The best bird of the past week was the SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER on Potter Road in eastern Prince Edward County. Though, strictly speaking, outside the 50 km-wide Kingston birding area, it was a very nice surprise for local twitches. Please see Terry Sprague's recent post for more details. Also rare, was an EURASIAN WIGEON on Hughes Road north of Kingston (details below). After a couple of weeks of fairly slow migration in the Kingston Region, some new species started to arrive. There had been increasingly widespread reports of GREATER YELLOWLEGS, BELTED KINGFISHER, YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER, NORTHERN FLICKER, BARN SWALLOW, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, WINTER WREN, BROWN THRASHER, PINE WARBLER, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, EASTERN TOWHEE, CHIPPING SPARROW, FIELD SPARROW, SAVANNAH SPARROW, SWAMP SPARROW, WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. DARK-EYED JUNCOS were still moving through.
City of Kingston The first HERMIT THRUSH was seen at the Rideau Trail trailhead. A PALM WARBLER was also reported. Amherst Island Waterfowl numbers were rather low, and included the following species: WOOD DUCK, GADWALL, AMERICAN WIGEON, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, GREATER SCAUP, LONG-TAILED DUCK, COMMON MERGANSER and RED-BREASTED MERGASNER. Raptors included NORTHERN HARRIER, ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK and AMERICAN KESTREL. There were 10 PECTORAL SANDPIPERS and 1 early DUNLIN at the Kingston Field Naturalists's property on the island's east end. Thirty BONAPARTE'S GULLS on one day. PURPLE MARTINS have once again started to populate bird houses throughout the island. An early HOUSE WREN was also reported. A NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW was seen on the ferry crossing. As for raptors, only SHORT-EARED OWL and NORTHERN HARRIER were reported last week. Amherstview Sewage Lagoons GADWALL, 12 NORTHERN SHOVELERS, BUFFLEHEAD and HOODED MERGANSER were among the waterfowl at the lagoons. There were also 2 GREATER YELLOWLEGS among the ever present KILLDEER. You must be a Kingston Field Naturalist member (or otherwise obtain permission from the municipality) to legally access the lagoons. Opinicon Road Waterbirds in the area included 2 TRUMPETER SWANS, WOOD DUCK, RING-NECKED DUCK, COMMON MERGANSER, HOODED MERGANSER and COMMON LOON. A SHARP-SHINNED HAWK recovered after hitting a window at Queen's University Biological Station (QUBS). RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS were widespread and easy to find, and OSPREY were on nests. A pair of MERLIN were regularly seen near QUBS. BARRED OWLS continued to be heard nightly. PINE WARBLERS and YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS took up territories at QUBS and elsewhere where pines are the dominant trees. The only other warblers noted this past week were a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH near the Skycroft Campground and a NASHVILLE WARBLER at QUBS. Two PINE SISKINS, a handful of PURPLE FINCHES, an EVENING GROSBEAK some AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES were all at QUBS. Prince Edward Point In addition to the species mentioned in Terry Sprague's report, there were also observations of the following: 1 GREAT EGRET, 1 NORTHERN SHRIKE, 1 AMERICAN TREE SPARROW, 1 FOX SPARROW and 7 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS. Wolfe Island There was still at least 1 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK on Wolfe Island. So far the only report of CASPIAN TERN in the region this year came from Wolfe Island. Other Sightings A EURASIAN WIGEON was seen by several observers in the ponds along Hughes Road (north of Kingston off Highway 15). Perhaps this was the same bird reported some time ago at Lower Brewer's Mills. There were 20 AMERICAN WIGEONS at this site too. Reports of AMERICAN BITTERNS have been scarce so far this year, but there was one sounding off at the Elbow Lake Environmental Education Centre. A surprise ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK was there on the same morning. An UPLAND SANDPIPER and two LOGGERHEAD SHRIKES were near Newburg. A SHARP-SHINNED HAWK and a COOPER'S HAWK were near Battersea. A BROAD-WINGED HAWK and good numbers of RING-NECKED DUCKS were at Charleston Lake Provincial Park. A SANDHILL CRANE was near Crosby for several days early last week. What is certainly among the earliest EASTERN WHIP-POOR-WILL records for the area was a bird detected on Buck Lake on Apr 18. There was a NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW at Violet. Two VESPER SPARROWS and a RUSTY BLACKBIRD were near Morven. Thank you to those who contributed observations this week. All bird sightings reported to me are included in the Kingston Field Naturalists’s long term records database which has over 60 years of observations on file and is an invaluable conservation resource. Mark -- Mark Andrew Conboy Operations & Research Assistant and Outreach Coordinator Queen’s University Biological Station 280 Queen's University Road Elgin, Ontario, Canada K0G 1E0 phone: 613-359-5629 fax: 613-359-6558 email: 7m...@queensu.ca or mcon...@lakeheadu.ca QUBS website: http://www.queensu.ca/qubs/index.html QUBS blog: http://opinicon.wordpress.com/ QUBS flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/qubsoutreach/ _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
