The general feeling locally is that we have not yet had any sort of a fallout and that most of the evidence of fall migration has been at night and overhead. There was a large movement of thrushes and warblers over the city on the nights of Sept. 15/16 and 20/21 with a lesser number noted on the 19/20. Swainson's Thrushes predominated with an estimate of up to 7000/hour passing overhead.
On the ground there are a few reports of interest. The Amherstview lagoons continue to have variety if not large numbers of shorebirds. There were 2 Stilt Sandpipers and a Wilson's Phalarope yesterday, along with a few Greater Yellowlegs and several Lesser Yellowlegs. There are also about 300 to 400 Bonaparte's Gulls. A trip to Amherst Island, also on Thursday,yielded a Golden Plover and 4 Black-bellied Plover on the gravel bar but the ponds behind the dyke were virtually empty possibly due to a patrolling Merlin. "Our" singleton Great Egret that has been making the rounds all summer reappeared a week ago Wednesday on the Middle Road; it hadn't been seen since Aug. 13th. The weekly field trip of the North Leeds Birders, this week to the Chaffey's Lock area, found 4 Common Ravens, 5 Pileated Woodpeckers, 3 Red-shouldered Hawks, and the best birds of the week; 2 Sandhill Cranes. Cheers, Peter Good Kingston Field Naturalists 613 378-6605
