WESTERN SANDPIPER PARASITIC JAEGER BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD
Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail Green-winged Teal Greater Scaup Lesser Scaup Ruddy Duck Great Egret Black-crowned Night Heron Green Heron Northern Goshawk Peregrine Falcon Virginia Rail American Golden Plover Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Hudsonian Godwit Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Semipalmated Sandpiper Baird's Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Dunlin Stilt Sandpiper Wilson's Snipe Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Eastern Phoebe Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Red-eyed Vireo Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Swainson's Thrush Hermit Thrush Tennessee Warbler Orange-crowned Warbler Nashville Warbler Common Yellowthroat Black-throated Blue Warbler Palm Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Nelson's Sparrow White-throated Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Pine Siskin The hammer is still good birding although its weekly reporter is horridly late. My apologies for not being consistent. Let's get on with it. This past week has given us some decent birds although migration has been a little slow. A WESTERN SANDPIPER has been present for over a week at Tollgate Pond. If you haven't had a chance to see this bird, it's worth the trip to see the great identifying features. East winds were present on Monday and there was a bit of action. Three to four PARASITIC JAEGERS were present throughout the day with a couple of nice adults. Northern Pintail and White-winged Scoters were waterfowl arriving. In the incredibly unusual category, a female BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER was photographed in a residential area of Mississauga just south of the QEW near Southdown Road on September 24th. Perhaps this is a sign of an invasion year. Lastly, last weekend a first year male YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD was seen in Cootes Paradise. There are lots of reports of blackbirds in large flocks, these flocks should be scanned for any goodies in them. Rusty Blackbirds seem to be moving through in numbers. North Halton had a sizable flock in a yard this week. Shorebirds are still in the news with Tollgate Pond and Windermere Basin being the place to hit. Here this past week, American Golden Plover, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Semipalmated, Baird's, Pectoral and Stilt Sandpiper, Dunlin and Wilson's Snipe. A Stilt Sandpiper is still present at Hespeler Pond up in Cambridge as well. Other birds found in the basin and Tollgate include Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Greater and Lesser Scaup and Ruddy Duck. At Windermere Basin Black-crowned Night Heron and Green Heron were present. Passerine migration has been a bit slow so we need to get out there and find more! Birds reported at Sedgewick Park in Oakville include a late Yellow-bellied FLycatcher, Swainson's and Hermit Thrush, Yellow-rumped and Black-throated Green Warbler along with a smattering of White-throated Sparrows. Birds seen at Woodland Cemetery last weekend include Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Phoebe, Tennessee and Black-throated Blue Warbler. In the odds and sods this week, a Northern Goshawk was seen in Cootes Paradise last weekend early for this species. A Peregrine Falcon was seen today south of English Church Rd on Miles where an immature Red-headed Woodpecker was seen a couple weeks ago. A Great Egret was seen in the flooded Red Hill Stormwater Pond. A Virginia Rail was still present at Kerncliffe Park this week. Red-eyed Vireo, Nashville and Palm Warbler, Lincoln's, White-throated and White-crowned Sparrow were seen at the back of Windermere Basin. Along the Van Wagners Pond trail, multiple Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglets, Common Yellowthroat, Palm Warbler and an Orange-crowned Warbler were seen. A Nelson's Sparrow was seen a week ago on Friday at Mt. Albion C.A. in Hamilton. They are going through in numbers at the traditional locations. Lastly a Pine Siskin was heard over a yard in Brantford. October is a good time for these and Purple Finch to be on the move. That's the news for this week. Get out there this beautiful weekend and crawl around the local patch. Send your sightings here! Happy Thanksgiving Cheryl Edgecombe Deadbeat late reporter for the 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
