The last report I've had of the MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD was on March 4 (200 m west of Ducks Dive Charters on Long Point Road in eastern Prince Edward County). Increasing numbers of migrant waterfowl, TURKEY VULTURE, KILLDEER, AMERICAN ROBIN, SONG SPARROW, BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD and COMMON GRACKLE have been reported this past week. Raptors, waterbirds and winter birds still abound.
City of Kingston There have been few reports of waterbirds along the Lake Ontario shoreline this week except for GADWALL, RED-BREASTED MERGANSER and 1 COMMON LOON. The Invista Lagoon at Cataraqui Bay had 188 GADWALL, BUFFLEHEAD, COMMON MERGASNER and AMERICAN COOT. A PEREGRINE FALCON was seen depredating a RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD near the Queen's University campus. Ameherst Island The island had 5 SNOWY OWLS, 8 SHORT-EARED OWLS and 2 EASTERN MEADOWLARKS. Bath Road Waterfowl along Bath Road includde MUTE SWAN, AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, GREATER SCAUP, LONG-TAILED DUCK, BUFFLEHEAD, COMMON GOLDENEYE and all three MERGANSERS. Other birds of note were 1 PEREGRINE FALCON, 1 GLAUCOUS GULL and 1 SNOWY OWL. Bedford Mills Up to 11 TRUMPETER SWANS had been in the open water along Perth Road. Both the FIELD SPARROW and RUSTY BLACKBIRD have managed to survive this mild winter and were still attending a feeder south of the hamlet. A SHARP-SHINNED HAWK and the odd PINE SISKIN had been present there as well. Opinicon Road TRUMPETER SWANS could still be seen at Chaffey's Lock along with more building numbers of waterfowl daily including COMMON GOLDENEYE, COMMON MERGANSER and HOODED MERGANSER. Most notable among the 200 or so CANADA GEESE below the lock, was a single CACKLING GOOSE. BALD EAGLES continue to be common. The MERLIN seen on Wednesday was the first of that species at QUBS this year. At least 2 NORTHERN SHRIKES are still being seen regularly along Opinicon Road. There has been a single PINE SISKIN with the abundant AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES at QUBS. St. Lawrence River Waterfowl between Gananoque and Ivy Lea included 20 RING-NECKED DUCKS, GREATER SCAUP and COMMON MERGANSER. A ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK and a NORTHERN SHRIKE were at Gananoque. Birds in the Rockport area included both SCAUP, BUFFLEHEAD, COMMON GOLDENEYE, all three MERGANSERS, 5 BALD EAGLES, 5 NORTHERN HARRIERS, 5 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS and 2 NORTHERN FLICKERS. Wolfe Island An EASTERN SCREECH-OWL, 18 SNOWY OWLS and 43 SHORT-EARED OWLS were reported. Other Sightings Watefowl numbers are also on the rise at Narrows Lock with TRUMPETER SWANS and HOODED MERGANSERS being the most notable species. A BALD EAGLE and 37 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS flew over Narrows Lock Road. In Westport there were 200 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS. Another BALD EAGLE was on Hutchings Road (near Newboro). A BARRED OWL was at Loughborough Lake. The first displaying AMERICAN WOODCOCK of the season was at Elginburg last night. The yellow-bellied sapsucker has not been seen in Elginburg since Feb 29 but the RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER continued to visit a feeder there. A PINE SISKINS was at the same feeder last weekend. A NORTHERN SHRIKE was in a Harrowsmith backyard. 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/
