On the passerine front there's not much to report; flocks of Goldfinch and Bluejays visiting feeders and garden sunflowers, lots of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and a few Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, but very little mention of warblers or vireos. New for the fall were about 20 Am. Pipits on Amherst on Wednesday. Herons have been quite conspicuous; there are many Great Blues, up to four immature Black-crowned Night-Herons, and at least one Am. Bittern on the KFN property on Amherst Island. Shorebird migration, on the other hand, has been quite good this week with 14 species reported, almost all from Amherst. Last Friday there were 2 Red Knots, a Ruddy Turnstone, and a White-rumped Sandpiper; on Wednesday lots of Killdeer, a Black-bellied and a Semipalmated Plover, many Lesser Yellowlegs, a dozen Least with one Semipalmated Sandpiper, and a half dozen each of Short-billed Dowitcher, Pectoral and Baird's Sandpiper. By Thursday the numbers had changed and in addition there was a Whimbrel on the lawn at the school on Amherst. To switch islands, I did get a second hand report of several(?) Am. Golden Plover at Reed's Bay on Wolfe Island.
Cheers, Peter Good Kingston Field Naturalists 613 378-6605 _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list ONTBIRDS@hwcn.org For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdshow.htm ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm
