[Ontbirds]Loggerhead Shrikes and more - Carden Alvar
Visited on June 21st, 8am to 12pm Notable Species: 2 (maybe 3) Loggerhead Shrikes - behind bluebird box #10 15 Upland Sandpipers 4 Grasshopper Sparrows (many more heard) 5 Eastern Bluebirds 3 Sedge Wrens - Sedge Wren Marsh 1 American Bittern - Sedge Wren Marsh 1 Alder Flycatcher (heard only) Many Savannah Sparrows, Bobolinks, Meadowlarks Also saw Snowshoe Hare, Eastern Cottontail and Fisher. Directions from Norm Murr: Wylie Road is north of Kirkfield in Victoria County and Kirkfield itself is on County Road 48 east of Highway 12 and well north of Whitby and about 130 km from Toronto if you follow the roads and not a Crow. From the centre of Kirkfield go north on County Road 6 passing under the Lift Lock on the Trent Canal and drive about 2 ½ km further north to where the road curves left or west. On this curve and on your right is McNamee Rd, turn right here onto McNamee and drive east for about 300 yards and you will be at Wylie Road. This road is about 9 ½ km long ending at Alvar Rd (a T intersection). Birding can be good on this road as well, either way.
[Ontbirds]Black-throated Green Warbler - Leamington
A singing male Black-throated Green Warbler was heard this morning (June 22nd) about 5 km west of Leamington at a private residence on the lakeshore. It was consistently singing from a small grove of planted spruces for the entire half hour I was present. Although likely an unpaired male, this is still an unusual species here in summer. In the yard in Wheatley, the resident Carolina Wrens now are feeding young in the geranium pot on the back deck. Good birding! Tom Tom Hince Wild Rose Guest House RR1, 21298 Harbour Road Wheatley, ON [EMAIL PROTECTED] From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Jun 22 17:24:12 2007 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: ontbirds@hwcn.org Received: from tomts10-srv.bellnexxia.net (tomts10.bellnexxia.net [209.226.175.54]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 191DD63485 for ; Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:24:12 -0400 (EDT) Received: from jean-bapu1sw48i.sympatico.ca ([69.158.101.191]) by tomts10-srv.bellnexxia.netESMTP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> for ; Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:24:12 -0400 Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 7.0.1.0 Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:24:47 -0400 To: ontbirds@hwcn.org From: Jean Iron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Subject: [Ontbirds]Southbound Least Sandpiper - Holland Landing X-BeenThere: ontbirds@hwcn.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2007 21:24:12 - This morning at the Holland Landing Sewage Lagoons I saw a single southbound adult Least Sandpiper - my first of the fall migration. It was on mud at the south end of the fourth lagoon. The second and fourth lagoons are lower than the other two and should be good shorebird habitat this summer as the water evaporates. I went there looking for Least Sandpiper and Lesser Yellowlegs - both are expected about now returning from their breeding grounds in northern Ontario. This Least Sandpiper was probably a female because female Leasts depart the breeding grounds soon after the chicks hatch leaving the males to raise the young. When the juveniles are grown in about three weeks, the males will head south. So we get three waves of Least Sandpipers: adult females, adult males, and the juveniles come last. Most shorebirds follow a similar pattern, but of course there are exceptions such as the Pectoral Sandpiper with males arriving first in southern Ontario starting in mid-July. These first arriving shorebirds have long intrigued me. Many authorities say they're failed breeders and I said they "may be" in a shorebird article in 1999 in OFO News. However, I now believe that most early arrivals are just regular migrants that have completed their normal breeding duties. I say this because arrival dates of many common shorebird species are fairly consistent every year. I expect the first Lesser Yellowlegs will be reported this weekend and the first Solitary Sandpipers and Short-billed Dowitchers will be here in early July. Directions: About 50 km north of Toronto. From Highway 401 go north on 404 to Green Lane (last exit). Go west on Green Lane to 6th traffic light. Turn right on Yonge St. and go about 1 km and exit to Holland Landing Road. Follow winding road (no turns) through Holland Landing for 5.6 km. Turn right on Cedar St. to lagoons. If you get to Queensville Side Road you've gone about 1 km past Cedar St. Do not block gate. Also do not climb the new gate. Last year the old gate was broken off its hinges because people climbed it. Go to small opening at left of fence to old road. Walk 15 steps to orange stake. Walk short distance past large white pine to lagoon road. Wear long pants because of poison ivy. Last summer I met York Region staff at the lagoons several times. They were always friendly and even looked through the scope. Our good behaviour will ensure access continues. Ron Pittaway Minden and Toronto ON [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[Ontbirds]RE: Late Brant - Ottawa.
Further to the late Brant post of June 12, I encountered a Brant again this morning at Riverrain Park in the Rideau river just below the tennis club. I do not know if this is the same one that had been reported on the Ottawa river as I have been seeing it infrequently at Riverrain over the past month, however this is my first sighting here in almost two weeks. Photo (this one taken three weeks ago on previous sighting): http://www.flickr.com/photos/silliopolous/533094045/ Mike Broughton. Directions to RiverRain Park: From Highway 417 take the Vanier Parkway exit NorthBound. Go northwest about 1.5 km to McArther Road and turn left or west onto. Proceed 0.5 km to the west end of McArthur, which ends at the entry to a parking lot for Riverrain on the west side of North River Road. Note that this is pay parking during working hours. To get to the tennis club, follow the path along the river south (left) about 100 yard. There is a clearing down towards the river just past the first set of tennis courts.
[Ontbirds]Quinte Area Bird Report for week ending June 21, 2007
WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR THE WEEK ENDING Thursday, June 21, 2007 I think it is a given that birding is far more than just the pursuit of the checklist. It was refreshing to see readers submitting observations that went far beyond just noting the presence of certain bird species. Birding is made more enjoyable when we take the time to observe their habits, and it is through this observation that we begin to learn about bird attributes. Two Rosemarys submitted two very similar observations this past week. Rosemary Kent of the Northport area on the Bay of Quinte had this to say about something she had not seen before. " It is not uncommon to see a group of blackbirds - grackles & redwings mostly - chasing an AMERICAN CROW out of a tree and well off the property. We have come to refer to such a group of blackbirds as the 'posse'. The other morning on returning from my walk, I heard a commotion in the tree beside me and knew right off what was happening. As they all flew out of the tree in pursuit of the crow, I noticed two orange bellies in the posse. The orioles have a nest somewhere nearby, so it was obviously in their best interests to join the defenders. They helped to chase the crow way out into the bay." Meanwhile in the Milford area, Rosemary Smith noted the following concerning a AMERICAN CROW on her property. "A robin was nesting in a big pine tree on our front lawn. She left the nest for a coffee break and a crow flew in to rape and pillage. The other birds in the vicinity came to her rescue and chased away the crow - these included grackles, red-winged blackbirds, starlings and one male Baltimore Oriole. I had seen this before where birds look out for each other's nests, but never such diversity in the army of defenders. There were about 15 of them chasing the crow with the grackles leading the charge and I never saw him come back." For Nancy Smitts who lives just west of Trenton, her story this week concerned a BLACK BEAR that made its debut on her property several days ago. "I had never thought that we would actually see a bear on our property but last week we had a bear spending most of the week on our property. Our first encounter with him was when we were taking the dog for a walk and she suddenly took off after something ahead of us. We looked up and both screamed for the dog to come because she was headed for a bear. Luckily he was near a tree and headed up it and our dog did come back to us. A little later we saw him in this year's soybean field eating corn that was left from last year's crop. While we were watching him, a coyote came out of the woods and slowly followed the bear. We wondered if maybe she had pups and was worried about a bear being close by. I saw the bear Monday, but not since then. He would be better to find a less populated area. We have land and a small wooded area but not far away are three subdivisions and I'm sure the residents would not be happy to see a bear. We hope he remains safe...there are always overzealous hunters around." And two GREY TREE FROG stories came to my attention this week. In addition to no fewer than 11 species of birds that are parading around the yard belonging to Dave and Judy Bell of Maitland Drive on the north side of Belleville, they have also been busy sidestepping a persistent GRAY TREEFROG that has been loafing on their deck. Another GRAY TREEFROG at Napanee solved the problem of being inadvertently stepped on, by spending its days in the entrance hole of a nesting box ! Owners of the property, Susan and Ken Withers, say the frog just sits there on the edge of the hole, peering outside, totally ignoring the tree swallows that dive-bomb it, as they try to gain access to the box. I hate to end these warm stories on a dismal note, but I thought this story was worth repeating as it clearly illustrates the mentality of some of the brain dead riff raff that occasionally crawl out from under the limestone rocks of Prince Edward County. In a letter to the editor in yesterday's Picton Gazette, a writer relates an incident on East Lake where for two successive weekends a person on a "Seadoo" relentlessly pursued a MUTE SWAN and her seven cygnets, on the last occasion, mowing down the cygnets, and forcing the one adult into flight. OPP, according to the letter, were contacted, but the caller was informed there was "nothing they would do" about the incident. We have to question why reckless use of a personal watercraft on two weekends in a row and harassment of wildlife would not be of interest to the OPP. In other bird news this week, SCARLET TANAGERS are visiting a garden pond at Thomasburg, and a BROWN THRASHER is also a guest at the birdbath there. The presence of a small fountain and a waterfall in their yard has been attributed to the appearance of the colorful guests. From the Tuftsville wetlands a
