There were two rare waterfowl this past week including an EURASIAN WIGEON at Lower Brewer's Mills and 4 HARLEQUIN DUCKS off Prince Edward Point (details below). The expected migrants continued to arrive all last week (though some a little earlier than normal) including WOOD DUCK, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, TURKEY VULTURE, RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, AMERICAN KESTREL, KILLDEER, WILSON'S SNIPE, AMERICAN WOODCOCK, EASTERN PHOEBE, AMERICAN ROBIN, SONG SPARROW, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD, COMMON GRACKLE, BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD and EASTERN MEADOWLARK. Among the most notable migrants were a pair of BARN SWALLOWS along Highway 15 near Joyceville on Mar 7 (reported too late to make last week's report). This is a record early arrival for this aerial insectivore in the Kingston Region. For those still wondering, I received no reports of the female mountain bluebird that was (formerly?) at Prince Edward Point.
City of Kingston There was a HORNED GREBE on Lake Ontario off the Psychiatric Hospital. A MERLIN was displaying above College Street. The resident PEREGRINE FALCONS were also reported. Amherst Island Waterfowl on and off the island included MUTE SWAN, TUNDRA SWAN, GADWALL, AMERICAN WIGEON, NORTHERN PINTAIL, 1 CANVASBACK, REDHEAD, RING-NECKED DUCK, GREATER SCAUP, 1 WHITE-WINGED SCOTER (dead on the beach), LONG-TAILED DUCK, BUFFLEHEAD, COMMON GOLDENEYE and all three MERGANSERS. Raptor watching was still fairly good with the following species present this past week: NORTHERN HARRIER, RED-TAILED HAWK, 12 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, 2 AMERICAN KESTRELS, 4 SNOWY OWLS and 7 SHORT-EARED OWLS. Some SNOW BUNTINGS and AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS were still lingering. Amherstview Sewage Lagoons The first report from the lagoons this year included an early pair of NORTHERN SHOVELERS and a the season's first WILSON'S SNIPE. Lower Brewer's Mills Among the large concentration of staging waterfowl above the lock station on Mar 10 was a male EURASIAN WIGEON. It has not been reported in the past five days. Other birds at the lock last week included some 4000 CANADA GEESE, TRUMPETER SWAN, GADWALL, AMERICAN WIGEON, AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, NORTHERN PINTAIL, 7 GREEN-WINGED TEAL, RING-NECKED DUCK, BUFFLEHEAD, 100 HOODED MERGANSERS, COMMON MERGANSER and 1 BALD EAGLE. A NORTHERN HARRIER was on nearby Washburn Road. Opinicon Road The open water at Chaffey's Lock continued to draw in waterfowl last week including hundreds of CANADA GEESE, TRUMPETER SWAN, AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, 74 RING-NECKED DUCKS, COMMON GOLDENEYE, 24 HOODED MERGANSERS and 82 COMMON MERGANSERS. BALD EAGLE numbers have dropped off somewhat recently, but the odd one can still be seen harassing waterfowl or scavenging from white-tailed deer carcasses. RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS have returned to Opinicon Road. Both GREAT HORNED and BARRED OWLS were singing regularly on Opinicon Lake. A single PINE SISKIN continues to visit the feeders at Queen's University Biological Station and a PURPLE FINCH flew over Indian Lake Road. Prince Edward Point Two pairs of HARLEQUIN DUCKS were seen off shore of Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory on Mar 11. Also reported from the Point were 1 GREAT BLUE HERON, 5 AMERICAN WOODCOCKS, 15 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS and 300 CEDAR WAXWINGS. Wolfe Island Birds reported from the island this week included BUFFLEHEAD, COMMON GOLDENEYE, RED-BREASTED MERGANSER, COMMON MERGANSER, NORTHERN HARRIER, ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, SNOW OWL, and 2 HORNED LARKS. Other Sightings Five GREEN-WINGED TEAL, 1 NORTHERN HARRIER, 1 rather early SANDHILL CRANE and 1 EASTERN PHOEBE were among the birds along Big Creek Road (south of Napanee). Narrow's Lock is also hosting good numbers of waterfowl, but the only notable birds was a good count of 14 HOODED MERGANSERS. The highest count of TURKEY VULTURES we've had in our region yet this year was a kettle of 35 over Verona. 4 BALD EAGLES, RED-SHOULDERED HAWK and a WINTER WREN were near Charleston Lake. Thank you to those who contributed observations this week. All bird sightings reported to me are included in the Kingston Field Naturalists’ long term records database which has over 60 years of observations on file and is an invaluable conservation resource. Mark -- Mark Andrew Conboy Operations & Research Assistant and Outreach Coordinator Queen’s University Biological Station 280 Queen's University Road Elgin, Ontario, Canada K0G 1E0 phone: 613-359-5629 fax: 613-359-6558 email: 7m...@queensu.ca or mcon...@lakeheadu.ca QUBS website: http://www.queensu.ca/qubs/index.html QUBS blog: http://opinicon.wordpress.com/ QUBS flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/qubsoutreach/ _______________________________________________ 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/
