I spent 1.5 hrs. birding Rattray Marsh starting just after the rain
quit at 1:00 pm. At 1:35 pm while looking at a small accipiter
circling high over the marsh, I spotted two small loons I flying high
over Rattray Marsh from north to south. They then circled about a km
out over the lake then turned north and landed just behind a long raft
of 250 Red-necked Grebes. On scoping (x30) them I discovered they
were two Red-throated Loon still in full breeding plumage (diagnostic
brick-throat; peal gray head and neck, dark back). Birds of Hamilton
has only one earlier date, 2 September 1889! The mudflats of the
marsh were just appearing above waterline and no shorebirds were seen.
Directions:
Access the marsh from the south end of Bexhill Road with runs of
Lakeshore Boulevard west between Southdown Road and Mississauga Road.
Wayne Renaud (289-828-0043).
_______________________________________________
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/
