POMARINE JAEGER PARASITIC JAEGER LONG-TAILED JAEGER BLACK-LEGGED KITTWAKE SABINE'S GULL CATTLE EGRET SEDGE WREN
Snow Goose Cackling Goose Canada Goose Blue-winged Teal American Wigeon Northern Pintail Green-winged Teal Greater Scaup Lesser Scaup Surf Scoter White-winged Scoter Black Scoter Horned Grebe Red-necked Grebe Yellow-billed Cuckoo Black-billed Cuckoo Ruby-throated Hummingbird Sandhill Crane Black-bellied Plover American Golden Plover Semipalmated Plover Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Dunlin Least Sandpiper Spotted Sandpiper Lesser Yellowlegs Greater Yellowlegs Bonaparte's Gull Caspian Tern Common Tern Common Loon American Bittern Great Egret Turkey Vulture Osprey Northern Harrier Broad-winged Hawk Red-shouldered Hawk Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Great-crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Eastern Wood-Pewee Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Blue-headed Vireo Philadelphia Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Tufted Titmouse House Wren Marsh Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Gray-cheeked Thrush Swainson's Thrush Hermit Thrush Wood Thrush Gray Catbird Brown Thrasher American Pipit Eastern Towhee Clay-colored Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow Swamp Sparrow White-throated Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Eastern Meadowlark Rusty Blackbird Ovenbird Northern Waterthrush Black-and-White Warbler Tennessee Warbler Orange-crowned Warbler Nashville Warbler Common Yellowthroat American Redstart Cape May Warbler Northern Parula Magnolia Warbler Bay-breasted Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Yellow Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Blackpoll Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Palm Warbler Pine Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Canada Warbler Wilson's Warbler Scarlet Tanager Rose-breasted Grosbeak Indigo Bunting It's a busy week here in the Hamilton Study Area but when you invite over 200 birders to explore your back yard you're going to get a good results and a massively long list! It's hard to compile all of these sightings into a few locales but some great rarities came up and we brought in some hearty East Winds for the conference which didn't disappoint. Last Sunday was a spectacular day at Van Wagner's Beach. It was great for visitors to get a taste of what goes on down there on east winds. Many left with lifers and a great day was had by all. The action actually started the day before with an adult LONG-TAILED JAEGER seen off Fifty Point Conservation area. On Sunday, POMARINE and PARASITIC JAEGER added to the trifecta along with BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE and four SABINE'S GULL. Doesn't get more complete than that. Other birds seen here include Cackling Goose, three mixed in with a large group of migrating Canada's, Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Redhead, Greater and Lesser Scaup, Surf, White-winged and Black Scoter, Common Loon, Horned Grebe (seen Saturday), Red-necked Grebe, Dunlin, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Bonaparte's Gull, Caspian and Common Tern, Peregrine Falcon and Merlin. There was some action yesterday at Van Wagners as well with a single SABINE'S GULL and a BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE seen. Another great find was a CATTLE EGRET, found Thursday before the conference at Princess Point/Kay Drage Park in Hamilton. The bird was seen by canoe on Friday and viewed from the bridge at Kay Drage Park and Princess Point over the course of the conference. It made a brief appearance on Sunday at the Desjardins Canal. Up at the Dofasco Trail in Saltfleet another great find was 2 SEDGE WRENS, a bird hard to find in the study area although this secretive species may breed here each year. The birds were last seen/heard last Monday. Along this trail other finds were Philadelphia Vireo, Field, Lincoln's, Swamp, White-throated and White-crowned Sparrow and Palm Warbler. There were many field trips in a wide variety of locations and listing species in each of these locations would compile a nice set of encyclopaedias so I will summarize places and if known will state which place an unusual species may have been seen. Locations for field trips included Princess Point, Dundas Valley, Fifty Point Conservation Area, Shoreacres/Paletta, Confederation Park, Valley Inn and Ruthven Banding Station. Species reported from these locations include Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Ruthven), Black-billed Cuckoo (Ruthven and Dundas Valley), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Great-crested Flycatcher, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Yellow-bellied and Least Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe, Blue-headed, Philadelphia and Red-eyed Vireo, Tufted Titmouse (Dundas Valley), House and Marsh Wren, Golden-crowned and Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Gray-cheeked, Swainson's and Hermit Thrush, Gray Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Eastern Towhee, Chipping Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco (Woodland Cemetery), Eastern Meadowlark, Rusty Blackbird, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Black-and-White, Tennessee , Nashville, Orange-crowned Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Cape May Warbler, Northern Parula, Magnolia, Bay-breasted, Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided, Blackpoll, Black-throated Blue, Palm, Pine (Van Wagner's Ponds), Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, Canada, Wilson's Warbler, Scarlet Tanager and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Shorebirds were a little on the scarce side but species recorded from Tollgate Pond and Windermere Basin include, Black-bellied, American Golden and Semipalmated Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, Least Sandpiper, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs. A Sanderling was seen on the islands off Eastport on Oct 3 and a Spotted Sandpiper made a brief appearance at the beach on September 30th. Over the past couple of weeks, we have had significant movement of raptors. September 24th was a big day for Broad-wings. At Woodland Cemetery, over 860 birds were counted, along with Bald Eagle, Osprey, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned, Coopers and Red-tailed Hawk and American Kestrel. Similar numbers were produced along the south Burlington lakeshore. Another movement of birds occurred over Waterdown this week. Now is the big push for Turkey Vultures with a kettle of over 80 birds seen at Walker's Line and new street a couple of days ago and hundreds of birds seen over Rona Wetlands in Waterdown yesterday. In the odds and sods this week, a Snow Goose was found in a field with a number of Canada on Powerline Road out in Ancaster on Thursday. Two Sandhill Cranes were seen flying over Mountainview Park on the West Mountain on Friday. A Great Egret was present at the quarry pond on Green Mountain Road between 10th and 11th Road East. Numbers should be building in Cootes but water levels are high this year. A lateish Eastern Kingbird was seen at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club on Friday. The Lapland Longspur that was at the field behind Longos has left but Horned Lark, American Pipit and Savannah Sparrows seem to still be present. An Indigo Bunting was a lateish migrant banded at Ruthven in the last couple of days. A Clay-colored Sparrow was an unusual migrant seen at Woodland Cemetery on September 24th. Just a disclaimer here that I have likely missed some sightings from this past week as there has been an overwhelming amount of material to sift through. This doesn't mean that your sightings aren't important, keep them coming please. All sightings are forwarded to Bill Lamond who is the keeper of the records for the Noteworthy Bird records. The OFO Conference was a great success and I hope everyone enjoyed the area (despite the traffic). I believe we recorded 167 species in total for the three days which is pretty darn good. Thanks to all who contributed! 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. 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