The BOS field trip along the north shore of Lake Erie to the Rock
Point Provincial Park area for shorebirds was attended by two, Tom O'Donnell
and yours truly. We stopped at Rose Hill Rd. (zip), Stonemill Rd. (half
dozen Mute Swans and a Great Egret), Prospect Point Rd. South (40 plus Least
Sandpipers and a few Killdeer, Semipalmated Plovers, Lesser Yellowlegs,
Spotted and Semipalmated Sandpipers) and Morgan's Point (4 Spotted
Sandpipers and several Caspian Terns).
The conditions at Rock Point were better with numbers of Killdeer,
Semiplamated Plovers, Spotted, Least and Semipalmated Sandpipers and two
Rudy Turnstones. Mohawk Island was crowded with Double-crested Cormorants
and wheeling Caspian Terns.
The new wetlands and marsh just east of the intersection of Canal
and Rymer Roads created by Mosaic produced Great Blue Herons and Caspian
Terns (at least 6 each). The impoundment across Rymer Rd. to the south,
accessible only if the gate is open (not sure this is approved), produced
another dozen and a half Caspian Terns, 5 Lesser Yellowlegs, a Short-billed
Dowitcher and a few unidentifiable distant peeps). Also seen there by Peter
Yoerg and Barbara Henderson were a Solitary and Stilt Sandpiper.
Lastly, we checked the turf farms, many of which are in the turf
cycle this year, and counted 11 Black-bellied Plovers on one west of
Hutchinson Rd., between Canal Bank and Poth Roads.
Mike Hamilton
