[Ontbirds] Wawanash Wetlands (Sarnia) - Horned Grebes, Rusty Blackbirds, Orange-crowned Warblers
I birded the Wawanash Wetlands Conservation Area in Sarnia this morning from 8:00 - 11:00am. Two HORNED GREBES were in the marsh, visible from the small viewing tower east of the marsh, south of the parking lot. Also present were Pied-Billed Grebe, American Coot, Wood Duck, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Mallard, Canada Goose, Great Blue Heron, and Double-crested Cormorant. A few small groups of RUSTY BLACKBIRD (ranging from 2 to 5 birds) were seen east and south of the marsh. These mostly stuck to their own, though one pair was with a flock of Red-winged Blackbirds. Yellow-rumped Warblers and Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglets were abundant south and west of the marsh. Little else was mixed in with these, though there were at least two ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS associating with them in the shrubby area southwest of the marsh. Other birds included a Blue-headed Vireo, a Tenessee Warbler, and two Common Yellowthroats. Several Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers were also around. Directions: Wawanash Wetlands Conservation Area is located in Sarnia. The area can be accessed from Blackwell Side Road (look for the sign on the west side of the road), north of the 402 and south of Michigan Line. Alternatively, the area can be accessed from a walking path that begins at Modeland Road, just north of the 402 (Modeland is exit 6). -- Kevin Kerr Guelph, ON ___ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
[Ontbirds] Ross's Goose, etc. - Ottawa
Hi Ontbirders, We had a beautiful and bird-filled autumn day in Ottawa's west end today. Highlights include the following: Long-billed Dowitcher at Constance Bay Nelson's Sparrow at Constance Bay A total of 33 Hudsonian Godwits between Constance Bay and Ottawa Beach (several small flocks and individuals). A Cackling Goose near Ottawa Beach. A Ross's Goose at the Moodie Drive Quarry Pond. Directions to Sharp-tailed Sparrow and assorted shorebirds courtesy of Jeff Skevington: Start at the fire access at the intersection of Sand Bay Street and Baillie Avenue. To get there, follow Constance Bay Drive in from Dunrobin Road. Turn right on Baillie just past the liquor store. Sand Bay is about 400 m east.Directions to Ross's Goose, Cackling Goose and Hudsonian Godwits courtesy of Neily WorldOttawa Beach: http://www.neilyworld.com/neilyworld/orwo13.htm Moodie Drive Quarry Pond: http://www.neilyworld.com/neilyworld/stony8.htm Happy Thanksgiving Weekend! Cheers Nina Stavlund http://thevisualadventure.blogspot.com/ http://nina-stavlund.artistwebsites.com/ ___ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
[Ontbirds] Snowy Egret (?) Lighthouse Cove Essex/C-K
Hi all, There has been some heron-type activity at the mouth of the Thames River the last few days. On my way home from Point Pelee today, I stopped into Lighthouse Cove at the mouth of the Thames River. I immediately noticed a small white heron beside a Great Egret on a dead-head. (It eventually flew in close in front of the restaurant). I thought for sure I had a Little Blue Heron! This past Wednesday, a juv Little Blue Heron was reported at this location, and again later yesterday. And, as reported by Sarah Rupert, she saw an adult Snowy Egret yesterday (Saturday). Turns out on closer examination, the bird I saw today I believe to be a juv Snowy Egret with odd colours. The bill was the grayish colour of Little Blue, but no distinctive dark tip. Also the bird had definite yellow lores. Shape of bill was more like Snowy Egret. Legs were greenish yellow but did not show black on forelegs. Feet appeared a little more yellowish than the legs. I have never seen Snowy Egret with some of these colours before, so that threw me off initially. I'm not saying that there is not a Little Blue Heron out there and an adult Snowy Egret, but the one I saw today appeared to be a juv Snowy Egret! (There are lots of egrets around here at various times). Directions: Lighthouse Cove is north of Tilbury at the mouth of the Thames River. Exit 401 at #56 Follow Richardson Sideroad north to #2 turn left, then right on #39 (Lighthouse Sideroad) and follow to the Cove. Park near the restaurant at the river mouth. Cheers, Blake A. Mann Wallaceburg Chatham-Kent, Ontario boatmannATkentDOTnet Blog: http://burgbirder.blogspot.com/ ___ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
[Ontbirds] Purple Gallinule at Port Weller Ontario
Ontbirders:
Rob Dobos and I are currently watching the juvenile Purple Gallinule at Port
Weller East (directions in the post below). The bird is in the south west
corner of the pond at the edge of reeds.
Barb Charlton
-Original Message-
From: Mark Cranford mark.cranf...@rogers.com
Sender: birdalert-boun...@ontbirds.ca
Date: Sun, 9 Oct 2011 16:39:13
To: Ontbirdsbirdalert@ontbirds.ca
Reply-To: Mark Cranford mark.cranf...@rogers.com
Subject: [Ontbirds] Fw: [GeneseeBirds-L] Possible Purple Gallinule at Port
Weller Ontario
-- Sent from my Palm Pre
From: Marcia Jacklin lt;mjack...@brocku.cagt;
Date: 9 Oct 2011 2:30 p.m.
Subject: [GeneseeBirds-L] Possible Purple Gallinule at Port Weller Ontario
To: 'Genesee Birds' lt;geneseebird...@geneseo.edugt;
P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}
Hello
Dan Salisbury and John Black called me about a brown gallinule at Port Weller.
It was spotted at 11 am this morning on the count. It's on the 'east' side of
the canal. Take the QEW to exit 44 Niagara St. North on Niagara to Lakeshore.
Cross the canal and make
your first left follow the roads along the canal and park at the gate. The
walk out is quite far. Go to the 'pond' on the east side. They viewed the bird
from the lake side of the pond. Apparently the vocalizations sound a bit moany.
Good luck on the count everyone!
Marcie Jacklin
___
ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial
birding organization.
Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca
For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
___
ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial
birding organization.
Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca
For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
[Ontbirds] Constance Bay (Ottawa) Nelson's Sparrow's and shorebirds 09 October
Hello Ontbirds people, Several birders followed up on Jeff Richard Skevington's nice discoveries at Constance Bay yesterday. Today between approx. 8:30 and 10:00 AM, we (Bob Bracken, Bob Cermak, Bernie Ladouceur, Chris Lewis, Paul Mirsky, Remy Poulin, Mike Tate, Kim Zbitnew others) saw at least 11 NELSON'S SPARROWS in the cordgrass and willows by the mouth of Constance Creek, also many Song Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, Common Yellowthroatwho knows how many birds are hiding in this extensive riparian vegetation??!!! No idea how many people arrived after our visit, but while we were there, the human presence was mercifully not overwhelming or obtrusive. In addition to the sparrows, quite a few shorebirds were still on the beach or flying around at this location. This morning we observed (all juveniles) 3 Black-bellied Plovers, several Lesser Yellowlegs, approx. 20 White-rumped Sandpipers, 3 Pectoral Sandpipers, 1 Hudsonian Godwit, 1 Long-billed Dowitcher and a Wilson's Snipe. An entirely different mix of species numbers will surely continue to be seen here and at other locations that attract migrants at this dynamic time of year. Hope everyone is enjoying the bonus weather the birds this Thanksgiving weekend! Chris Lewis Ottawa, ON hagen...@primus.ca DIRECTIONS (courtesy of Jeff Skevington): Nelson's Sparrows at the mouth of Constance Creek: Go to the east end of Baillie where it turns into Allbirch Road. Continue east to the dead end. Park out of the way of everyone's driveway and walk the fire trail due east (off the south side of the road) to Constance Creek. Then either walk north up the shoreline or through the Silver Maple swamp to the area of reeds and grasses at the river mouth. The birds are all through this area and were easy to see using quiet pishing. Note that the fire access roads are public access but landowners do not always see it that way. I have not had any issues though. (NOTE from Chris Lewis on 09 October - we also did not encounter any problems today, just a few residents enjoying the wonderful weather.but respectful unobtrusive behaviour towards wildlife, people property should always be policy. To bad it doesn't always happen that way). Shorebirds: The best access point to start at is the fire access at the intersection of Sand Bay Street and Baillie Avenue. To get there, follow Constance Bay Drive in from Dunrobin Road. Turn right on Baillie just past the liquor store. Sand Bay is about 400 m east. There is another good access point just past the liquor store where Constance Bay Drive turns left at 90 degrees. Another fire road about 400 m further west along Constance Bay drive also gives good views. ___ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
[Ontbirds] HSR: Holiday Beach Conservation Area (09 Oct 2011) 1254 Raptors
Holiday Beach Conservation Area Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 09, 2011 --- SpeciesDay's CountMonth Total Season Total -- --- -- -- Turkey Vulture1118 11073 11640 Osprey 4 37192 Bald Eagle 1 15160 Northern Harrier 9232614 Sharp-shinned Hawk 78 4190 11004 Cooper's Hawk7205560 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 3 29 29 Broad-winged Hawk0937 43431 Red-tailed Hawk 20192266 Rough-legged Hawk0 2 2 Golden Eagle 3 8 9 American Kestrel 6 3134 4600 Merlin 0 9 96 Peregrine Falcon 0 16 54 Unknown Accipiter2 30 42 Unknown Buteo2 20 25 Unknown Eagle0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 5 Unknown Raptor 1 5 13 Swainson's Hawk 0 1 2 Total:1254 20135 72744 -- Observation start time: 06:30:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8.5 hours Official Counter:Bob Pettit Observers:Anne Bell, Bob Hall-Brooks, Jerry DeMarco, John Craft, John Winebrenner, Ken Ducharme, Lisa Silvey, Olga Klekner, Sharon Ducharme, Stephen Kolbe Visitors: Many families and couples visited the park and the tower in celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving. Thanks to all of those folks that assisted with the count. Without your help and optics and good vision we would have struggled. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Weather: Blue skies again made for a difficult time seeing birds well. Even with a slight breeze from the south birds preferred to move inland while moving west. High 23.6C; wind S-SSW 1-7 kph; Raptor Observations: Golden Eagle a noon was 25 feet above and to the north of the tower. Very nice view for all. Turkey Vultures were in good numbers. Non-raptor Observations: Pied-billed Grebe-1, Double-crest Cormorant-15, Great Blue Heron-2, Black-crowned Night-Heron-1, Mute Swan-10, Canada Goose-5, Green-winged Teal-1, American Black Duck-3, Mallard-5, Northern Pintail-1, Blue-winged Teal-2, Northern Shoveler-4, American Wigeon-1, Ring-necked Duck-1, Killdeer-3, Greater Yellowlegs-1, Lesser Yellowlegs-13, Wilsonâs Snipe-1, Ring-billed Gull-25, Ruby-throated Hummingbird-1, Belted Kingfisher-1, Red-headed Woodpecker-1 imm, Northern Flicker-1, Horned Lark-1, Barn Swallow-3, Blue Jay-5290, Carolina Wren-1, White-throated Sparrow-1, Red-winged Blackbird-500, Brown-headed Cowbird-15, Pine Siskin-3, American Goldfinch-125, Black Saddlebags-2, Monarch Butterfly-5, Buckeye-2, Ruby Meadowhawk-10 Predictions: Similar conditions. Similar birds. Report submitted by Bob Pettit (redk...@earthlink.net) Holiday Beach Migration Observatory information may be found at: http://hbmo.org/ ___ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
[Ontbirds] O.F.O. Hamilton/Burlington 2011 field trip report
From: Tom Thomas [mailto:ttho...@cogeco.ca] Sent: Sunday, October 09, 2011 8:17 PM T Subject: O.F.O. Hamilton/Burlington 2011 field trip report Hello, On Saturday October 8th 2011, 23 avid birders met at Hutches on the Beach Strip, on what was a perfect day to look for birds. I have found from experience, that perfect days don't always mean that there are lots of birds around. I did some scouting mid week, and there were lots of birds to be found, but by Friday most of these birds had left, and on Saturday morning we had to really search hard with meager results. The lake was as calm as a mill pond, and the winds if any, were not favorable to blow in any of the rarer species. Having said all that, we did however find some nice birds. On the trails behind Hutches' we saw Black-throated Blue, Common-yellowthroat, Eastern Towhee, Rusty Blackbird, Trails Flycatcher, Field sparrow, and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. A trip out to the Windermere Basin ( there is some extensive rehabilitation work going on here, and there is no longer a large pond for waterfowl ) was good for Black-bellied Plover, White-rumped Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Dunlin, Killdeer and Spotted Sandpiper. Other species found here were, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, Lesser Scaup, Northern Mockingbird, and Horned Lark. After lunch most of the group wanted to check out the Dundas Marsh, which proved to be a good decision. Here we found Yellow-rumped Warbler, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Marsh Wren, Swamp Sparrow, Nelson's Sparrow ( a few of the sparrows showed well, and most of the group had good looks at what was a life bird for some of them ), Hudsonian Godwit, and a soaring Goshawk. In total we had 75 species, which I would have jumped at, before the trip started. Here is the final species tally for the members who participated...Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Lesser Scaup, Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Black-crowned Night Heron, Turkey Vulture, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Northern Goshawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Black-bellied Plover, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Hudsonian Godwit, White-rumped Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Dunlin, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Downy woodpecker, Trails Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe, Blue Jay, American Crow, Horned Lark, Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Carolina Wren, Marsh Wren, Golden and Ruby -crowned Kinglet, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Cedar Waxwing, Black-throated Blue and Yellow-rumped Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Eastern Towhee, Field, Nelson's, Song, Swamp, White-throated, and White-crowned Sparrows, Northern Cardinal, Red-wing Blackbird, Rusty Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, House Finch, American Goldfinch, and House Sparrow. I would like to thank Anthony Miller for keeping score, Barry Cherriere for pointing out the shorebirds at the Windermere Basin, and to all those who turned out for the field trip, and hopefully had a good time. Cheers...T. ___ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
