At 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 31st, 2005, this is the HNC birding report EARED GREBE BARROW'S GOLDENEYE SORA TREE SWALLOW
Common Loon Pied-billed Grebe Horned Grebe Red-necked Grebe Black-crowned Night-Heron * Turkey Vulture Wood Duck American Wigeon Blue-winged Teal * Northern Pintail Green-winged Teal Canvasback Ring-necked Duck Harlequin Duck Northern Harrier Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Wild Turkey American Woodcock Snowy Owl Northern Saw-whet Owl Great Gray Owl Eastern Phoebe Common Raven Tufted Titmouse Brown Creeper Eastern Bluebird Field Sparrow Fox Sparrow Common Redpoll Pine Siskin *denotes new migrants this week The end of March is here and hopefully spring as well as migrants continue to move into the Hamilton Area. Bronte Harbour was the hotspot over the Easter Weekend. An EARED GREBE was reported on Sunday swimming along with 180 or so Red-necked Grebes on the lake outside the harbour. Inside the outer harbour, a BARROW'S GOLDENEYE was reported swimming in the boat docks on Sunday. Both the BARROWS and the EARED GREBE were one day wonders but on Monday, Red-necked Grebes and Horned Grebes continued to be out in numbers on the choppy lake. Also reported were the Harlequin Ducks seen at the mouth of Bronte Harbour on Sunday. In Bronte Marsh which is on the north side of Lakeshore Road two Black-crowned Night Herons were seen on Monday (after we left). One Black-crowned Night Heron was reported from the Eastport Drive area as well. Another great find this week in the duck department was two Blue-winged Teal at the end of Grays Road in Stoney Creek. King Eiders are still being reported from L.P. Sayers Park as of Wednesday. Beamer has been hit and miss this week having a good day Wednesday with a steady stream of Turkey Vultures, Red-shouldered Hawks, Rough-legged Hawks, Northern Harriers and Red-tailed Hawks. Eastern Phoebe and Common Ravens were a couple of the other migrants noted this week. In this area on 10th Road West, an Eastern Meadowlark was singing on Sunday, a dismal day, but it was great to hear this bird again. Moving west, A group of Wild Turkey were seen in the field north of Green Mountain Road near 8th Road West. Owls are in the news again this week with the Northern Saw-whet Owl is still being seen at Fifty Point Conservation Area. I was extremely fortunate on Friday to find a Snowy Owl out on the bay seen off of Woodland Cemetery. Also seen off the cemetery were a group of Tundra Swans and a Wood Duck. A trip to the other side of the bay at the Parks Canada Marine Discovery Centre in Hamilton (providing an excellent view of the bay) turned up Glaucous Gull, Iceland Gull and a first winter Lesser-blacked Gull and a better view of the Snowy Owl. Sightings from LaSalle Marina included many Horned Grebes, Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon and Ring-necked Duck. A trip into the Dundas Valley Conservation Area was successful at turning up a surprising Common Raven. Along the reforestation trail we had a quick glimpse at a large gray bird crashing through the trees, likely Elvis the Great Gray still keeping its cover in the area. While looking for this ghost, we ran into a juvenile Northern Goshawk. Along the Dundas Rail Trail, two Field Sparrows and a Fox sparrow were reported today. A tour of Flamborough this week yielded a bit of a winterish mix with Pine Siskins and Common Redpolls being seen on 8th Concession West near Westover. Also here was a singing Brown Creeper. Eastern Bluebirds were also seen near Old Governors Road. In the odds and sods this week tonight, I received a report of a SORA running around someone's pond in Carlisle, Tufted Titmice are still being reported from the Northshore trail at the RBG, a Pied-billed Grebe is still in the Desjardins Canal and there are American Woodcocks calling feverishly from the old orchard off of Harvester Road near Cumberland in Burlington. That's the news for the week, until next week...... Good birding Cheryl Edgecombe HNC Hotline 905-381-0329
