At 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 7th, 2005 this is the HNC birding report:
DARK-EYED JUNCO DICKCISSEL Red-necked Grebe Green-winged Teal Redhead Lesser Scaup Bufflehead Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Solitary Sandpiper Spotted Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Short-billed Dowitcher Wilson's Phalarope Black-billed Cuckoo Eastern Screech Owl Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Eastern Bluebird Cedar Waxwing Common Yellowthroat Indigo Bunting Eastern Meadowlark Well its been a nice little break but it appears that we have turned the corner with the shorebirds and some are on their way back. Several species of shorebirds have been reported in the week. Last Sunday at Grimsby, a Semipalmated Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher and juv. Wilson's Phalarope were all reported from Winona Sewage Lagoons. The Phalarope disappeared that day. Today, at the storm drainage ponds at Guelph Line and North Service Road (termed Congestion Ponds) Short-billed Dowitchers, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs and Least Sandpiper were seen today. This is an excellent mud flat and is worth checking periodically since habitat is very little in the HSA. Least Sandpipers were seen at Smithville Sewage Lagoons and at Tollgate Ponds. Also reported today was a Solitary Sandpiper at Crieff Bog. The surprise of the week was a DARK-EYED JUNCO seen at a yard in Canboro. A good record for this time of the year, hopefully not predicting an early winter!!!! Our other visitor the DICKCISSEL was last reported on Sunday. Ducks at Windermere Basin this week included Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Green-winged Teal and Redhead. The Red-necked Grebes continue to be present at Bronte Harbour but a pair are also nesting in the marsh. At Courtcliffe Park in Carlisle this week Eastern Bluebird, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Common Yellowthroat, Indigo Bunting and Eastern Meadowlark were reported in the week. In the odds and sods department a number of Black-billed Cuckoos were heard in the Middletown Road and 5th Concession area, a family of Eastern Screech Owls were reported from the Rock Chapel area and this week on my home turf, I rescued two Cedar Waxwing babies who fell out of my tree, put them back in nest and they have now disappeared into the higher limbs of our maple still being fed by the adults. A great show to watch. That's the news for this week. Keep your eyes and bins on those shorebirds, you never know what will drop in for the night. Good birding, Cheryl Edgecombe 905-381-0329 HNC Hotline
