PACIFIC LOON EARED GREBE BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE SABINE'S GULL LITTLE GULL POMARINE JAEGER PARASITIC JAEGER YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD BREWER'S BLACKBIRD
Brant Ring-necked Pheasant Red-throated Loon Common Loon Horned Grebe Great Egret Turkey Vulture Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Rough-legged Hawk Golden Eagle Peregrine Falcon Sandhill Crane Black-bellied Plover Killdeer Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Ruddy Turnstone Red Knot Sanderling Baird's Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Purple Sandpiper Dunlin Wilson's Phalarope Red Phalarope Bonaparte's Gull Thayer's Gull Short-eared Owl Eastern Phoebe Northern Shrike House Wren Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Eastern Bluebird Gray-cheeked Thrush Swainson's Thrush Orange-crowned Warbler Nashville Warbler Common Yellowthroat Magnolia Warbler Chipping Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow We really should have Fall bird counts every week! Masses of people out scouring the area made birders here in the HSA proud this week. The top of the list shows that there are birds around and some excellent date records too. We had a great weather day on Saturday to start the count period. North winds and rain brought in some great. An adult PARASITIC JAEGER, an adult LITTLE GULL and a Thayer's Gull were among the highlights here. Brant were seen in numbers and Red-throated and Common Loons were seen en masse migrating. An EARED GREBE was found at Canada Centre for Inland Waters and has remained here until today. An adult BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE was seen from Francis Road along the lake. Count day was a huge success with another couple BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES, an adult POMARINE JAEGER along the lakeshore. YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD was recorded up near Neibauers Marsh on Wellington 32 near Guelph. A female BREWER'S BLACKBIRD was seen south of McCrae Station near the Mountsberg dam. On Monday a late SABINE'S GULL was a great find. Perhaps the biggest surprise on the count was the number of lingering shorebirds that were seen. Very late date records included a Wilson's Phalarope seen up until yesterday and another great late date was a Red Knot found on the day after the count at the Red Hill Stormwater Pond and remains there today. On Saturday five species of shorebirds were present at Windermere Basin including a late Ruddy Turnstone and Pectoral Sandpiper. Two Sanderling still remain at Windermere Basin. Black-bellied Plover and Sanderling were seen along the beach. A Red Phalarope was a definite highlight off the rocks at Lakeland Centre. Killdeer and a flyover Pectoral Sandpiper were seen at the Dundas Marsh . At Princess Point with the phalarope were Lesser Yellowlegs and Dunlin. At Mountsberg Conservation area a late Baird's Sandpiper was seen on the count. On Monday a flock of Purple Sandpipers flew by Lakeland Centre perhaps a result of the weather conditions on Saturday. Unfortunately the flock didn't settle in anywhere. Other highlights of the count include a Brant which was grazing on the lawn at Spencer Smith Park (still present yesterday), a Ring-necked Pheasant up near Dartnall Road on the mountain, Great Egret at Dundas Marsh, Golden Eagle over Dundas Marsh and up near Waterdown, Sandhill Cranes over the Dundas Valley, Rough-legged Hawk over Bayfront Park, Short-eared Owl over the west end of the lake, Eastern Phoebe near the orchard on Cumberland Ave and Harvester in Burlington and at the Dundas Marsh, a Northern Shrike near the McNally Pit near Puslinch, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher at Woodland Cemetery, House Wren in Kings Forest, Gray-cheeked Thrush up in King's Forest, Swainson's Thrush and Nashville Warbler at Sedgewick Park in Oakville, another Nashville Warbler at Hamilton Cemetery and an Orange-crowned Warbler at Dundurn Castle. A very late Magnolia Warbler was seen at Windermere Basin with another one found in the week at LaSalle Marina. Three late Lincoln's Sparrows were seen in various locations. The hawk flights continue inbetween the weather systems. Last Sunday before the clear skies brought them into the stratosphere, the hawks were flying over the Dundas Marsh and elsewhere in count areas. Turkey Vulture, Sharp-shinned, Coopers, Red-shouldered, Red-tailed Hawk were all birds seen. Today over Bronte another Golden Eagle was seen and two Peregrine Falcons in addition to the hawks listed above. In the odds and sods a group of Eastern Bluebirds were seen at the Gates of Heaven Cemetery over the last couple of days. A group of 7 Chipping Sparrows were seen in Parking Lot A at Bronte Creek provincial park. There were plenty more birds to be counted and so many more out there. The total ended up at 152 species a new record! There were also eight count birds. This is the time to scour for mega-rarities, we are due! 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 Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
