On Thursday, July 29th, 2010, this is the HNC Birding Report: Common Goldeneye Red-necked Grebe Great Blue Heron Great Egret Black-crowned Night-Heron Northern Harrier Solitary Sandpiper Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Semipalmated Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Bonaparte's Gull Great Black-backed Gull Northern Saw-whet Owl Great Crested Flycatcher Chestnut-sided Warbler Bay-breasted Warbler Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart Hooded Warbler Orchard Orioles
There seems to be a bit of movement of birds in the Hamilton Study Area this week as we approach August. A walk in Joe Sam's Leisure Park sometimes known as Waterdown Wetlands (located on Waterdown Road on the east side, just south of the fifth Concession East) yielded a few migrant warblers earlier in the week. These included Chestnut-sided, Bay-breasted, Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart and Hooded Warbler. It is possible that a couple of these species bred in the area but it is hard to tell at this time of year. Great Crested Flycatcher and Easter Wood Pewee were also seen here. Shorebirds are still present in changing numbers this week. At the Monoghan Mushroom farm on Guelph Line north of Derry Road, Solitary Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Least and Pectoral Sandpiper were present earlier in the week. At the Red Hill Stormwater Pond, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and Semipalmated Sandpiper were seen here early in the week. Great Egret, Great Blue Heron and Black-crowned Night Heron can also be found here. Most of this week's sightings seem to be in the odds and sods category. Six Common Goldeneye were seen flying past Bronte Harbour, an unusual sighting for this time of year. A Hooded Warbler was seen at Rattray Marsh last Sunday. A gathering of Red-necked Grebes are also present out on the lake here. A female Northern Harrier was seen on 8th Road East in Salfleet. Also found here along the Dofasco Trail at 10th Road East was a female Orchard Oriole with young. This species will soon disappear from the area. A Bonaparte's Gull and a Great Black-backed Gull were species seen from Canada Centre for Inland Waters today. Another Great Egret was seen on a walk on Wednesday night in Cootes Paradise. Of special interest this week was the report of a Northern Saw-whet Owl which was heard responding to a Barred Owl tape during an owl survey earlier in the week. It has been brought to our attention that this may be a bird from the Mountsberg Rehabilitation Centre. The bird was wearing jesses and a hess band and disappeared from them Tuesday, July 20th. This bird was heard south of Guelph in the Aberfoyle area. Obviously any other sightings or calls from this bird should be forwarded, please let me know and I can contact Mountsberg. That's the news this week, time to start looking for migrants again. Please let me know what you see. Good birding, Cheryl Edgecombe HNC Hotline 905-381-0329 _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list ONTBIRDS@hwcn.org For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
