Around 1240 this afternoon while me and my brother were scoping the gulls and
ducks in sanctuary pond near the entrance to Point Pelee an Evening Grosbeak
flew over us flying south deeper into the park .
Robert Horvath
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From: "Peter and Jane Good" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2006 20:46:42 -0500
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Subject: [Ontbirds]Kingston area birds to Jan 20
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Well, the mild weather continues and Lake Ontario remains ice-free except
for a few sheltered inlets and bays. There is even considerable open water
north of the city. A few sightings related to this were a Great Blue Heron
on the Opinicon Rd. and three Bald Eagles; two at Jones Falls and one on
Loughborough Lake. A few signs of spring also appeared this week: two
cowbirds at a feeder in Barriefield , 21 robins in a red cedar tree at the
south end of Varty Lake, and at least two feeders had Song Sparrows appear
out of nowhere.
Winter finches continue to make feeder watching interesting. Most report
large numbers of goldfinches with fewer numbers of siskins and redpolls.
Evening Grosbeaks and Purple Finches are particularly scarce.
The concentrations of waterfowl mentioned last week continue: there are
hundreds of ducks, geese and swans west of Conway although no unusual
species were seen and the Dupont lagoon remains productive; several coots
and Hooded Mergansers as well as a single Canvasback.
Two trips to Amherst Island this week yielded very few birds: 2 Snowy Owls,
2 Redtails, 1 Rough-legged Hawk,a shrike, a kestrel and the Owl Woods'
Barred Owl (it's been there since November). Two other Barred Owls were seen
this week: one in the village of Camden East and the other at Lemoine Point.
This makes a total of six already this month.
Another phenomenom of this unusual winter is the large number of feeders
reporting Red-breasted Nuthatches. They seem to fly in and out very quickly
and are quite inconspicious compared to their White-breasted cousins. They
also seem much quieter than when they are observed during migration.
The final observation of the week was a flock of about 20 House Finches in
Bath. One of the birds exhibited a peculiar hovering flight and when it
finally landed in the top of a red cedar, we could clearly see that both
eyes were badly infected; it might have been so blind that it could barely
see to find a perch.
I'm hoping winter returns for at least a few weeks; I'm almost as confused
as the birds.
Peter Good
Kingston Field Naturalists
(613) 378-6605
