On Thursday, October 13th, 2005, this is the HNC Birding Report: BRANT HUDSONIAN GODWIT BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER RED PHALAROPE FRANKLIN'S GULL LITTLE GULL
Common Loon Pied-billed Grebe Great Blue Heron Great Egret Black-crowned Night Heron Green Heron Blue-winged Teal Green-winged Teal Greater Scaup White-winged Scoter Bald Eagle Rough-legged Hawk Sora Black-bellied Plover Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Sanderling Pectoral Sandpiper Dunlin Long-billed Dowitcher Parasitic Jaeger Lesser-black backed Gull Black-legged Kittiwake Common Tern Forster's Tern Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Eastern Phoebe Red-eyed Vireo Blue-headed Vireo Barn Swallow Tufted Titmouse Red-breasted Nuthatch Winter Wren House Wren Golden-crowned Kinglet Ruby-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird Swainson's Thrush Hermit Thrush Northern Mockingbird Brown Thrasher Orange-crowned Warbler Nashville Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Palm Warbler Common Yellowthroat Scarlet Tanager Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow Fox Sparrow Song Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow White-throated Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Eastern Meadowlark Another exciting week happening in the Hamilton Area. Many great reports of rarities and seldom seen birds in various places throughout the HSA. To lead off the Dundas Marsh was a definite highlight this week with the discovery of two FRANKLIN'S GULLS out on the mud flat. In the same scope view on Monday, two of us had one of these gulls along with two HUDSONIAN GODWITS . After we left, a first year LITTLE GULL flew in and sat on the water. Also present out at the marsh, Bald Eagle, Rough-legged Hawk, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Sora, Black-bellied Plover, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Sanderling, Pectoral Sandpiper, Dunlin, Long-billed Dowitcher, Barn Swallow, Eastern Bluebird, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow and many White-throated Sparrows. Not to be outdone, Van Wagners beach did not disappoint this week with its own goodies. On the OFO field trip Saturday and throughout the week east winds brought in birds which included Common Loon, BRANT, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, White-winged Scoter, Parasitic Jaeger, Black-legged Kittiwake, Forster's Tern, Common Tern, HUDSONIAN GODWIT, and RED PHALAROPE. On the beach Monday was a very late BUFF BREASTED SANDPIPER accompanied by three Sanderling, which were seen again Tuesday near the go cart track. At the track a number of different sparrows were hunkered down out of the wind including, Chipping, Field, many White-crowned, many White-throated, many Song Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos. On the trail behind the nearby VanWagners Ponds, many other migrants were seen during the week including Black-crowned Night Heron, Green Heron, Blue-headed Vireo, Winter Wren, House Wren, Swainson's Thrush, Hermit Thrush, Northern Mockingbird, Brown Thrasher, Orange-crowned Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Palm Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Eastern Towhee, Lincoln's Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow and White-throated Sparrow and Eastern Meadowlarks in numbers. Its now been raining for four days and at many places along the lakeshore its been raining Kinglets. Both species of kinglets are passing through in massive numbers. While spishing, it was not uncommon to get twenty kinglets coming in to check out the noise. Shoreacres/Paletta and Shell Park this week had many passerines passing through, kept down by the soggy weather. These include Brown Creeper, Northern Flicker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Hermit Thrush, many Winter Wrens, Scarlet Tanager, Chipping Sparrow, many White-crowned and White-throated Sparrows with Dark-eyed Juncos flying out everywhere. At Coronation Park a Tufted Titmouse made an appearance this week, a bird not common in this area. Along with it, a pair of Black-throated Blue Warblers. At LaSalle Park today, Pied-billed Grebe, Red-eyed Vireo, Nashville, Black-throated Green and Black-throated Blue Warbler gave some spice to the mix of the previous locations. Woodland Cemetery was also busy this past weekend with a fall out of sparrows (Field, Savannah, Lincoln's, White-throated and White-Crowned), Swainson's Thrush, Hermit Thrush and Palm Warblers. In the odds & sods department was one of the first reports of Rough-legged Hawk from Rock Chapel. That's the news of the week, not bad at all. Keep sending me those reports! Have a great week. Good birding, Cheryl Edgecombe HNC Hotline 905-381-0329
