The 2nd Saugeen Shores CBC was held yesterday under overcast skies with precipitation ranging from fog to light rain for most of the day. Temperatures ranged from 0 - 4 degrees with patchy snow cover due to recent rain. Small inland lakes and streams were partially to completely ice covered, Lake Huron and the Saugeen River were open.
Thank you to the 30 participants that made the count so successful! 52 species were observed including 14 new species. Highlights included: - Red-shouldered Hawk - Pine Grosbeak - White-winged Crossbill - Bohemian and Cedar Waxwings - Glaucous Gull - Common Grackle - Hooded Merganser 2 Snowy Owls were located on the 8th of Elderslie - take Bruce Road 3 north from Paisley, turn east on the 8th concession. Another Snowy Owl was observed near the junction of Bruce Road 3 and the Saugeen River just north of Burgoyne. The Red-shouldered Hawk was located on the Saugeen River Road near Smith's Apple Orchard - take the River Road off Bruce Road 3 about 4 miles south of Burgoyne or off Bruce Road 17 about 3 miles west of Burgoyne. Both waxwings were located at MacGregor Point Provincial Park - highway 21 south of Port Elgin to Saugeen Conc. 4 and follow the signs. The adult Glaucous gull was observed at the Port Elgin dump near the water tower. Next year's count will be held on Wednesday January 3rd. Good birding, Cindy Cartwright From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Jan 5 16:07:00 2006 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from mail.niagara.com (mail.niagara.com [209.5.56.12]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2892663C67 for <[email protected]>; Thu, 5 Jan 2006 16:07:00 -0500 (EST) Received: from KayoRoy (dsl-254.niagara.com [206.186.77.254]) by mail.niagara.com (8.13.1/8.12.8) with SMTP id k05L7XLo011055 for <[email protected]>; Thu, 5 Jan 2006 16:07:33 -0500 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Diane and Kayo Roy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Ontbirds" <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 16:06:56 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2670 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2670 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.1 Subject: [Ontbirds]Niagara Falls CBC X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 05 Jan 2006 21:07:00 -0000 I just realized that I did not identify the three count week birds on the Niagara Falls ON/NY CBC. They were: California Gull, Chipping Sparrow and Common Redpoll. Kayo Kayo Roy 13 Kinsman Court Fonthill, ON L0S 1E3 [EMAIL PROTECTED] From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Jan 5 16:09:58 2006 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from tomts40-srv.bellnexxia.net (unknown [209.226.175.97]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C5CB563D12 for <[email protected]>; Thu, 5 Jan 2006 16:09:58 -0500 (EST) Received: from trentu.ca ([206.172.251.108]) by tomts40-srv.bellnexxia.net (InterMail vM.5.01.06.13 201-253-122-130-113-20050324) with ESMTP id <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Thu, 5 Jan 2006 16:09:42 -0500 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, 05 Jan 2006 16:09:43 -0500 From: Fred Helleiner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 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-Antivirus: avast! (VPS 0544-0, 10/31/2005), Outbound message X-Antivirus-Status: Clean X-Originating-IP: [0] Subject: [Ontbirds] Presqu'ile Birding Report for Week Ending January 5, 2006. X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 05 Jan 2006 21:09:59 -0000 After a couple of days when the wind blew ice into Presqu'ile Bay, temporarily clearing most of the waterfowl out, mild weather returned, even enticing a chipmunk out of its winter quarters. Perhaps the first avian sign of spring in Presqu'ile Provincial Park was a woodpecker (probably a Hairy Woodpecker) doing a drumroll on January 2, something we don't usually hear except in spring. Although it is a quiet time of year for birding, one unaccompanied observer has managed to locate 40 species of birds at Presqu'ile in the first five days of this year, which is exceptional for such a small area (about 10 square kilometres). In the town of Brighton and across the bay at Barcovan, he found an additional six species, including urban specialties like Rock Pigeons, European Starlings, and House Sparrows, which one would be hard pressed to find at Presqu'ile in winter. Four Tundra Swans were in Presqu'ile Bay on December 30 but have not been since. Three Canvasbacks were at the end of Langdon Avenue with Redheads and other ducks on January 5. The number of Redheads plummeted after the bay iced up, from several hundred to half a dozen, but almost 100 have returned. Common Mergansers experienced a similar disappearance/re-appearance, albeit in numbers barely reaching two digits. Red-breasted Mergansers, on the other hand, were unaffected by the freeze-up since they typically stay in the open water of the lake. Bald Eagles have been seen on four of the past seven days, usually cruising over Presqu'ile Bay. Both Sharp-shinned Hawk and Northern Goshawk have also been seen this week. A Ruffed Grouse was flushed in the woods, and the fresh tracks of three other birds were spotted in widely separated parts of the Park. Among the hundreds of Herring Gulls on the ice of Presqu'ile Bay there were at least two Iceland Gulls. A Snowy Owl was spotted on the ice of the bay. A Northern Shrike can often be found at the calf pasture. Both Brown Creeper and Golden-crowned Kinglet have been seen in flocks of Black-capped Chickadees along Paxton Drive. Two Song Sparrows were at Owen Point, a White-throated Sparrow was at 83 Bayshore Road, and an unidentified sparrow, perhaps a Swamp Sparrow, skulked away from the observer near the pump house. A flock of Snow Buntings was on Gull Island. A lone Common Grackle that had not been seen for a week has re-appeared twice near Langdon Avenue. Four species of finch have been present during the past week, the commonest being Common Redpolls at several locations. House Finch, Pine Siskin, and American Goldfinch are the other three. To reach Presqu'ile Provincial Park, follow the signs from Brighton. Locations within the Park are shown on a map at the back of a tabloid that is available at the Park gate. The ice between Owen Point and Gull Island may be unsafe depending on recent wind and temperature conditions, but was not a problem a few days ago. Questions and comments about bird sightings at Presqu'ile may be directed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- -- Fred Helleiner 186 Bayshore Road, R.R. #4, Brighton, Ontario, Canada, K0K 1H0 VOICE: (613) 475 5309 If visiting, access via Presqu'ile Provincial Park.
