GREAT GREY OWL YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD Cackling Goose Wood Duck American Wigeon Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail Green-winged Teal Canvasback Redhead Ring-necked Duck King Eider Harlequin Duck Black Scoter Great Blue Heron Black-crowned Night Heron Turkey Vulture Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Rough-legged Hawk American Coot Iceland Gull Glaucous Gull Snowy Owl Red-bellied Woodpecker Northern Flicker Northern Shrike Common Raven Yellow-rumped Warbler White-throated Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Red-winged Blackbird
Warmer temperatures finally arrived for a short time here in the HSA. Some new excellent birds appeared on the list for year and winter listers so it's worth a report. Last Saturday a GREAT GRAY OWL was photographed between Eden Mills and Starkey's Hill near Guelph. It was seen on Arkell Road just east of Nassagaweya-Puslinch Townline. The bird was a one day wonder but is worth looking for as it may still be in this vast area. Last Sunday a YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD was seen well sitting on a pole on Merritt Road in Lincoln. Much to the disappointment of this winter lister, the bird was not refound on Monday. Birders in the area did come up with two Cackling Geese at the end of the road just east of here. Of interest this week was a mixing and moving of ducks around the Hamilton Study Area. Warmer temperatures usually move things around a bit and often during a January thaw there are questions of whether migration is going on around us. A lovely pair of Harlequin Ducks were seen on Tuesday at Gairloch Gardens in Oakville. The birds may still be around but have not been reported since. Conditions are very icy down at this park so caution is needed. This week on Tuesday, thousands of geese with ducks mixed in were seen at 1st Road East and Mud Street. Down at the Desjardins Canal every day seems to bring a new set of ducks. This week, Wood Duck, American Wigeon, Canvasback and Redhead were seen. An oddity this week was observed as an American Coot was diving and bringing up material and feeding it to an American Wigeon. Apparently it is not uncommon to see Wigeon and Coots in unison and often the Wigeon will feed on material brought up by diving water birds. King Eiders seem to be in good supply this winter with two birds being seen regularly in the ship canal and two more found at the end of Green Road with Surf and a Black Scoter on Thursday. In the Red Hill Creek Outlet, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal and Ring-necked Ducks were noted. Black-crowned Night Herons are continuing here. Mid-week a Great Blue Heron was seen flying in this direction. Out in Flamborough last weekend a Turkey Vulture roost was found on Concession 2 near Orkney. A single bird was seen flying just to the north of the hamlet of Orkney, then another one to the SE. Driving west on 2nd Concession West, two were found at the side of the road feeding on what looked like a dead Opposum. While watching these, several more vultures flew in and landed in the conifer trees at house no. 1748. The high count here was 11. Other birds of interest seen out in the area included a Rough-legged Hawk at on Hwy 8 east of Peters Corners. A Northern Shrike was also present at this location. Another Northern Shrike and two Common Ravens were seen along Ainsley Road. Later in the week two Turkey Vultures likely from this roost were seen soaring over Governor's Road and Inksetter Road just east of Copetown. On Tuesday, another Turkey Vulture was seen up in Saltfleet between Hysert and Alway on Mud Street being harassed by a Northern Harrier. A Snowy Owl was perched atop a tree on 11th Road East. To round out sightings in this direction four White-crowned Sparrows were coming into the feeder at 10th Road East and Ridge Road and a sizable flock of Wild Turkeys were seen on 1st Road West south of Green Mountain. Snowy Owls continue to be seen this week with a different individual being seen on the break wall at Bronte Harbour. This individual is an adult. On the same day another individual was seen at the Suncor Pier just west of here. Another adult was seen in a field just off the North Service Road between Appleby and Burloak on Wednesday. Two immature birds were seen in the vicinity of Burloak and Superior Court early in the week with one atop the Canadian Tire Financial building on Burloak. Another one was seen at the back of the Home Depot mid week. Finally a Snowy Owl was seen on the north side of Hwy 407 just west of the Hwy 403 exit in Mississauga. Down at Olympic arena, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Fox Sparrow could not be found last weekend. Birds seen here though included Northern Flicker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-rumped Warbler, White-throated Sparrow and Red-winged Blackbird were seen. Iceland and Glaucous Gulls were seen flying over. In the odds and sods department nine Bald Eagles were seen sitting on the ice yesterday out in the Hamilton Harbour. That's the news for this week. Get out and look around before the next Polar Vortex hits mid week. Send your sightings here. Cheryl Edgecombe HNC --- This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active. http://www.avast.com _______________________________________________ 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
