-----Original Message----- From: Sue Suess [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2004 10:18 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Point Pelee, Rondeau
yesterday the point at Pelee was quiet - almost washed away actually, with virtually no birds in sight. At the drop off area at the point we spotted 6 or so American Tree Sparrows as well as a Downy Woodpecker. Between Marsh Board Walk and Sanctuary we saw 3 pair of Red Breasted Mergansers; at Sanctuary there were more Am Tree Sparrows as well as several Cardinals. Fog seemed to keep everything else quiet! Wheatly Harbour produced Common Merganser, Bonapartes and Herring Gulls, Ring Bills; we missed the Yellow Headed Blackbird out in the onion fields, north of the Harbor on Erie St, Kestrel. at Hillmans we watched an immature eagle sitting on a high dead tree on the north side of the Marsh, a Great Blue Heron on the north side of the road; as well as hundreds of Canada Geese and a handful of Snow Geese out in the shore bird habitat area, good sighting from the road till we realized there were "No Parking" signs posted, so we moved on; Today Jan 3- fogless day, Hillmans Marsh - observed the adult pair of eagles on the north side of the marsh, quite active in their search for food; much more activity in the sky with the gulls flying all over everywhere, Wheatly was active and when checking out a raft of gulls we spotted one of the adult eagles being harassed by a few gulls, they wanted the fish the eagle was carrying I'm sure, Rondeau - south point trail, Kinglets at the start of the trail couldn't tell which kind as they were very high up in the pines; at dusk heard the call of a few Great Horned Owls, awesome sound resonating through the woods, watched a few white tailed deer as they grazed towards the beacon. The highlight was on #3 Highway east bound just after Guilds, we were almost hit head on by an anxious Northern Harrier who was coming in feet first for some prey in the ditch and I'm sure was more focused on that than on this hulking car baring down on it, we wheeled around to try to ID the bird and found him flying towards a pile of newly fallen pine trees, while watching him, the best part of the day occurred (besides the eagles) there was a flock of approximately 100+ Swans, winging there way westward then north over the highway and then we lost sight of them. Are they a sign of early spring or late migrants??? All in all a great couple of birding days! Sue Suess Mississauga, ON ssuess(AT)jascont.org "Sue Suess" <[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.
