BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE WHITE-EYED VIREO NORTHERN PARULA BALTIMORE ORIOLE Greater White-fronted Goose x Canada Goose Cackling Goose King Eider Horned Grebe Rough-legged Hawk Golden Eagle Killdeer Sanderling White-rumped Sandpiper Purple Sandpiper Dunlin Iceland Gull Glaucous Gull Snowy Owl Common Raven Marsh Wren Hermit Thrush Yellow-rumped Warbler Chipping Sparrow
It's been a quiet two weeks here but there are still birds about but I expect that as this weather moves in and brings snow up north that there may be some shift in the birds as we have seen this week with Snowy Owls. Let's start at the top. Last weekend east winds on the lake brought in an immature BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE on Saturday and Sunday. Other interesting birds seen there were Iceland and Glaucous Gull. Another immature Glaucous gull was seen at 40 mile creek. Today a WHITE-EYED VIREO was found in the tangles southeast of the tanks at the Water Treatment Plant located at Arkendo in Oakville. The bird was seen briefly but was not able to be located. West of here at Sedgewick Park in Oakville a NORTHERN PARULA was present a week ago Friday along with four Yellow-rumped Warblers. A pleasant surprise was a BALTIMORE ORIOLE found eating berries along the trail where the Black-throated Gray Warbler was seen a few years ago at Bayfront Park. Another late bird was a Marsh Wren seen the week before last along the VanWagners Pond trail. Winter listers will be interested in these lingering birds as December 1st comes closer so please send along your sightings. The big story of the week has been the large eruption of Snowy Owls. Today, five were seen at Tollgate Pond off Eastport Drive in Hamilton. Other reports of birds come from Canada Centre for inland Waters, at the end of Jones Road in Stoney Creek and the RioCan Centre off Burloak at the QEW. Unfortunately two birds have met their demise with road kills near the Burlington Lift Bridge and near Tollgate Pond earlier in the week. Late shorebirds are in the news, Killdeer, White-rumped Sandpiper and Dunlin have all been reported from the Red Hill Stormwater Pond. Numbers vary by the day but it is possible these birds move over to Windermere Basin. A good find was a Purple Sandpiper at the end of Fruitland Road seen working along the rocks. Sanderling were reported along the Burlington Beach and at Fifty Point in the past two weeks which is a late date for them. In the odds and sods,12 Cackling Geese and a Greater White-fronted x Canada Goose were seen at the NW quarry in Hagersville on Thursday. An adult male King Eider was seen a couple days at the end of Fruitland Road. A female was also seen here, they seem to be moving about with the thousands of ducks that have now moved into the area. Horned Grebes can still be seen along the lakeshore as they move through. A Golden Eagle was seen last Saturday along the 403 in Brantford. A Common Raven was seen in pursuit of a Red-tailed Hawk along Highway 6 around Concession 5 West. A lateish Chipping Sparrow was a guest at a feeder in Dundas. There are rare birds all around us and the weather is nuts so get out there and scour your local patch to turn up something HSA style. Report your sightings here. Good birding. Cheryl Edgecombe HNC. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - 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 Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
