At 9:30 p.m on Thursday, August 12th,2004 this is the HNC Birding Report:
AMERICAN AVOCET OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER Common Loon Red-necked Grebe Wood Duck Northern Shoveler Redhead Osprey Merlin Common Moorhen Semipalmated Plover Least Sandpiper Lesser Yellowlegs Solitary Sandpiper Wilsons Snipe Great Black-backed Gull Sedge Wren Mourning Warbler Pine Warbler American Redstart Chestnut Sided Warbler Blue-winged Warbler Canada Warbler Northern Waterthrush Purple Finch Best show of the week is the appearance of 2 American Avocets at Tollgate Ponds. This is the second occurrence this summer of this species. The birds however only stuck around on Tuesday and then moved on. Other birds seen at Tollgate were however a Redhead Duck with 6 young, Northern Shoveler , Semipalmated Plover, Least Sandpiper and Lesser Yellowlegs. This spot sadly seems to be the only suitable habitat in the Hamilton area as of now and there is no harm in making a daily check of this spot. Other birds in this general vicinity were Common Loon flying past CCIW and the return of Great Black-backed Gulls at the same location slightly later than in previous years. Great Black Backed Gulls were also reported from Rattray Marsh along with Common Loon, 29 Red-necked Grebes, Solitary Sandpiper, American Redstart, Canada Warbler and Northern Waterthrush thus adding a few more migrants to the list. Another hotspot this week was Courtcliffe Park in Carlisle where an OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER was reported along with Merlin, Pine Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Mourning Warbler and Purple Finch. Interestingly a flock of 42 Wood Ducks flew over the park as well. Other odds and sods from the week was a Wilsons Snipe in the Beverly Swamp Area, an Osprey perched at the Valley Inn and Common Moorhen and Solitary Sandpiper at Mountsberg C.A.. Sedge Wrens were present on the 10th concession East in the general vicinity of where the Short-eared Owls were present in January. Thats the scoop for this week, migration has begun. More sightings to follow this week. Make sure you keep checking the lake for the Brown Pelican!!! Cheers, Cheryl Edgecombe HNC Hotline 905-381-0329
