At 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, December, 23rd, 2004 this is the HNC Birding Report:
VARIED THRUSH GRAY CATBIRD PINE WARBLER LINCOLN'S SPARROW FOX SPARROW Red-necked Grebe Great Blue Heron Harlequin Duck Rough-legged Hawk Merlin Great Horned Owl Wild Turkey Carolina Wren Winter Wren American Robin Cedar Waxwing Yellow-rumped Warbler Tree Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Common Redpoll Quality and not quantity this week in the Hamilton Area. A number of significant winter species were seen in the area this week. Last Friday, a male VARIED THRUSH was seen briefly at a feeder. The bird appeared for about 5 minutes and then flew east toward LaSalle Park. This bird could still be in the area so its worth a check of the areas of berries and seed in the LaSalle Park area. Any sightings of the bird should be reported as soon as possible as we are now in the all important count week in the Hamilton Circle. Another hotspot in the area was east in Mississauga. A walk in the Rattray Marsh area was hugely successful this week with a single LINCOLN'S SPARROW, Carolina Wren, Winter Wren, Cedar Waxwing, American Robin, Yellow-rumped Warbler, a singing Swamp Sparrow and Tree Sparrows being reported from this area. Most of the birds were found in a creek/fen area which separates Jack Darling Park from Rattray Marsh. Also in this vicinity but a little farther east a PINE WARBLER was found in the south east corner of the Rhododendron Park located just off of Lakeshore Road west of Rattray Marsh. Feeder reports from the week include a FOX SPARROW located in the Beverly Swamp area. Also at this location is a group of Wild Turkey and some Common Redpolls. Wild Turkeys were also reported from the Paterson Road area. Moving east at Bronte Harbour a male and female Harlequin Duck were seen on Tuesday. Shell Park in Oakville, has also had its share of birds this week. A pair of Great Horned Owls is still being seen at the north end of the pipeline. Also seen along the fencerows are White-throated Sparrows and Tree Sparrows. Another good sighting this week was a GRAY CATBIRD seen in the area across the road from VanWagner's Beach area. Also spotted in flight was a Red-necked Grebe. Further east a Harlequin Duck was seen last Friday at Fruitland Road. In the raptor department, a Rough-legged Hawk was reported long York Rd in Dundas just east of Valley Rd. A couple of reports of Merlins came from Hwy 403 at Hwy 52 and in the Appleby Line and Lakeshore Road area. A Great Blue Heron was seen along Spencer Creek on Friday and one seen in the Bronte Harbour area on Tuesday. Best wishes to all for a safe and happy holiday season. Please email or call in any unusual bird sightings through the week as the Hamilton Christmas Count is on Boxing Day. Have a great week. Good birding! Cheryl Edgecombe 905-381-0329 HNC Hotline
