On Friday, October 19th, 2012, this is the HNC Birding Report: CATTLE EGRET YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON
Brant Cackling Goose Redhead Ring-necked Duck Surf Scoter (leucistic) White-winged Scoter Long-tailed Duck Red-breasted Merganser Ruddy Duck Horned Grebe Great Egret Turkey Vulture Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Northern Goshawk Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Rough-legged Hawk American Kestrel Peregrine Falcon Sandhill Crane Dunlin Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Pileated Woodpecker Eastern Phoebe Blue-headed Vireo Horned Lark Brown Creeper Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird Swainson's Thrush Hermit Thrush Tennessee Warbler Orange-crowned Warbler Nashville Warbler Magnolia Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Palm Warbler Blackpoll Warbler Common Yellowthroat Eastern Towhee American Tree Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Fox Sparrow White-throated Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Nelson's Sparrow Lapland Longspur Red-winged Blackbird Eastern Meadowlark Rusty Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird Purple Finch Pine Siskin There are still lots of birds about in the Hamilton Study Area although numbers are dropping and mixes are changing. There were two surprises this week, one found today a CATTLE EGRET was found just west of the intersection of Stoney Creek Road and Haldibrook Road, west of 295 Haldibrook in the hamlet of Blackheath which is south of Binbrook. The bird was seen this evening on Stoney Creek Road, south of Haldibrook as of 6 p.m.. Comically this egret could be seen being chased by the cattle and then itself going back after them. This is the second record for this field. Earlier in the week, a YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT HERON was a one afternoon wonder at Rattray Marsh and unfortunately could not be found later that afternoon or in subsequent days. There are many places to visit this week for a variety of species. At the Waterdown Wetland Trails located on Centre Road in Waterdown, birds seen included Pileated Woodpecker, Hermit Thrush, Blue-headed Vireo, Tennessee, Orange-crowned, Nashville, Yellow-rumped and Black-throated Green Warbler, Eastern Towhee, Fox Sparrow, Red-winged and Rusty Blackbirds and Purple Finch. Another great place this time of year is the Clappison's Corners Wetlands located behind the Rona in Waterdown. Here this week were Eastern Bluebird, Eastern Phoebe, Palm Warbler, Field, Vesper, Savannah Sparrows and Eastern Meadowlark. LaSalle Park had a few tidbits this week with Canvasback, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck, Greater Scaup, Ruddy Duck, Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglet, Winter Wren, Orange-crowned, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Common Yellowthroat being birds reported this week. The beach was a bit of a disappointment today, great potential for winds but socked in with fog. A single Brant was the only bird seen today. Long-tailed Ducks, White-winged, Surf Scoters and Red-breasted Mergansers are growing in numbers on the lake. Nearby at the end of Gray's Road an interesting find this week of a leucistic Surf Scoter was unusual. At Van Wagner's Ponds last Monday, Great Egret, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Brown Creeper, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Swainson's and Hermit Thrush, Chipping, Fox, White-throated and White-crowned Sparrow were birds reported. A highlight was a Peregrine Falcon battling with two American Kestrels. Further east to this, a Cackling Goose was seen among a large group of Canada Geese. Twenty Horned Grebes and a group of eight Dunlin were also seen at this location. Hawk migration continued this week on a smaller scale. Over South Burlington, Turkey Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk (in numbers), Red-shouldered, Coopers and Sharp-shinned Hawks made up the bulk of it. Eastern Bluebirds and Horned Larks were mixed in with flocks of American Robins. Large flocks of mixed blackbirds containing Brown-headed Cowbirds, Common Grackles,Red-winged and Rusty Blackbirds were seen on a mass exodus. In the odds and sods, a lovely Rough-legged Hawk was seen at the Cattle Egret location as well as a Lapland Longspur Flyover. A Northern Goshawk was seen at Lakeside Park in Mississauga yesterday. Sandhill Cranes are still bugling from a swamp near Deer Run Court in Brantford. A Blackpoll Warbler and a number of Pine Siskins were guests at my yard in South Burlington this week. An American Tree Sparrow was a brief visitor in a yard in East Hamilton. Lastly a great find again today was a Nelson's Sparrow at the back of Mountsberg C.A. off Leslie Street. With the ever changing weather out there, winds from the south and then drastically changing, there simply must be more goodies to be found out there. Get out and scout your own local hotspots or try something new, you might just strike gold. Report your sightings please, we are coming up to the Hamilton Fall Bird Count and it's nice to know what's around. Good birding, Cheryl Edgecombe HNC. _______________________________________________ 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/
