I took advantage of the unusually balmy weather and one more week off work to
do some birding near Bradford this morning. My first stop was at the eastern
end of Line 11 just north of Scanlon Creek C.A. where six Greater Black-backed
Gulls (4 adult, 2 first winter) caught my attention in the field on the south
side of the road. When I looked at them through my scope I realized that they
were rather ghoulishly dining on the corpse of what appeared to be a dead
porcupine. (When I came back along this route on the way home an hour later
the gulls were gone but there was a Red-tailed Hawk in a tree and a juvenile
Northern Harrier crossing the field, perhaps taking advantage of the same food
source.)
With only the name "Di Grassi Point" to guide me, I decided to make my second
attempt at the Carolina Wren seen by Peter Wukasch last Saturday. With my road
map misplaced, I hadn't found the point or the wren on Monday and appeared to
be headed toward the same fate when I couldn't find a sign for the point
anywhere along 20th Sdrd. this morning.
I decided to drive past the roads I'd tried Monday and finally turned east on
2nd Line north of Gilford, taking it right down to the shore of Cook's Bay
(which is the southern extension of Lake Simcoe). There is a little road
extension to park at just past Limerick Avenue.
When I got out of the car I looked north and was pleased to see 32 Tundra
Swans (a mix of juveniles and adults) swimming close to shore. There were also
several Mallards, 14 Black Ducks, a pair of Bufflehead, and a single male
Green-winged Teal, which is a good winter duck by my records. As I stood there
scoping these waterfowl the distinctive "tea-kettle, tea-kettle" of a Carolina
Wren suddenly chimed through the morning silence from the yard behind me. It
happily occurred to me that I had stumbled upon Peter's wren and the elusive Di
Grassi Point! The universe was aligned once more.
On the way home to Newmarket I saw a Northern Shrike along Miller Sdrd.
between Bathurst and Dufferin. For local York region birders working on a
winter list, Mike Van den Tillaart had four species on Sunday that we missed on
our CBC Saturday: Great Blue Heron, Belted Kingfisher and Brown Creeper (all
along the Holland River trail in north Newmarket) and a flock of Cedar Waxwings
near Jacaranda Drive.
Also of note to "Yorkies" is this report from Bruce Brydon on Jan. 1st
regarding birds in the Keswick area northeast of Newmarket:
Snowy Owl - 1 - south side of Ravenshoe about 0.5 km east of Yonge St.
Rough-legged Hawk - 2 - Yonge St. south of the Ravenshoe Rd.
Snow Bunting - 40 - Yonge St. south of the Ravenshoe Rd.
Great Black-backed Gull - at least 12 - south end of Cook's Bay
Common Merganser - 15 - south end of Cook's Bay
Greater Scaup - 500 or more as an estimate - south end of Cook's Bay
Common Goldeneye - 50 - south end of Cook's Bay
American Wigeon - 1 - Cook's Bay at Way's Bays Rd. in Keswick
Gadwall - 1 - Cook's Bay at Way's Bays Rd. in Keswick
American Black Duck - 1 - Cook's Bay at Way's Bays Rd. in Keswick
Ron Fleming, Newmarket
Bradford and Newmarket are about halfway between Toronto and Barrie.
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From: "Ron Ridout" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <ontbirds@hwcn.org>
Subject: [Ontbirds]Long Pt CBC
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The Long Point Christmas Count was held Saturday December 16th on a warm
sunny day with almost no wind. Despite these pleasant conditions,
observers commented that landbirds were very difficult to find.
Forty-five observers tallied 73903 individuals (3x the long-term
average) of 106 species, slightly above this past decade's average of
104. There were no new or unusual species for the count.
=20
Record totals included:
=20
4232 Canada Geese
5591 Red-breasted Mergansers
3 Merlins
131 Sandhill Cranes (new Canadian high)
28 Red-bellied Woodpeckers
9 Pileated Woodpeckers
3 Northern Mockingbirds
=20
Full details are available on the Audubon website at www.audubon.org
Ron Ridout=20
Bird Studies Canada=20
P.O. Box 160, Port Rowan. ON N0E 1M0=20
519-586-3531 Ext 204
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> =20
=20
=20
