Good evening all: Today on a beautiful and relatively calm day to be out there Ian Cannell, Jay Peterson and I made a quick trip to Port Weller to look for the King Eider. Ian spotted the bird in the canal about 100 yards north of the gate almost as soon as we got there. We also spotted a Glaucous Gull, several D-C Cormorants and 2 Carolina Wrens. Having been successful in finding our target eider we then headed off the the Hagersville area.
Things got good almost as soon as we crossed the bridge over the Grand River at Cayuga and following are some of the 51 species we found. One Cackling Goose overhead with a flock of about 100 Canada Geese, 10 Bald Eagles, 12 Northern Harriers (half of them were beautiful males), Cooper’s Hawk, 39 Red-tailed Hawks, 3 Rough-legged Hawks, an adult Golden Eagle, 5 American Kestrels, 57 Wild Turkeys, 2 male Snowy Owls, 8 Short-eared Owls, 58 Horned Larks, N. Mockingbird, many A. Tree Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos, 1 Red-winged Blackbird, 7 Brown-headed Cowbirds, 2 Purple and 2 House Finches, and 9 White-winged Crossbills. We even got to leave before dark which is unusual for us, but we left happy with the days birding. Directions:- PORT WELLER EAST SIDE OF CANAL From the Hamilton direction exit the QEW Highway at exit # 43 (Niagara Street) and drive north across the QEW and up Niagara St. to Lakeshore Road. Turn right (east) on Lakeshore and cross the Welland Canal bridge and immediately after crossing the bridge turn left (north) on Broadway. Continue up Broadway until you bump in to the lake and you will see a small parkette on your left with a small parking lot. Park here (it is safer to leave your auto here than at the gate at the start of the trail, especially if you are the first or one of the first autos). Walk across the road to the marina gate (it looks like a prison camp gate to me) to the gravelled path. Follow this path for about 250 yards to the gate at the start of the main trail (Seaway Haulage Road). From this gate you walk straight ahead for about 2 km to the lake and lighthouse checking the trees and bushes along the way. There is also a gravelled trail just inside the gate running parallel to the main trail (between the main trail and the canal) that also goes towards the point and also a dirt path at the north end of the marina fence that goes to the bay or east side of the area. This path also goes all the way to the point. HAGERSVILLE / CAYUGA / NANTICOKE AREAS. This is and area of roads, fields and woodlots bounded by Hagersville, Nanticoke, Sweets Corners and Cayuga. To reach Hagersville exit Highway 403 south of Hamilton and follow Highway 6 past Caledonia and after reaching Hagersville drive the roads in the above area stopping to check fields, etc. along the way. Remember that all of or almost all of the land here is private and when stopping try to pull as far off the road as is safe so as not to block the road. Norm Murr 303-48 Laverock Ave. Richmond Hill, Ontario L4C 4J5 _______________________________________________ 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/
