Hi All, Headed out early for Jarvis SL, just as I arrived at 6:30am I saw one of the Black-necked Stilts take off and fly behind the more northerly of the two lagoons that are beside the road in, I couldn't relocate the bird but it looked as though it sat down behind the willows that line a small (very flooded) creek just to the east of the lagoons. Not knowing that there were more lagoons to the east, I walked up a gated gravel road and found the other lagoons but no Stilt. I then walked between these two easterly lagoons and found the male Stilt in a small farm field just to the south (and just to the east of the lagoons that are beside the road that you drive in on), after watching him for about 10 minutes, he started calling and took off to join the female that came flying in somewhere from the north, they both stood in the same field and preened. The male was showing some territoriality towards a nearby Killdeer, the birds then began walking closer to me and got within at least 30m. I backed away and began to leave when they flew into the first lagoon that I checked (which is beside the road you drive in on). NOTE that the birds stayed in this small field for a good hour and could easily be missed if you didn't walk around to the easterly lagoons. Also here were male & female Wilson's Phalarope (which also flew to the same small field) and an immature Cooper's Hawk.
At Townsend SL, there was at least 1 White-rumped Sandpiper (with some Semipalmated & Least), 1 female Long-tailed Duck (weird?), 65 Ruddy Duck, 3 Red-breasted Merganser, a few Ring-necked Duck & 1 Lesser Scaup. Cheers & good birding (I shoulda been scouting for the Taverner Cup), Frank Pinilla Thornhill, ON DIRECTIONS: Jarvis SL - Hwy 6 southwest of Hamilton, turn left/east in Jarvis at Hwy 3 and very shortly turn right where there is a car wash (opposite Walpole St, which runs north), take this driveway south past the car wash and behind some houses, follow this road until you see the lagoons on your left. Townsend SL - again from Hwy 6 (just north of Jarvis), go west on CR69 to the town of Townsend, at the 4-way stop turn left/south and then as you get out of town turn right on Conc 14, the lagoon driveway is about 500m along 14th on the right/north.
