Despite heavy rain to start the outing, 7 hardy souls joined me as we birded the Durham waterfront. Tyler Hoar joined me for part of the adventure (unfortunately leaving just before we saw the loons (see below) :-) His knowledge and observational skills were most appreciated.
We started at Lynde Shores woods where we found several most cooperative and hungry chickadees and sparrows at the feeders. As we worked through the woods we added Purple Finches, Fox Sparrow and Hermit Thrush. On the walk south toward Cranberry Marsh we had great looks at several Rusty Blackbirds, a phoebe, a catbird and many more Fox, White-throats and White-crowned Sparrows and a few more Hermit Thrushes. A Common Yellowthroat was in the tall weeds and about 6 deer sauntered across the road at one point. At Cranberry we added most of the expected puddle ducks plus Hooded and Common Mergansers and Bufflehead and Northern Harrier that was hunting the marsh. Back at the car we drove to Pringle Creek where Trumpeter and Mute Swans slept on flats and two Greater and three Lesser Yellowlegs allowed great opportunities to compare these confusing species. >From here we headed east to Oshawa Second Marsh, where we birded the main >marsh first adding lots of cormorants and Great Blue Herons, Pied-billed >Grebes, 47 coots, lots of puddle ducks including Wood Duck, a Marsh Wren, >pipits and several Swamp Sparrows. The fields nearby were jumping with >sparrows - Song, White-throated, White-crowned and a Chipping. A few >Yellow-rumped Warblers joined the melee and a Peregrine Falcon appeared >overhead looking for lunch in the marsh. Golden-crowned Kinglets offered great >up close views, with one male showing his orangey-red crest. In sleepy hollow >we added Winter Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a phoebe. As we neared the shore, things got exciting as I scoped for loons and grebes - first I found a winter plumaged Common Loon, then several White-winged Scoters and a few Long-tailed Ducks, plus hundreds of Red-breasted Mergansers. As I rescanned the area looking for grebes, a beautiful breeding plumaged Pacific Loon was suddenly directly in front of us. It dove repeatedly so was unfortunately not seen by the entire group. (I understand it was relocated later by other parties near Oshawa harbour). Then two loons flew into view going west to east - one was a Red-throated (winter plumage) and the other was not identified due to distance, but appeared to also be a Red-throated. >From here we went to Thickson's Woods where we added very little but did see >about 50 Pine Siskins, another Winter Wren and several Common Loons out on the >lake. Then it was off to Duffin's Creek in Ajax, where we added a single Surf >Scoter and a Killdeer. Total count for the day was 68 species - not bad for a rainy day! P.S. would the two brothers who left a bit early pls email me privately. Directions: Oshawa Second Marsh - exit 401 at exit 419 and proceed south on Farewell Drive to Wentworth then east to the SW corner of the GM parking lot. Thickson's Woods - exit from 401 south on Thickson's Rd and proceed to woods on your left side just before you get to the private cottages. Pringle Creek - exit 401 at Brock in Whitby and go south to the bridge over the Pringle Creek and you can see the mudflats on both sides of the road. Lynde Shores - from Pringle Creek, go north on Brock and turn west until you cross a large marsh. Lynde Shores C.A. is on your left and is well signed. Duffin's Creek - exit 401 at Westney (exit 401) and go south to Lake Driveway and then west and south around a long bend to Rotary Park on your right. Park near the pavilion and walk west to a foot bridge. The lake and marsh are visible from the bridge. Watch for cyclists please. Geoff Carpentier www.avocetnatureservices.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/
