[Ontbirds] Holiday Beach CBC - December 28, 2019
The Holiday Beach CBC took place today, Saturday, December 28th. The count includes Holiday Beach Conservation Area, Big Creek, the lower Detroit River north to LaSalle (Lower Detroit IBA), Boblo Island, and surrounding areas. 37 participants (36 in the field and 1 feeder watcher) volunteered for the Count, tallying 76 species and 15,624 individual birds. This is on par w/ the number of species and individuals seen for the last few years of the count. No additional species have yet been reported for Count Week. Skies were cloudy in the morning turning to partly sunny in the afternoon. The temperature was around 1C in the morning warming to about 5C in the afternoon. Winds were fairly low out of the east but felt a bit more brisk along the Lake Erie shoreline. Following several mild days in the area, there was virtually no snow cover on the ground and no ice cover on Lake Erie, along the Detroit River, or in any marsh areas. Similar to previous years, the most abundant bird of the count was Canvasback w/ 2,326 birds tallied; lower than the previous year's count of 6,000+ (the Lower Detroit River is an Important Bird Area for this species w/ greater than 1% of the global population overwintering on the river). Other diving ducks were fairly scarce and gull numbers were also down; typical of mild periods when they aren't concentrated along the river. Similar to other counts in Essex County this year, quite a few passerine species were notably low in number or absent. A few highlights from this year's count include: Snow Goose - 4 birds from two separate areas Trumpeter Swan - 1 individual American Wigeon - a good count of 27 birds within the Holiday Beach marsh American Black Duck - a good count of 268 birds mostly in the Holiday Beach marsh Redhead - a good count of 1,167 birds on Lake Erie and along the Detroit River Double-crested Cormorant - 3 separate birds along the Detroit River Great Egret - 1 late bird in the Holiday Beach marsh Turkey Vulture - 1 late bird Red-shouldered Hawk - 2 birds seen at Holiday Beach American Coot - 2 birds in the Holiday Beach marsh Eastern Phoebe - 1 bird on Boblo Island and 2 at Holiday Beach Northern Shrike - 1 bird west of Holiday Beach Carolina Wren - a good count of 37 birds across the count area Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 1 bird on Boblo Island Many thanks to our dedicated Area Leaders, Bob Hall-Brooks, Paul Pratt, Paul Desjardins, Linda Wladarski, and Dave Martin, for helping coordinate another successful CBC and thank you to all the volunteers for helping count. Also a big thank you to Sarah and Kory Renaud for hosting another excellent roundup w/ lots of great food. Jeremy Hatt & Kory Renaud ___ 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
Re: [Ontbirds] Varied Thrush continues at Bark Lake Conference Ctr
Coming to ground feeder today between 11:40 and 12:45 about every 15 minutes. Very confiding, taking its cue from the Red Squirrels and Blue Jays and ignoring watchers about 25 feet away. Bob Curry and Glenda Slessor -- Original Message -- From: "Frank Pinilla (gmail) via ONTBIRDS" To: "ONTBIRDS" Sent: 2019-12-28 9:49:59 AM Subject: [Ontbirds] Varied Thrush continues at Bark Lake Conference Ctr Ontbirders, My daughters and I had the Varied Thrush at its regular location under the feeders at the main building of Bark Lake. We arrived at 3:30pm and the bird was on the ground under the feeder. It then flew up to the back and right of the building and sat for a while and then took off (possibly to roost as it was grey and dark out). Good birding! Frank, Alexa & Sofia Pinilla Directions: Bark Lake Drive is ca. 8 km west of Gooderham between Kinmount and Gooderham. Conference Centre is 5 km north of County Rd. 503 on Bark Lake Drive. Sent from my iPhone ___ 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 ___ 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
[Ontbirds] OFO Outings Jan. 2020
January 1 (Wednesday) Peterborough Area Leaders: Dave Milsom, Matthew Tobey. Meet 8:30 a.m. at parking lot of Peterborough Zoo on Water Street just south of Trent University. Bring good hiking shoes, warm gear. Possible owls, hawks, falcons, ducks, gulls, possible winter finches. January 4 (Saturday) Leslie Street Spit, Toronto Leaders: Dan and Garth Riley, Meet 9:00 a.m. at the base of the Leslie Street Spit (a.k.a. Tommy Thompson Park), parking lot near the intersection of Leslie Street and Unwin Ave. Walk the spit for winter birds including Snowy Owls, Snow Buntings, Northern Shrike, sparrows, waterfowl and gulls. January 12 (Sunday) Detroit River Leaders: Kory Renaud, Jeremy Hatt Meet 9am at Lakeview Park Marina - 9200 Riverside Drive East in Windsor Winter is an excellent time of year to observe waterfowl, gulls, and birds of prey using the open water of the Detroit River. We will start the day at the marina, make a visit to Little River Corridor, continue down river to check a few spots, and finally end at Ojibway Park. Be sure to dress for the weather, pack some snacks, and bring a scope if you have one. Due to the duration of the outing (9am-3pm), we will make a brief stop for lunch along the way. ___ 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
[Ontbirds] Varied Thrush continues at Bark Lake Conference Ctr
Ontbirders, My daughters and I had the Varied Thrush at its regular location under the feeders at the main building of Bark Lake. We arrived at 3:30pm and the bird was on the ground under the feeder. It then flew up to the back and right of the building and sat for a while and then took off (possibly to roost as it was grey and dark out). Good birding! Frank, Alexa & Sofia Pinilla Directions: Bark Lake Drive is ca. 8 km west of Gooderham between Kinmount and Gooderham. Conference Centre is 5 km north of County Rd. 503 on Bark Lake Drive. Sent from my iPhone ___ 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
[Ontbirds] Hamilton Naturalists Club Birding Report - Saturday, December 28th, 2019
ROSS'S GOOSE BARROW'S GOLDENEYE MARSH WREN RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET GRAY CATBIRD RUSTY BLACKBIRD PINE WARBLER WILSON'S WARBLER Cackling Goose Northern Pintail King Eider Barrow's x Common Goldeneye Hooded Merganser x Common Goldeneye Wild Turkey Pied-billed Grebe Horned Grebe Red-necked Grebe Iceland Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull Glaucous Gull Red-throated Loon Common Loon Great Blue Heron Black-crowned Night Heron Northern Harrier Rough-legged Hawk Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Northern Flicker Pileated Woodpecker Northern Shrike Tufted Titmouse Brown Creeper Winter Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird Hermit Thrush Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow White-throated Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Yellow-rumped Warbler This past week was sprinkled with some highlights as birders embarked on the Hamilton Christmas Bird Count on Boxing Day. Fair weather conditions and holiday time sent birders into the field and the list is not too shabby this week. As always we will start at the top. A ROSS'S GOOSE made a brief appearance at the Bronte Sports Field with a flock of Canada Geese on Christmas Eve day. There have been no reports since but geese are always in transition so it may pop up again somewhere along the lake. The female BARROWS GOLDENEYE along with the likely returning Barrows x Common Goldeneye were seen off Grays Road last Monday. A MARSH WREN was found on the East Mountain on count day in a small marsh at the southeast corner of Upper Mount Albion and Highland Rd. GRAY CATBIRDS were seen on count day in the Hendrie Valley (2) and one at the east entrance to Confederation Park. Not far away from Confederation a RUSTY BLACKBIRD was seen along Lake Street and then again later in the Stoney Creek Ravine. A PINE WARBLER was an unexpected surprise at Saddington Park last Saturday. The bird was seen Sunday and Monday but not reported since. Lastly, the long staying WILSON'S WARBLER is still present along with at least one RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET at Sedgewick Park in Oakville. Some of the highlights from the Christmas bird count include five Cackling Geese among 400+ Canadas at the quarry accessed from Tew Park in Greensville, Northern Pintail in Carroll's Bay below Woodland Cemetery, King Eider (female) at the Burlington Ship Canal on the bay side, Hooded Merganser x Common Goldeneye at the west end of Bayfront Trail, Pied-billed, Horned and Red-necked Grebe, Common Loon off LaSalle Marina, Iceland Gulls on the bay and at the Burlington Beachstrip (returning adult), Lesser Black-backed and Glaucous Gulls flying from the bay and another Lesser Black-backed over Windermere Basin, a Black-crowned Night Heron near Windermere Basin, Northern Flicker on Mazza Road in Flamborough, Pileated Woodpecker near the Rail Trail crossing on Binkley Rd. in the Dundas Valley, Tufted Titmouse near Martins Road in Ancaster, Chipping Sparrow and Yellow-rumped Warbler at Woodland Cemetery with another Chipping Sparrow at Willow Point and White-crowned Sparrow at Valley Inn. There will be more results to come. In the odds and sods this week Wild Turkeys were seen in the Dundas Valley. Another Northern Pintail was seen at Wilkes Dam in Brantford in the week. A Red-throated Loon was reported on ebird at the ship canal earlier in the week. An unfortunate report of a deceased Common Loon on the beachstrip near Joseph Brant Hospital was likely a wire strike. The Gates of Heaven Cemetery has been active with Northern Harrier, Northern Shrike and up to seventeen Eastern Bluebirds seen this week. A Rough-legged Hawk was seen last Saturday south of Sydenham Road between Rock Chapel and Harvest roads. Great Blue Heron was observed over the Dundas Hydro Ponds last Saturday. A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker has returned for a fourth winter to a feeder in Ancaster. Other goodies found at Sedgewick Park in Oakville include Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, Golden-crowned Kinglet and White-throated Sparrow. In Brantford a Tufted Titmouse, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Field Sparrow were good finds on Christmas Day along the fields and trails near the perched fen. Yellow-rumped warblers are turning up in two more locations this week, three along the Spencer Creek Trail in Dundas near McMaster and two more where the boardwalk begins off the west side 8th Rd Saltfleet/Stoney Creek west along Dofasco Trail. It will be a whole new listing year soon. Report your sightings here! All the best to everyone in the New Year. Cheryl Edgecombe HNC ___ 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
