It has been a very cool week with persistent NW winds so migration has been a bit of a trickle. New arrivals included a Rusty Blackbird near Elginburg March 18, a Great Blue Heron in Collin's Creek on the 19th, and an Eastern Meadowlark on Amherst Island the same day.An Am. Woodcock was heard calling near Camden East on Tuesday. There have been two more reports of Killdeer; March 17 in Elginburg and the 21st in Wilton. Also E. Bluebirds were seen in Sydenham and Camden East.
There are still many winter birds lingering: Pine Siskins and Purple Finches at a Camden east feeder as well as Common Redpolls on the Isle of Man Rd. Six Snow Buntings were seen on Amherst last Sunday. Winter raptor numbers are fluctuating but high counts for the week were 7 Snowy Owls on Amherst on the 19th and 6 Bald Eagles over Cedar Island visible from Old Fort Henry on St. Patrick's Day. Lots of N. Harriers and Red-tailed Hawks were mentioned but numbers of Rough-legged Hawks and Am. Kestrels were low. Some miscellaneous observations include 2 Tundra Swans in the city (in the creek by the Mazda dealership on Bath Rd.), 2 N. Flickers still visiting the previously mentioned Isle of Man feeder and a pair of indignant Screech Owls in a Wood Duck box that I was putting clean shavings into yesterday. The Amherstview sewage lagoons are about 3/4 thawed and there is already a good selection of waterfowl. Both puddle ducks and divers are well represented; Gadwall and Ring-necked Ducks are the most abundant but there are also Redheads, Lesser Scaup, Wood Ducks and N. Shoveler as well as the more common varieties. Cheers, Peter Good Kingston Field Naturalists 613 378-6605
