On Friday, October 14th, 2011 this is the HNC Birding Report: POMARINE JAEGER PARASITIC JAEGER
Wood Duck Green-winged Teal Greater Scaup Surf Scoter White-winged Scoter Black Scoter Long-tailed Duck Common Merganser Red-breasted Merganser Common Loon Great Blue Heron Great Egret Black-crowned Night Heron Northern Goshawk Merlin Peregrine Falcon American Coot Black-bellied Plover Spotted Sandpiper Hudsonian Godwit White-rumped Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Dunlin Long-billed Dowitcher Bonaparte's Gull Great Black-backed Gull Caspian Tern Red-headed Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Eastern Wood Pewee Traill's Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Blue-headed Vireo Horned Lark Brown Creeper House Wren Winter Wren Marsh Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Swainson's Thrush Hermit Thrush Gray Catbird Brown Thrasher American Pipit Orange-crowned Warbler Magnolia Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Pine Warbler Palm Warbler Blackpoll Warbler Ovenbird Connecticut Warbler Common Yellowthroat Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Nelson's Sparrow Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow White-throated Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Lapland Longspur Rusty Blackbird There remained much of the same mix of birds here in the Hamilton Study Area this week. Migrants continue to move through but going forward who knows what these wild winds will bring! Van Wagners beach has been a point of interest again this week. On winds with any easterly component both POMARINE AND PARASITIC JAEGERS have been seen harassing the gulls this week. Nice looks at POMARINE JAEGERS were observed both Monday and Thursday this week. Unfortunately the winds forecast this weekend are not favorable for this location. Other birds seen while on the watch though include oddly enough a Wood Duck, growing numbers of Green-winged Teal, Greater Scaup, Common and Red-breasted Merganser, Long-tailed Duck, Surf, White-winged and Black Scoter, Common Loon, Bonaparte's and Great Black-backed Gull and at least two Peregrine Falcons cruising the beach one of which was chased by a Pomarine Jaeger. Most of the passerine migration this week has been reported from the west end of Lake Ontario. A place of interest this week was Confederation park where Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Phoebe, Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, Brown Thrasher, Gray Catbird, Hermit Thrush, Orange-crowned, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, Pine and Blackpoll Warbler, Ovenbird, Eastern Towhee, Chipping, Field, Song, Lincolns and White-throated Sparrow and Dark-eyed Junco were seen yesterday. A possible Connecticut Warbler was also seen in this location. On the OFO outing last Saturday, a hike behind VanWagner's ponds yielded American Coot, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Traill's Flycatcher, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Eastern Towhee and Rusty Blackbird. Later in the week a family group of one adult and two juvenile Red-headed Woodpeckers were seen. At the Dundas Marsh, the OFO outing and other parties turned up Great Blue Heron, Great Egret (15), Black-crowned Night Heron, Northern Goshawk, Spotted Sandpiper, Hudsonian Godwit, House and Marsh Wren, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Nelson's Sparrow. On Wednesday at Fifty Point Conservation Area in Grimsby, a late Eastern Wood Pewee was seen along with Blue-headed Vireo, Swainson's Thrush and Magnolia Warbler. Last Monday at the large field east of Burloak Drive/Great Lakes Blvd just north of Rebecca, American Pipit, Horned Lark, Lapland Longspur, Orange-crowned and Palm Warbler, Common Yellowthroat and White-crowned Sparrow were seen. This is a great wide open field where anything can turn up and if you recall a couple weeks ago, a Lark Sparrow made a one day appearance. Shorebirds are still in the picture this week with Black-bellied Plover, Spotted, White-rumped and Pectoral Sandpiper and Dunlin being seen at the Windermere Basin. The two Hudsonian Godwits continue today at the Red Hill Stormwater Ponds. They were joined briefly the other day by a Long-billed Dowitcher. In the odds and sods a late Caspian Tern was seen again today hanging around the Canada Centre for Inland Waters. This is getting to be a somewhat late record for this species. A Merlin seems to be setting up winter territory at Sioux Lookout in Burlington as one has been seen in this general location for the past two weeks and again today. These winds can bring in some extra special rarities to the area. Now is the prime time to be looking for them. Please report your sightings. Our annual fall bird count is coming up first weekend in November so it's good to be on the lookout for birds that might hang around. Have a great week. Cheryl Edgecombe _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
