CATTLE EGRET Snow Goose Brant Tundra Swan Surf Scoter White-winged Scoter Black Scoter Long-tailed Duck Ruffed Grouse Red-necked Grebe Black-crowned Night Heron Sandhill Crane Black-bellied Plover American Golden Plover Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Lesser Black-backed Gull Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Eastern Phoebe Blue-headed Vireo Tufted Titmouse Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Nashville Warbler Orange-crowned Warbler Northern Parula Yellow-rumped Warbler
Our annual fall bird count now deemed the Wormington Fall Bird Count for its founder, was fairly quiet this year. Nice weather = no birds. It's been a relatively quiet week here but there are some tidbits around that are good for the date. Our rarity for the week was a CATTLE EGRET found at the Red Hill Stormwater Pond. It was there briefly on Thursday morning and then flushed by a Red-tailed Hawk. It is likely still in the area with many stormwater ponds around the area to look for it. There have been a significant number of these birds in southern Ontario this past week. As is always the case at the western end of Lake Ontario, duck species diversity and numbers are growing exponentially. This week saw a significant increase in the numbers of all three scoters and Long-tailed Ducks. A good place to look for these is from the end of Grays Road or from Sayer's Park in Stoney Creek. Lingering shorebirds are a highlight with a later date for American Golden Plover seen at the Windermere Basin yesterday and a good date for Black-bellied Plover. A Dunlin was another species seen here. At the Red Hill Stormwater Pond, both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs were seen earlier in the week. Some highlights though from the count and this week include Ruffed Grouse up near Lowville, two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers at Sydenham Hill in Dundas, a late Blue-gray Gnatcatcher at South Shell Park in Oakville, Blue-headed Vireo and Yellow-rumped Warbler at Cootes Paradise, Orange-crowned Warbler and Nashville Warbler in the Bronte area and Northern Parula and Orange-crowned Warbler at Sedgewick Park in Oakville. In the odds and sods, a Snow Goose was photographed on the lawn at LaSalle Park last Saturday. A Brant was hanging in at Bayfront Park up until mid-week. A Cackling Goose was mixed in with a sizable flock of Canadas along the Grand in Caledonia. Tundra Swans have been moving through with 11 birds counted in Cootes Paradise and a few at LaSalle Marina. Red-necked Grebe was seen off of Bronte and Shoreacres in Burlington. Black-crowned Night Herons were seen from Princess Point hiding in the trees along the shore. Sandhill Cranes were seen in a field on the west side of hwy 6 near Haldibrook Road. A Lesser Black-backed gull was seen amongst the Ring-billed Gulls at Princess Point. An Eastern Phoebe was reported from Windermere Basin. That's the news for this week. There are rarities all around us, keep looking and report your sightings here! Cheryl Edgecombe HNC --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
