[Ontbirds] (no subject)
At about 12:30 today (Saturday), I watched a female King Eider about 200 m offshore at the bottom of Ontario St. in Cobourg just west of the harbour. I watched it for about 20 minutes or more during which time it dove several times. It was solitary but there were greater scaup and white-winged scoters nearby. ___ 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
[Ontbirds] HSR: Grimsby, ON - Beamer Conservation Area (08 Mar 2014) Raptors
Grimsby, ON - Beamer Conservation Area Grimsby, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 08, 2014 --- SpeciesDay's CountMonth Total Season Total -- --- -- -- Black Vulture0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 0 Osprey 0 0 0 Bald Eagle 0 2 2 Northern Harrier 0 0 0 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 0 0 Cooper's Hawk0 0 0 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 0 2 2 Rough-legged Hawk0 3 3 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 0 0 0 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Accipiter0 0 0 Unknown Buteo0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 0 7 7 -- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:30:00 Total observation time: 7.5 hours Official Counter:Mike Street Observers: Visitors: Jim Heslop; Lindsay and Matthew from Toronto checking out the site after John Steven's article in the OFO News (also on our website); Dee and David from Bowmanville. Weather: Cloudy, little wind, temperature just at the freezing point. Raptor Observations: Local Cooper's Hawk made an attack pass into the woods, local Red-tail was kiting on the edge of the escarpment. No migrants. Non-raptor Observations: Red-bellied Woodpecker, separate territorial fights between two male Cardinals and two Downy Woodpeckers, a loon flew through too quickly to ID, 40 or so each of Mallards and Canada Geese flew over singly and in groups. Predictions: Tomorrow may be slow, but Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are looking better. Report submitted by Mike Street (mikestre...@gmail.com) Grimsby, ON - Beamer Conservation Area information may be found at: http://www.niagarapeninsulahawkwatch.org/ Site Description: Hawk migration monitoring at the Beamer Memorial Conservation Area in Grimsby, Ontario is conducted by the Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch (NPH). All counting is done by volunteers. Not all members are counters nor does a counter have to be a member. Typically one person is the designated counter for each day but other observers present assist with the spotting and identification. Counting is done from a steel observation tower with a wooden floor. For wind protection on cold days, particularly in March, a black plastic wind guard is installed around the tower's platform. This platform easily accommodates ten people but on most busy days, no more than five or six observers would be on it. The site lies within a publicly accessible property owned by the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority. There is no charge for admittance. The tower stands in the centre of a mowed area with a gravel ring road near the outer edge. This provides lots of room to park vehicles (along the road) and set up lawn chairs, telescopes and cameras. Toilet facilities are present. During the counting season, the NPH erect a counting board to display seven day's worth of observation data for the public. The box enclosing the sign contains brochures and silhouette sheets for the public as well as bulletin boards with news and historical sighting records. Directions to site: To get to Beamer CA, take the QEW to Exit 71/72, follow Christie St./Mountain St. to the top of the escarpment, turn right on Ridge Road West, and go 1.6km to Quarry Rd. Turn right on Quarry Rd. and drive 100m to the conservation area. Parking is normally available inside the park. If parking at the entrance or on the roads, do NOT leave valuables in your car. Please note: Data in this report is not official until reviewed and finalized after the end of the season. © 2014 Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch ___ 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 vis
[Ontbirds] Red-necked Grebes and Barrows Goldeneye at Ottawa
Today there were three Red-necked Grebes and a pair of Barrow's Goldeneye off Bate Island on the Ottawa River. There was at least one Gray Partridge on Shea Road near Brownlee Rd in the south west area of Ottawa. Otherwise very slow birding Michael Michael Tate 1-613-863-8455 michaelt...@rogers.com Sent from my iPhone ___ 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
Re: [Ontbirds] Red-necked Grebes at Hillman Marsh
Gentlemen; It looks like the RNGRs are starting to come north. It will just be a matter of consistently open water in Dyers Bay to get them to you. A giant lead (5 km x 50 km has opened up just off Cape Hurd, but it is much too far away to see if any waterfowl are using it. Keep your eyes peeled, Rod Bill, I know you are away right now. On Mar 7, 2014, at 4:48 PM, Alan Wormington wrote: > This afternoon, along with Marianne Reid, Rosemary Reid and Rick Mayos, I > counted a total of **36** Red-necked Grebes on Lake Erie off NE Hillman > Marsh. Here there are a few leads in the otherwise frozen lake, and it is > also the location where 2 Red-necked Grebes were seen on March 5 (Jeremy > Hatt, Jeremy Bensette) and 6 on March 6 (Jeremy Hatt, Kory Renaud). > > There has been considerable debate lately as to if all these widespread > Red-necked Grebe sightings pertain to spring migrants, or wintering birds > that have been frozen out of the Great Lakes. Even before this week's > observations at Hillman Marsh, I concluded that these birds are wintering > birds that have been frozen out of their normal wintering areas elsewhere on > the Great Lakes. The reasons are many: > > 1--Red-necked Grebe is very rare at Point Pelee, and the previous 19 spring > records span the period of March 22 to May 18 inclusive; thus the current > birds are outside of this date range. > > 2--Previous record-high count for Point Pelee was of only 3 birds (1 date in > spring / 2 dates in fall). > > 3--Red-necked Grebes, along with other rare species such as Long-tailed Duck > and White-winged Scoter, have been showing up lately at southerly locations > such as Kentucky, where Red-necked Grebe is a real rarity. If the grebes > were truly spring migrants, there is no rationale as to why they would be > currently appearing at these southern locations. > > 4--If the Red-necked Grebes off Hillman Marsh were truly spring migrants, > then I would expect to also see some Horned Grebes and Pied-billed Grebes --- > but there are none. > > 5--In regard to early Horned Grebes, some time ago I thoroughly researched > all record-early arrivals for Point Pelee (February 9, 10, 15, 26) and > without exception they ALL correlated to surges of warm air at the time, up > to the +10 C. temperature range (based on Windsor Historical Weather Data); > in other words, there has never been an early arrival of Horned Grebe at > Point Pelee that was associated with COLD conditions. > > 6--When I formerly lived in Hamilton, I do recall some late February arrivals > of Red-necked Grebes, but they arrived during WARM spells and at least some > of the birds were in summer plumage; ALL of today's birds were 100% winter > plumage. The pattern of spring occurrences are well-described in Bob Curry's > "Birds of Hamilton" (2006); he likewise states that spring arrivals are > associated with arriving warm weather. > > 7--The source of these birds has been debated, and some have mentioned that > Red-necked Grebes do not winter on Lake Superior. That is true, but there > are certainly other sources for these birds most notably Lake Huron and > Georgian Bay. Another source is likely Lake Michigan --- especially > considering that the species is essentially a NW/SE migrant through the > overall Great Lakes system. All of these water bodies are currently > more-or-less frozen solid. > > Also at the Hillman location there was a tremendous collection of various > ducks, including the following: > > Common Goldeneye --- 3000 > Redhead --- 1400 > Canvasback --- 80 > Long-tailed Duck --- 45 > White-winged Scoter --- 8 > > Hillman Marsh is north of Point Pelee, and south of Wheatley. > > Alan Wormington, > Leamington > > > > > ___ > 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 > ___ 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
[Ontbirds] turkey vulture
On Thursday we saw one flying over the Red Hill Parkway in Hamilton. So far none in the Vineland area. J. Lindey ___ 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
[Ontbirds] golden eagle
chatham- kent, west of Paincourt on Townline heading north, golden eagle perched in tree along drain. also 3-4 nice Harriers patrolling St. Clair Wildlife Area. Sent from my iPhone ___ 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
[Ontbirds] Holland Marsh Birds
The first day of my March Break was today so I ushered it in by driving the roads west and north of Newmarket in search of local birds. These Newmarket area outings are usually done in the company of my golden retriever, Samwise, but, sadly, we had to put him down last night. Today's "field trip" without him was a very bittersweet one so I dedicate this post to the memory of that sweet and gentle companion. Hoping that this winter's Snowy Owl irruption would create an interesting "spring migration" in the Holland Marsh, I spent some time looking for snowies that either (a) wintered here or (b) have started moving through the area from points south. In a possible mix of the two scenarios, I had ten Snowy Owl sightings between 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., though two birds were possible duplications. To be conservative in my count, there may only have been eight birds. Some of the following locations overlap with Hendrick Hart's report from yesterday. All of the birds were a safe distance from the road, so here is a quick, if somewhat intentionally vague, summary. Eight were north of Hwy. 9 and south of Canal Road (some west of Hwy. 400, some east): north side of Bernhardt Rd. west from Dufferin; west side of Aileen between Keele and Jane; north side of 2nd Concession near Holancin; west side of Rupke Road; east side of Rupke Road; north side of Tornado near Jane; north side of Tornado near Hazel; east side of Simcoe Road where it meets Tornado. Another bird was near the northern end of Bathurst St. past Queensville Sdrd. and the last one I saw was south of Ravenshoe Road in Keswick near Yonge St. With all due respect to these snowies, my favourite bird of the day was a Song Sparrow near the north end of Bathurst. This is almost certainly the same individual that Kevin Shackleton found in February. Bring the spring, hardy passerines! There were also six Horned Larks and four Snow Buntings along this northern stretch of Bathurst. Further south on Bathurst near Newmarket (in a field on the west side of the road and north of Green Lane) there were 41 Wild Turkeys. I observed 37 more turkeys in a field on the east side of 2nd Concession north of Queensville Sdrd. Ron Fleming, Newmarket The Holland Marsh is directly north of Toronto, west of Newmarket and just south of Bradford. ___ 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
[Ontbirds] Canvasback & Red-necked Grebes interaction over fish - St. Clair river at Corunna
Yesterday afternoon I witnessed and photographed a Canvasback duck catch 4 fish in a 6 minute time span close to the St. Clair river shoreline at Guthrie Park, Corunna. Its action of thrashing the fish in the water caught the attention of 2 Red-necked Grebes that harassed the Canvasback for its catch. By winning tugs-of-war they managed to steal 3 of the 4 fish from the Canvasback. ___ 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
[Ontbirds] Five King Eiders at Bronte Harbour
The five King Eiders at Bronte Harbour were seen again this morning. Three were near the scaup raft near the lighthouse at the mouth of Bronte Creek. This appears to be the same group that has been seen here over the last couple of weeks: one young male, one reddish female and one greyish female. Another greyish female was in the opening to the outer harbour and another young male was near the eastern lighthouse on the main breakwater. These birds are close enough to shore to be seen reasonably without a telescope. I have uploaded a wide angle photo that include the group of three eiders to my Flickr page. The eiders are in the bottom right. The photo is currently at the top of my photostream. This should help orient people looking for these birds. http://www.flickr.com/photos/gavin_edmondstone/ Directions: Exit the QEW at Bronte Road (Oakville) and go south to the lake then walk out on the pier. Gavin Edmondstone Bronte ___ 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
[Ontbirds] Update on Holland Marsh Snowy Owl and rats
I have just heard from a veterinary friend whom I asked about the behaviour of the Snowy owl and two rats in the Holland Marsh I reported on yesterday. She informed me that the rats were muskrats and that they were too big for the Snowy to eat. So they probably were just sort of being playful together. Hendrik Hart #3315 - 55 Harbour Square Toronto, M5J 2L1 Canada Ph: 416-594-2538 Email: hh...@ca.inter.net Music is enough for a lifetime but a lifetime is not enough for music. -Sergei Rachmaninov ___ 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
