After checking a new bird book and consulting with a Peregrine expert (Eve Ticknor), I believe that my report of a Peregrine Falcon east of Ottawa should be changed to a female Merlin. Apologies to anyone who went looking there today but it is a good area for other birds! Here are the directions again: Queensway east, continue on Hwy 174 east, go past Orleans mall and exit south on Trim Road, continue south to Innis, turn left (east) at Innis and take next right onto Frank Kenny Road. Continue south on Frank Kenny to Regimbald - turn left and continue to jog in road. Female merlin was seen on pole on right side of road at the jog. Don Wigle Ottawa From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sun Dec 18 20:11:16 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from mail.wzrd.com (mail.wzrd.com [216.207.4.8]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6463263B59 for <[email protected]>; Sun, 18 Dec 2005 20:11:16 -0500 (EST) Received: from STUDY (pm10-ppp043.dialup.wzrd.com [24.75.6.189]) by mail.wzrd.com (8.13.3/8.13.3) with ESMTP id jBJ1A5Mm004011; Sun, 18 Dec 2005 20:10:40 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Willie D'Anna & Betsy Potter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "OntBirds" <[email protected]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 20:09:25 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook, Build 11.0.5510 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Thread-Index: AcYEONoBaDnqOiziThKNKLL3/XHJCg=X-SMTP-Vilter-Version: 1.1.8 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.1 Subject: [Ontbirds]Niagara Falls - Palm Warbler, others X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 01:11:17 -0000
Working the Buffalo CBC at Niagara Falls, Ontario on the Niagara River, Vicki Rothman, Jim Pawlicki, Betsy, and I had some good winter birds. The best was a PALM WARBLER found by Betsy and Vicki at the pull-off on the south side of the control gates. There is a length of guiderail here which prevents vehicles from driving into the river. The warbler would go between the wooden posts and the metal guiderail to feed, presumably on spiders or insects caught in spider webs. When it was in the guiderail, the only way to see it was from the back side of the rail (i.e. from the river side). Occasionally, it would come out and sit in some nearby burdock, very close to us, and I was able to take some digiscoped images. A couple of times, it appeared to get stuck briefly in the burdock, which on occasion, is known to catch birds that do not escape. This was between 10:00 and 11:30. Later, around 2:30, Betsy and Vicki saw the warbler again at the pull-off on the NORTH side of the control gates. It was going into weeds on the slope in front of where birders often look for gulls and waterfowl. Other good birds included a KILLDEER a couple of hundred yards above the Canadian (Horseshoe) Falls; a TRUMPETER SWAN with a yellow tag and black numbers (# 928); at least FIVE NORTHERN SHOVELERS (one adult male); a male HARLEQUIN DUCK; and a WINTER WREN. The swan and shovelers were in the rocks with many gulls, about mid-river and between the stranded barge and the falls. The shovelers were very difficult to see, being frequently hidden by the rocks and the gulls. However, we did have two shovelers (possibly different birds) close to shore above the stranded barge, at the creek outlet from the Dufferin Islands Nature Area. The Harlequin Duck was seen from the pull-off south of the control gates. It was seen feeding between the breakwall and the "island" where many gulls roost, and also resting on the island. It was always closely associating with Mallards. In recent weeks, this bird has been seen below the falls and at the Dufferin Islands Nature Area, always with Mallards! The Winter Wren was seen right by the overlook that is behind the gatehouse (the gatehouse is a smaller building between the barge and the control gates). We also had about 15,000 Herring Gulls, 4 Iceland, 1 Glaucous (at the base of the American Falls), 7 Lesser Black-backeds, and at least one adult gull that looked good for Thayer's. Our tally was 55 species. Good CBCing! Willie ---------- Willie D'Anna Betsy Potter Wilson, NY [EMAIL PROTECTED] From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sun Dec 18 19:50:56 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from tomts16-srv.bellnexxia.net (tomts16.bellnexxia.net [209.226.175.4]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5B35E65A18 for <[email protected]>; Sun, 18 Dec 2005 19:50:52 -0500 (EST) Received: from [127.0.0.1] ([69.157.37.70]) by tomts16-srv.bellnexxia.net (InterMail vM.5.01.06.13 201-253-122-130-113-20050324) with ESMTP id <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> for <[email protected]>; Sun, 18 Dec 2005 19:50:53 -0500 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 19:50:52 -0500 From: Dave Don <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (ax) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: [email protected] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Originating-IP: [0] X-Mailman-Approved-At: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 20:57:05 -0500 Subject: [Ontbirds]Barrows goldeneye Stoney Creek X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 00:50:56 -0000 Hi all, This afternoon the adult male Barrows goldeneye was showing well at the end of Grays Rd in Stoney Creek, along with all three Scoters, in abundant numbers. Directions: Grays Rd can be accessed off the North Service Rd. in Stoney Creek, by driving towards Niagara, just past Confederation Park take a left on Drake Drive and left again on Frances Ave to Grays Rd. Park legally as close to the lake as you can, with out upsetting the local residents as I somehow managed! Cheers and Merry Christmas, Dave Don

