At 10:30pm, Thursday, November 6th, 2003, this is the Hamilton Naturalists' Club Birding Hotline Report. The Hotline is normally revised on Thursday, unless an unusual bird turns up in the Hamilton area.
For a change, we'll start this week's report off with some yard reports. To begin, the following birds were seen or heard from a yard on Cedar Springs Road in Burlington: WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH, RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, DOWNY WOODPECKER, HAIRY WOODPECKER, MOURNING DOVE, HOUSE FINCH, CHIPPING SPARROW, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, RED-TAILED HAWK, TURKEY VULTURE, and GREAT HORNED OWL. A nice assortment for early November. Elsewhere, DARK-EYED JUNCO and WHITE-THROATED SPARROW turned up near West 5th and Southbend. Preliminary highlights from last Sunday's Hamilton Area Fall Bird Count include a NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED SPARROW at the Dundas Hydro Ponds, WINTER WREN and FOX SPARROW in the Ancaster area, plus four RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS, a NORTHERN SHRIKE, over 200 AMERICAN PIPITS, almost 100 KILLDEER, and a dozen RUSTY BLACKBIRDS between Alberton and Cainsville. More details to follow in next week's report. A trip to Van Wagner's Beach in what has been described as 'howling' easterly winds produced two PARASITIC JAEGERS, a POMARINE JAEGER, as well as small flocks of BRANT, SNOW GOOSE, SANDERLING, and DUNLIN. Other local reports this week include CAROLINA WREN, HERMIT THRUSH, PIED-BILLED GREBE, and LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL at LaSalle Marina, three NORTHERN HARRIERS at the Waterdown North Wetland Trails, NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL at Burloak Park, AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN at Coote's Paradise, BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON at the Desjardins Canal, RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS in Beamsville and on Lower Lions Club Road in Dundas, plus NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD and SNOW BUNTING in the Bronte Harbour area. Out of town, a trip along the north shore of Lake Erie from Rock Point Provincial Park to Fort Erie yielded a late BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER, PURPLE FINCH, BLUE-HEADED VIREO, CHIPPING SPARROW, NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD, TUFTED TITMOUSE, CAROLINA WREN, BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, DUNLIN, FOX SPARROW, and RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER. To get you warmed up for gull season, a flypast report from Niagara-on-the-Lake included 370 BONAPARTE'S GULLS but no LITTLE GULLS. Other rarities seen this week throughout Ontario were a BLACK VULTURE at Prince Edward Point, WESTERN KINGBIRD near Pembroke, plus CAVE SWALLOWS at Niagara Falls and near Tobermory. That's all for this 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] Hamilton Naturalists' Club Tel: (905) 381-0329 www.hamiltonnature.org ______________________________________________________________________ Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca Keith Dieroff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Visit http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm for information on leaving and joining the list. As well as general information and content guidelines.
