Kayo Roy and I had a Red-necked Phalarope on the beach to the east
of Pinecrest Road at 11:00 PM today.. Also present were between 10 and
12 Baird's Sandpipers, an assortment of other peep, and two
Sanderlings. At Jaeger Rocks, west of Fort Erie, there were 8 American
Golden Plovers on the beach.
Pinecrest Road can be reached by travelling west from Fort Erie
along Highway 3. In Gasline the road curves to the north and a sharp
turn left will put you on Kilaly Road. Pinecrest is the first road west
on Kilaly. Turn south on Pinecrest and drive to the end. Then walk out
to the east (left) on the rocky shore and search for shorebirds. The
best shorebird spot has been in the rocky area south of the large patch
of grasses and plants about 100 meters down the rocky beach, just
before you reach the algae covered sand beach. Jaeger Rocks can be
reached by travelling along the shoreline from Fort Erie, following the
shoreline by past the Fort, and stopping just before the houses on the
left where you have an unobstructed view of the rocky shore.
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Sun, 04 Sep 2005 13:08:48 EDT
Date: Sun, 4 Sep 2005 13:08:48 -0400 (EDT)
From: RON FLEMING <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Keith Dunn <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
OFO Bird Sightings <ontbirds@hwcn.org>,
Mike Van den Tillaart <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Subject: [Ontbirds]Merlin & Goshawk @ Schomberg Lagoons
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Although I continue to strike out locally in my search for "good" shorebirds (eg. finding nothing but three Killdeer after driving over to the Tottenham sod farms this morning), I'm finding some consolation in happening upon a few decent raptors.
For the second day in a row I lucked into a Merlin, this time at the Schomberg lagoons
west of Newmarket. When I first arrived at 9:30 a.m. a small-ish raptor was silhouetted
atop one of the hydro poles on the north side of the lagoons. It flew south across the
second pond as I approached, showing itself to be a dark falcon with a boldly banded
tail. Eventually it returned to the same perch, but with the sun now behind me I was
able to get much better looks through my scope. The bird - a female/juv. type - showed
dark brown feathering simliar to yesterday's Merlin at Holland Landing (which I believe
to be a taiga female due to its brawny size and chocolate colouration), but it was not as
thickly barred in the chest. For those interested in bird behaviour, it was
"shuffling" its feet quite a bit and wiping its beak along the top and sides of
the wooden pole on which it was perched.
While I was walking along the southern end of the property (heading back to the
west), my attention was drawn to a medium-sized raptor flying low over the
grassy strip between the lagoons and the row of trees on the fenceline. I
assumed it would turn out to be a Harrier, but when I got my binoculars up and
followed it across my line of vision eastward, I was surprised to see that it
was a juvenile Goshawk, heavily streaked below, sporting a fairly distinct
white supercilium and a zig-zag patterned tail with a white tip. It flew out
of sight behind the long hill in the SE corner of the property and did not
reappear.
As for shorebirds, there were about 40 Lesser Yellowlegs scattered around the
three lagoons, one juv. Greater Yellowlegs, two Solitary Sandpipers, four Least
Sandpipers, several Killdeer and Spotted Sandpipers, about 30 Blue-winged Teal,
and a single Green Heron (first pond).
At the McKenzie Marsh in Aurora today there were six Great Blue Herons, two
Black-crowned Night Herons (one ad., one juv.), one Common Moorhen in basic
plumage, and a pair of noisy Belted Kingfishers.
Ron Fleming, Newmarket
Directions:
The Schomberg lagoons are west of Hwy. 400. Take Hwy. 9 west to Hwy.
27 (which runs north out of Nobleton). Turn south and take the next
left, which is Proctor Road (you will see a "Harvest House" furniture
place on the east side of 27). As you approach the end of Proctor,
turn right (south) just before the Schomberg Fire Hall. Park out of
the way at the bend in the short gravel road. There is a gate, beyond which
are three lagoons. You can walk east along the fenceline and go under.
The muddy perimeter of the first two ponds is best for shorebirds.
