Great weather greeted the 33 participants on today's OFO Durham Marshes and that helped us to a total of 65 species seen (or heard) by most.
Despite overnight north winds with cooler temperatures, we saw no migrant songbirds. The only passerines were judged to be locals - Yellow Warbler, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Baltimore Oriole, Eastern Kingbird and Willow Flycatcher. We spent most of the day at Cranberry Marsh (the only shorebird habitat in the area) so our totals were boosted by 9 species of shorebirds - Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Pectoral, Spotted and Least Sandpipers, Short-billed Dowitchers, Wilson's Snipe, Killdeer and a flyover of a small flock of Semi-palmated Plovers. We had great looks at Great Blue Herons, Black-crowned Night Herons and Great Egrets (no tags) and at least one person spotted a Least Bittern. Waterbirds were well represented with highlights being Wood Ducks, both Teals, Pied-billed Grebes, Hooded Mergansers, Trumpeter Swans and a lone Moorhen that made a brief appearance. Caspian Terns and a Belted Kingfisher dove for fish in the open water. Both Marsh Wren and Swamp Sparrow sang occasionally. A trip to the Lake Ontario shore gave us a Common Loon but nothing much else on the lake. An Osprey flew over Lynde Creek in the route back to the vehicles. After lunch, we toured around Carruthers Creek Marsh and saw no new species but had good looks at Great Blues and Cormorants feeding on what looked like catfish. Rayfield Pye and John Stirrat _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup
