Ontbirders, Spent the day in south Huron, and checked a few spots in north Lambton as well. 1st stop, at dawn, was the Grand Bend lagoons. With the front lagoon frozen over, I was met by quite an odd site......a cluster of shorebirds standing on the centre of the ice, with 4 Sandhill Cranes very nearby, quite the motley crew. The shorebirds included the lingering Hudsonian Godwit, a few Greater Yellowlegs, one White-rump and twenty Dunlin. A single Cackling Goose was in the 2nd lagoon, with many Canada's.
I had intended to do a raptor watch along the stretch of shoreline from Grand bend north to just south of Bayfield, but got sidetracked when the appropriate east winds switched to NW by late morning, putting the brakes on what had been a meagre flight. Highlights included 3 Golden Eagles, 15 Rough-legs [13 light, 2 dark] and one imm. N Goshawk. 25 Sandhill Cranes were far less than expected for the location and date. Despite the wind shift, diurnal passerine migration was excellent for most of the morning, especially adjacent to the shore. Best obs. was a flock of 110 Bohemian Waxwings, at the end of Hendrik, where it joins with Shipka Line. These birds lingered only briefly before speeding off to the south. Something [else] to keep your eyes open for........ High counts / notable were Horned Lark - 2400, Lapland Longspur - 120, American Pipit - 80, Snow Bunting - 350, Pine Siskin - 130, White-winged Crossbill - 1, as well as tens of thousands of icterids, starlings, crows et al flooding south. This stretch of coast [dubbed ''Snider's Coast'' by some locals] can be spectacularly good for both passerines and raptors, especially on the right [NE or E] wind, with numbers of Rough-legged Hawk and Golden Eagle rivalling any site in the province. Certainly, migration in most conditions is excellent. Ever the contrarian, I decided to try to find Cave Swallows along the shoreline nooks and inflows. Not surprisingly, no luck there. The shoreline overall was pretty barren apart from 3 Snow Geese and a large Sturgeon carcass washed up on the beach. E-mail me privately for any specific directions, Cheers. James Holdsworth, Biological Consulting Services 14 Marian St, RR#1 Woodstock, On, N4S-7V6 [519]537-2027 [519]535-8760 [cell] jmholdswo...@rogers.com _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list ONTBIRDS@hwcn.org For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
