Folks,
This morning out at Goertimus Island (in Lake George, Echo Bay) I started the morning with a Yellow Rail ticking a tune for me and shortly thereafter came across a Nelson's (ST) Sparrow singing (as if on territory) in a patch of Phragmites adjacent to a wet sedge meadow. Shortly after this I noticed some large shorebirds on a distance sandspit. As soon as I put the scope on them I knew I was looking at Whimbrel (27 indiv). I managed to get some ok photos once I moved in on them. I met up with Kirk Zufelt on the island a bit later and together we found a bunch more birds (including Western Sandpiper - posted earlier tonight). Goertimus Island can be accessed only by watercraft from the end of Pumpkin Point Rd which goes south off Hwy 17 -10 miles east of Echo Bay, Algoma Later tonight I took my dog Max for a walk at Belleview Park and he helped me find a Wilson's Phalarope in the small lagoon in the west corner. Belleview Park is centrally located in Sault Ste. Marie, ON along Queen Street off the end of Lake Street. I had many other birds today (full list below). Todays birds: Common Loon 2 Pied-billed Grebe 2 DC Cormorant 30 Canada Geese 100+ Wood Duck 2 Gadwall 8 Am Wigeon 6 Am Black Duck 5 Mallard 50+ Blue-winged Teal 4 Green-winged Teal 2 Northern Shoveler 2 Redhead 8 Long-tailed Duck 1 Common Goldeneye 8 Hooded Merganser 12 Common Merganser 30+ American Bittern 6 Great Blue Heron 3 Turkey Vulture 4 Osprey 1 BW Hawk 1 Bald Eagle 8 Northern Harrier 2 Yellow Rail 1 Sora 4 Am Coot 1 Sandhill Crane 120+ Black-bellied Plover 4 Semipalmated Plover 30+ Killdeer 10+ Spotted Sandpiper 6 Lesser Yellowlegs 4 Whimbrel 27 Ruddy Turnstone 1 Sanderling 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper 15 Baird's Sandpiper 8 Least Sandpiper 4 Western Sandpiper 1 Dunlin 50+ Wilson's Snipe 10+ Wilson's Phalarope 1 Bonaparte's Gull 11 Ring-billed Gull 500+ Herring Gull 100+ Caspian Tern 3 Black Tern 8 Common Tern 20+ Rock Pigeon 30+ Mourning Dove 4 Chimney Swift 80+ Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1 Belted Kingfisher 2 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2 Downy Woodpecker 1 Hairy Woodpecker 2 Northern Flicker 3 Pileated Woodpecker 1 Eastern Wood-Pewee 1 Alder Flycatcher 10+ Least Flycatcher 2 Eastern Phoebe 4 Great-crested Flycatcher 1 Eastern Kingbird 2 Blue-headed Vireo 1 Red-eyed Vireo 3 Warbling Vireo 2 Blue Jay 5 Am Crow 30+ Common Raven 4 Tree Swallow 6 Barn Swallow 20 Cliff Swallow 8 Black-capped Chickadee 6 White-breasted Nuthatch 2 House Wren 2 Sedge Wren 2 Marsh Wren 4 Golden-crowned Kinglet 2 Veery 3 Hermit Thrush 2 Swainson's Thrush 1 American Robin 50+ Gray Catbird 2 Brown Thrasher 1 European Starling 20+ Cedar Waxwing 7 Nashville Warbler2 Yellow Warbler 15+ Chestnut-sided Warbler 10+ Magnolia Warbler 3 Yellow-rumped Warbler 7 Black-throated Green Warbler 2 Blackburnian Warbler 3 American Redstart 15+ Ovenbird 5 Mourning Warbler 2 Common Yellowthroat 30+ Canada Warbler 1 Scarlet Tanager 1 Chipping Sparrow 10 Clay-coloured Sparrow 5 Savannah Sparrow 50+ Leconte's Sparrow 1 Nelson's ST Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow 10+ Swamp Sparrow 10+ White-throated Sparrow 8 Slate-coloured Sparrow 2 Indigo Bunting 4 Red-winged Blackbird 50+ Common Grackle 40+ BH Cowbird 6 Purple Finch 1 Pine Siskin 30+ American Goldfinch 20+ Ken McIlwrick SSM, ON __,_._,___ _______________________________________________ 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/
