Greetings: Sara Petrasek and I, with the knowledge and permission of Keith [Tiny] Lee entered the wetland at 7:30 this morning.
Oh my goodness: A Common Loon flew over as we entered and the Marsh Wren were calling. Sara came with me because she birds by ear, which would help to increase the number of recorded species. Unfortunately since it was very clouding the song birds were not singing. This is what was seen by us and others:Great Blue Heron, Killdeer, Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, several Solitary Sandpipers, Green-wing Teal, Blue-wing Teal, Short-Billed Dowitcher, Red-winged Blackbirds, Wilson's Snipe, Mourning Doves, Green Heron (photographed by Tiny), American Kestrel, American Goldfinch, Chimney Swifts (we are not sure where they spend their evening), Semi-palmated Sandpiper (Fred Helliner), a Least Sandpiper. While Sara and I were doing our tour we could hear what sounded like "pishing". We looked around to see if someone else had entered The "pishing" sound came from the Osprey nest. Junior and hunter had been calling so much that it appeared they were starting to lose their voices - hence the "pishing" sound. I know that Mayor Herrington and Jim Phillips do not know what piching is. It is a sound birders makew when they want to entice a song bird to make an appearance. Now some really great stuff: Sara and I saw "4" Sora familes, a number of Virgina Rail families and at least 7 Commom Moorhen families. All-in-all we saw no fewer than 40 little black fluffy things scurrying around accompanied by adults. We also saw four immature Moorhen. Very, very fine young birds. At 11:00am four of us were standing around talking with Tiny. We saw a Bonaparte's Gull (full adult plummage), an American Bittern and watched the areobatics of Hunter, Junior, Gracie and George (our Osprey). A fifth Osprey appeared and the Hunter and Junior immediately made for the nest. What was very "cool: to se was how gracefully an adult landed on the between Junior and Hunter. We also watched Virgina Rail and chicks running from one cell to another. Another wonderful couple of hours at our contsructed wetland. Once again, I thank Mayor Herrington. Jim Phillips and Tiny for making the wetland accessable. Thank you Sara for going into the wetland so early with me. Maureen I have a question: Can anyone tell us if Virgina Rail, Sora and Common Moorhen raise more than one clutch in the Spring? The wetland is located exactly 702 kilometres from where exit 509 meets (Highway 30) eastbound on the 401. Follow the road straight through Brigton. The Wetland is located on the southeast side of County Road 64. Please use caution when parking and exiting your vehicle as the speed limit increases to 80 k/h about 100 meters from the entrance to the wetland. _________________________________________________________________ Stay in the loop and chat with friends, right from your inbox! http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9671354_______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
