A great day of birding in the Hamilton-Burlington area yielded 57 species for a dozen members of the West Humber Naturalists today. Trip leader Dave Milsom did a marvellous job, taking us to several lookouts along the Lake Ontario shoreline - including Windermere Basin in Hamilton Harbour, which held a phenomenal variety of wintering ducks. We ended up with 23 (!) duck species in total - an almost obscene amount at any time of year but especially in mid-January. Highlights included all three scoters (there were scads of White-wings, about 10 Surfs, and one female Black), one female KING EIDER off Fruitland Road, dozens of Ruddy Ducks at Windermere Basin, and a flotilla of elegant Canvasbacks just off LaSalle Marina. Despite the high duck count, we actually missed both the Harlequin and Wood Duck observed locally this week. Birds that did not elude us included: a hardy YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER still lingering near the bridge where Woodward Avenue meets Eastport Drive (it flushed from the small conifers on the west side); two magificent PEREGRINE FALCONS that granted us "crippling looks" (thanks for the Britspeak, Keefer) from the parking lot below the Skyway; two TUFTED TITMICE and a CAROLINA WREN at Paletta Park in Burlington; and the NORTHERN HAWK OWL - Hamilton's visiting celebrity, still hunting actively beside the RR tracks west of Tenth Road. Many thanks, Hamilton, for your great birds and for allowing a prodigal son to come home for the day without any reprisals other than Dennis Lewington's good-natured cheap shots. Muchos gracias, Dave Milsom, for leading an excellent field trip. Ron Fleming, Newmarket _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdssetup.php ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdsguide.php
