At 1:00pm, Thursday, January 23rd, 2003, this is the Hamilton Naturalists' Club Birding Hotline Report. The Hotline is normally revised on Thursday nights, unless an unusual bird turns up in the Hamilton area.
One word can be used to sum up the action in the Hamilton area this past week - RAPTORS! Starting with raptors of the diurnal kind, the NORTHERN HAWK OWL was still present on Guelph Line and the Reid Sideroad yesterday afternoon. A SNOWY OWL has been seen on and off at Pier 26/Tollgate Ponds, a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK was discovered near 1159 Campbellville Road in Halton, and a MERLIN was seen over the Wayne Gretzky Parkway in Brantford. The white phase GYRFALCON spotted last Friday has not been seen since, but BALD EAGLES are widespread - individual birds were reported from the Oakville and Burlington lakeshore, on the ice in the bay, at Cootes Paradise, and at Van Wagner's Beach. Four eagles were hanging around Cambridge on the Grand and Speed Rivers, two more were in Glen Morris, and four more were perched in the "eagle tree" on the north shore of Lake Erie between Sandusk Road and the Nanticoke Generating Station. Moving to noctural raptors, a LONG-EARED OWL delighted observers on the Grey Doe Trail at the RBG, and an EASTERN SCREEN OWL was photographed in a Carlisle yard. Other local reports include HERMIT THRUSH at Appleby Creek, AMERICAN ROBIN, HAIRY WOODPECKER, and NORTHERN SHRIKE at Shoreacres/Paletta Park, a male HARLEQUIN DUCK seen from the northeast jetty of the ship canal in Burlington, COMMON RAVEN and NORTHERN SHRIKE near Lowville, SNOW BUNTING at Pier 26, a pair of RING-NECKED PHEASANTS in a Grimsby yard, plus NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD, WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, AMERICAN ROBIN, PILEATED WOODPECKER, COOPER'S HAWK, TURKEY VULTURE, HORNED LARK, CAROLINA WREN, and EASTERN BLUEBIRD on the North Shore Trails of the RBG. Last but certainly not least, the YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT was last report on Tuesday at LaSalle Marina. Until next week, be sure to let us know about your sightings. Leave your name, telephone number, as well as the time and date of your call. Sightings can also be reported by e-mail. GOOD BIRDING! Keith Dieroff C/O Hamilton Naturalists' Club Birding Hotline Report Hamilton, Ontario [EMAIL PROTECTED] ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca Keith Dieroff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
