallow Tufted Titmouse Brown Creeper Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Hermit Thrush Brown Thrasher Yellow-rumped Warbler Pine Warbler Eastern Towhee American Tree Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Fox Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Rusty Blackbird Purple Finch
A combination of good and bad weather this week brought in migrants with the warm and perhaps concentrated them with the cold temperatures today. It's been a productive week here in the Hamilton Study Area. Above average temperatures over the Easter weekend sent birders out looking for new migrants and they were not disappointed. The Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch at Beamer Memorial Conservation Area in Grimsby had one of its best open houses ever with lots of people and birds to entertain them. Last Friday, Turkey Vulture (many), Osprey, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk (many), Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk and Rough-legged Hawk were all part of the mix seen over the tower. A couple of Common Loons and a few Sandhill Cranes also gave birders pleasure during count days. Nearby in Saltfleet, a flooded field seen from the Dofasco trail east of 10th Road East yielded Green-winged Teal, Greater Yellowlegs and Pectoral Sandpiper. On 8th Road East a sizable flock of Rusty Blackbirds were seen on Saturday. On 5th Road East, the Lesser Yellowlegs was still being seen last weekend along with a flock of 36 Wilson's Snipe and a handful of Pectoral Sandpipers. With the rains over the past couple of days, all these fields are worth a recheck! At the stormwater pond viewed from the on ramp to the Red Hill Valley Expressway south, a couple of Dunlin were seen last Friday but not refound on Saturday. At the west end of the lake today over 40 Bonaparte's Gulls were seen along with an early Common Tern. Red-necked and Horned Grebes, Red-breasted Mergansers are still being seen in numbers. Six Iceland Gulls and a Glaucous Gull were seen from Green Road last Saturday and more were seen from Fifty Road today. Sparrows seem to be here in growing numbers at various locations this week. A Vesper Sparrow was seen at the ponds behind the Rona in Waterdown. On the trail behind VanWagners Ponds, Chipping, Swamp, Fox, Tree and Song Sparrows were seen. A Savannah Sparrow was seen at Grimsby Sewage Lagoons earlier in the week. Migrant traps along the lakeshore are always a good bet this time of year. Today at Bronte Bluffs in Oakville a swarm of over 300 Tree Swallows with a dozen or so each of Barn Swallow and Northern Rough-winged Swallows were found just offshore gathering insects in this cold snap. At Bronte Bluffs, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Brown Creepers (6 on one tree), Hermit Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Yellow-rumped, a stunning male Pine Warbler and Chipping Sparrows were seen. Also offshore were over 130 Red-necked Grebes. Down the hatch at Shell Park, Fox Sparrows seem to be in abundance and a White-throated and Swamp Sparrow were also present. Along the Sheldon Creek Trail off Great Lakes Blvd, a pair of Blue-winged Teal were present in the stormwater ponds today. Golden-crowned Kinglets were also present in numbers along this trail. In the odds and sods (in a very disorganized order), a group of 6 Cackling Geese were seen late morning at Valens Conservation Area last Friday. Purple Finches are coming into a feeder in Oakville with up to 6 recorded yesterday. A Brown Thrasher and an Eastern Towhee made excellent yard birds at a feeder in Flamborough earlier in the week. Another Brown Thrasher was seen on Ford Drive just south of the QEW. A Greater Yellowlegs was seen at Christie Conservation Area (water is down here). Green-winged Teal were present in a flooded area on Oldfield Road and another group on Middletown Road just south of 4th Concession. Wood Duck, Wilson's Snipe and Rough-winged Swallow were reported from the ponds behind Rona in Waterdown. A Common Raven was seen just south of the 407 between Tremaine and Appleby Line on Thursday. Along the rail trail in Dundas, a Pine Warbler and Ruby-crowned Kinglet were highlights west of the trail centre earlier in the week. A Tufted Titmouse was seen and heard at Woodland Cemetery last Friday. That's the news this week. Cold weather shouldn't deter birders from getting out there. There were many birds seen today very active gathering food in this cold weather. Please send your sightings along! Good Birding, Cheryl Edgecombe 905-381-0329 _______________________________________________ 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/
