At 4:30 p.m., Thursday February 5th 2004, this is the new Hamilton Naturalists Club Birding Hotline report.
Good afternoon and welcome to our new format. I am in the process of taking over the Birding Hotline report from Keith Dieroff. First and foremost let me say a great big THANKS to Keith for doing our reports over the last couple of years. They have been extremely informative and helpful in getting the word out of Hamilton birds or birds out of our area that are of interest to birders in Hamilton and surrounding areas. I hope that I can be as efficient and as informative as Keith has been. Again, our thanks for your hard work. Now onto the new format. I am trying out a new way of listing birds for our report. You will see this report format from our friends in Buffalo and Ottawa. The purpose of this format is to inform people of birds in the Hamilton area OR birds that may be of interest to birders of the area which are not too far from our neck of the woods. I will keep these within local driving distances and I'm not trying to steal birds from other areas to list in my report. I will list significant birds in capital letters at the top for those who wish to skip to the bottom for a description of where these birds can be located. Ones marked by an asterisk are out of our Hamilton Circle but are of interest to people in the area. This report will have some minor adjustments over the next few weeks as I get used to posting and gathering information. If there are any birds you have seen in the Hamilton area that you think might be of interest for the report, I would welcome your sightings. Make sure to include any information on numbers and location as well as observers. I will not list any observers in these reports but the records will be forwarded to our Noteworthy Bird Records co-ordinator Rob Dobos. It gives everyone a more comprehensive list of what you can find as well as providing valuable information used to study the birds in the Hamilton area. These can be emailed to me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Now enough of my long winded opening and onto the sightings: BOHEMIAN WAXWING GRAY PARTRIDGE (4) SANDHILL CRANE * TUFTED DUCK * KING EIDER HARLEQUIN DUCK RED THROATED LOON RED NECKED GREBE BROWN THRASHER (3) Pied-billed Grebe Northern Shoveler Northern Pintail Redhead Surf Scoter White-winged Scoter Black Scoter Long-tailed Duck Common Goldeneye Bufflehead Common Merganser Red-breasted Merganser Ruddy Duck Bald Eagle Rough-legged Hawk Peregrine Falcon Gray Partridge Wild Turkey American Coot Iceland Gull Glaucous Gull Great Horned Owl Long-eared Owl Belted Kingfisher Northern Flicker Northern Shrike Tufted Titmouse Hermit Thrush American Robin Gray Catbird Fox Sparrow Snow Bunting Lapland Longspur Common Redpoll * birds denoted by an asterisk are not in the Hamilton Study Area. This weeks big find was a flock of approximately 120 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS at 6840 Gore Road in Flamborough. This flock was seen sporadically on Sunday February 1st by a number of observers but has not been seen since. Snow Buntings and a flock of 50 Robins were also seen at this location. Enroute to this site, a flock of 10 Wild Turkeys were seen at Safari Road and Westover Rd. Another observer reported a flock of 20 turkeys this week at 8th line and Green Road in Stoney Creek. The TUFTED DUCK has reappeared at Port Weller over the past two days and can be viewed off of Bunting Road (Government Road) on the west side of the locks. HARLEQUIN DUCKS are still being reported off of Ben Macree Park in Mississauga. Birds seen in Hamilton Bay this week include 6 RED NECKED GREBES, 1 RED THROATED LOON, Redhead and Common Merganser. As of Tuesday these birds could be seen off of Eastport Drive. A Peregrine Falcon was also seen in this location. A group visiting Tollgate Ponds last Sunday noted Ruddy Duck, Northern Shoveler and Northern Pintail. The lake continues to produce good waterfowl such as Surf, White-winged and Black Scoter, Long-tailed Ducks, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Common and Red-breasted Merganser. Four 1st year KING EIDERS continue to be seen off of Sayers Park in Stoney Creek although they do disappear from time to time (i.e. when I go there). On the ice along the lakeshore there have been both Iceland and Glaucous Gulls. Birds seen at Desjardins Canal this week include Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot and Belted Kingfisher. The Blue-winged Teal reported there a couple of weeks ago has not been seen again. This week however a Green-winged Teal was seen amongst the masses of ducks located at Lasalle Park at the end of Waterdown Road. GRAY PARTRIDGE were reported from the Brantford airport. They were behind the building at the SE corner of Aviation and York Rds, beyond the parking lot on some exposed grass that had been plowed. These were reported last on Monday. Noteworthy to this area is the SANDHILL CRANE which was observed on Sunday in a corn stubble field at the NW corner of Rest Acres Rd and Hwy 403 (the field on the west side opposite the off ramp from the westbound 403, and south of the apple orchard). Flocks of Snow buntings continue to be seen in the fields surrounding the airport with an occasional Lapland Longspur amongst them. A Long-eared Owl made a brief appearance at Shoreacres/Paletta Park last Saturday. I discovered one this morning in Bronte Creek Provincial Park campground. One was seen at the Hopkins Tract this week as well. A good variety of birds continue to be seen at the Valley Inn. These include BROWN THRASHER, Brown Creeper, Gray Catbird and Fox Sparrow. Interestingly, today reports of 2 more Brown Thrashers came in. A BROWN THRASHER was located on the north shore of Cootes at the intersection of MacDonnell and Capt.Cootes Trails ; then about a half hour later another one was located at feeder atop a railway tie wall (the second feeding station west of Raspberry house). Other Royal Botanical Gardens sightings include Hermit Thrush on the Pinteum Trail and Tufted Titmouse on Captain Cootes Trail leading from the Aboretum. Common Redpolls have been reported today (flock of 12 by me) in the Walkers Line/New Street area and sporadically through the area. Keep checking for the occasional Hoary amongst them!! That's the scoop for this week. Please email your sightings to me through the week or leave a message on our birding hotline. Good birding, Cheryl Edgecombe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hamilton Naturalists' Club > Tel: (905) 381-0329 > www.hamiltonnature.org "Cheryl Edgecombe" <[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.
