Dear Ontbirders, We held our 60th CBC yesterday with above average results for a fairly gloomy day. Total Species Count Day - 86 Total Species Count Week - 89 Total Number of Birds - 19,776 New Species for the Count - 1 Sandhill Crane Club High Counts - 50 Double-Crested Cormorants, 3 Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers, 869 Blue Jays, 10 Tufted Titmouse Missed Species - Wood Duck, Canvasback, Redhead, Bufflehead, White-Winged Scoter, Long-Tailed Duck, Merlin, Red-Headed Woodpecker, Eastern Meadowlark, Fox Sparrow, Lapland Longspur Other Species of Note - 2 Black Scoters, 1 Turkey Vulture, 2 Goshawks, 3 Ruffed Grouse, Thayer's Gull (CW), Long-Eared Owl (CW), 1 Short-Eared Owl, 1 Winter Wren (CW), 1 House Wren, 1 Brown Thrasher, 1 Yellow-Rumped Warbler, 1 Vesper Sparrow, 1 Savannah Sparrow, 5 Chipping Sparrows Low Counts - 1 Greater Scaup (usually over 50), 1 Sharp-Shinned Hawk (avg is 15), 28 Eastern Bluebirds (usually over 100), 218 House Finches (usually over 500), 1 White-Crowned Sparrow (usually over 8). After a long day with low bird activity, we enjoyed a delicious pot-luck supper and a program by Dr. John Frank about birds and botany from Brazil. Thanks to everyone who assisted in the count and the dinner. See you next year. Cheers, George Prieksaitis Count Compiler From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Dec 28 13:28:55 2006 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from web88001.mail.re2.yahoo.com (web88001.mail.re2.yahoo.com [206.190.37.188]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 75E1A638C4 for <[email protected]>; Thu, 28 Dec 2006 13:28:54 -0500 (EST) Received: (qmail 42010 invoked by uid 60001); 28 Dec 2006 18:28:51 -0000 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=rogers.com; h=X-YMail-OSG:Received:Date:From:Subject:To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding:Message-ID; b=fBW59EJmq6kXAw1IwfGV77tRrE6eW9EOQtOC+DrGSxbRuQryrH30aVceIxdBFj01yM4REhFef+hMawQY12KLcK6arwEwU+q1xVc1kv7UOnj1I3Voq5KEZNEabYIJuGWHJ2TtkxvrLEbZCqDPu2PYKtRisvRtw7dTpsHSwmCdCF4=; X-YMail-OSG: AW2LBkkVM1kx9A_Cwu3AYdPag_QvKCdHEvvgZNEVF780NnZAtdaxqI6GDKDXEbjP4hq0T2kiU5MI_63_K84SE3N9u2hc5vjnRSi0u5.M2bEI8ILfARvfePrre1xYXtSm1du.Oy_1BA.V5Yq7yA_XSJJ2SRzurO37vAwz3zfZWZEER2KHEOONksPj Received: from [74.120.196.115] by web88001.mail.re2.yahoo.com via HTTP; Thu, 28 Dec 2006 13:28:51 EST Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2006 13:28:51 -0500 (EST) From: RON FLEMING <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: OFO Bird Sightings <[email protected]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.1 Subject: [Ontbirds]A Good Christmas Goose & other York Region Birds X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2006 18:28:55 -0000
Some very good birds have shown up for Christmas in York Region. During the week between Thursday, Dec. 21 and Thursday, Dec. 28, sightings have included ROSS'S GOOSE, COMMON RAVEN, LONG-EARED OWL, SNOWY OWL, and NORTHERN SHRIKE. The ROSS's GOOSE was observed by Keith Dunn along Lake Drive in Keswick late last week. Unfortunately Keith and I did not communicate due to Christmas scheduling mayhem, so this sighting is a bit "cold" now. The bird was seen in the Pine Beach area last Friday. Still, anyone birding near south Lake Simcoe should keep their eyes peeled for a small white goose with black wings swimming or flying with the Canadas. Keith also reports numerous ducks in the open water of Cook's Bay, including Common Goldeneye, both Scaup, and several Hooded Mergansers. Two SNOWY OWLS and a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK continue to make sporadic appearances along the short stretch of Yonge Street running south from the west end of Ravenshoe Road. Some days they are present in all their splendor; other days there is no sign of them. Much more regular are several NORTHERN HARRIERS that are most active at dusk in the marsh south of Yonge; Keith has seen twilight flights ranging from 4 to 14 birds over the past month. Bruce Brydon had a COMMON RAVEN, two GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETs, and a BROWN CREEPER in the Robinson Forest Tract just south of Aurora Rd. on Warden Avenue late last week (Whitchurch/Stouffville area) while I had a COMMON RAVEN fly over my van and into the Joker's Hill forest in SW Newmarket Saturday afternoon. This, I am convinced, is the big, dark "mystery bird" I've been struggling to get better looks at for almost a month now. It makes sporadic appearances in the general vicinity of Bathurst and Mulock streets, often soaring like a hawk from the big forested section of the Oak Ridges Moraine, dwarfing the nearby crows when it appears. It has been driving me to distraction, always showing up when I have no binos in the car, flying north when I am driving south, or east when I am going west. Santa finally gave me the gift of a "damn good look" and the mystery has been solved. (Thank you, Santa ...but what happened to that new scope I mentioned in my letter?) Yesterday I rediscovered a quartet of LONG-EARED OWLS that were first observed by Keith Dunn and co. on the Kleinburg CBC Dec. 17th. They were in the pines north of the BORC schoolhouse near Bolton. (Please note that access to this property is generally restricted to weekends since it is an outdoor education facility; I took advantage of the lax holiday schedule.)* Driving south on nearby Cold Creek Road shortly afterward, I observed a GREAT BLUE HERON sitting forlornly by an ephemeral pond south of Kirby Rd., looking "thin as a rail"...for a heron. A few kms. southeast of this location there was a NORTHERN SHRIKE sitting in a tree on the NE corner of Huntington and Major Mackenzie Rd. at 2:30 p.m. I did not observe any Snow Buntings or Longspurs along the once-excellent farm fields on MacGillvray Road, only a few discouraging "For Sale" signs perched like vultures at the roadside. There were numerous Red-tailed Hawks in the area. Today (Thursday, Dec. 28) I once again struck out in my attempts to rediscover the Snowy Owl I found in the Holland Marsh in November. It was seen once after that and has either moved on, met with foul play, or found a marvellous hiding spot. As consolation, I had two American Kestrels then lucked into the accipiter hat-trick: a juvenile GOSHAWK sitting atop the storage garage right beside Hwy. 400 (green sign 600 on the mud strip called Davis Road); a big female Cooper's Hawk on 10th Sdrd. & 5th Line in west Bradford; and a Sharp-shin on 4th Line a little futher southwest. Ron Fleming, Newmarket *Take note that the gate to this property is sometimes closed and locked, even on weekends; I have found the schedule to be unpredictable and the gate to be problematic, both physically and morally. To add further complication, the eastern section of Kirby Rd. is closed for repairs so you can't get to the property from Huntington Road. Maybe this is a not-so-coincidental protec-bubble for the birds. York Region is north of Toronto and south of Lake Simcoe. Please e-mail privately if you require directions to the many places mentioned. From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Dec 28 16:51:13 2006 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from fep2.cogeco.net (smtp1.cogeco.ca [216.221.81.28]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1EBA4638A5 for <[email protected]>; Thu, 28 Dec 2006 16:51:13 -0500 (EST) Received: from videoedge (d141-150-198.home.cgocable.net [24.141.150.198]) by fep2.cogeco.net (Postfix) with SMTP id 9B9BDDDF2; Thu, 28 Dec 2006 16:51:13 -0500 (EST) From: "Cheryl Edgecombe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2006 16:51:12 -0500 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.6604 (9.0.2911.0) Importance: Normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2869 cc: Dagmar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Ontbirds] Hamilton Naturalists Club Birding Report - Thursday, December 28th, 2006 X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 28 Dec 2006 21:51:13 -0000 On Thursday, December 28th, 2006 this is the HNC Birding Report: CACKLING GOOSE HARLEQUIN DUCK RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET BROWN THRASHER NASHVILLE WARBLER ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK Surf Scoter White-winged Scoter Black Scoter Common x Barrows Goldeneye Ring-necked Pheasant Wild Turkey Red-throated Loon Common Loon Horned Grebe Red-necked Grebe Double-crested Cormorant Black-crowned Night-Heron Northern Harrier Peregrine Falcon Lesser Black-backed Gull Glaucous Gull Northern Shrike Eastern Bluebird Hermit Thrush Field Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Brown-headed Cowbird December 26th was the Hamilton Christmas Bird Count. Although held on Boxing Day many of our diehard birders were out digging around for some specialties. The day and count week have not been a disappointment. Over the week two different winter warblers have been seen. A NASHVILLE WARBLER last reported on December 23rd was seen at Princess Point in the weedy area off of the main parking lot. Although not in the Hamilton CBC area, the ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER found on the South Peel Count was last seen on December 24th just off of Kerr Street in Oakville, north of the railway tracks and west of Kerr. A search today did not turn the bird up but it may still be in the area. Another goodie found on the South Peel Christmas Count seen briefly by three of us today was a female ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK at the cemetery located on Clarkson Road south of Truscott in Mississauga. Looks of the bird were not great however the good news is that the bird is still in the area. The bird was seen along the fence line just where the main road takes an elbow turn. There is a street behind named Delaney where there are some feeders that may be worth checking out but the bird is elusive. Other highlights from the count include a Snowy Owl, also seen yesterday on the far berm at Tollgate Ponds off of Eastport Road, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET at Woodland Cemetery, BROWN THRASHER at LaSalle Park, Glaucous Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull and Red-throated Loon on the harbour, Ring-necked Pheasant at Felkers Falls Conservation area, eight White-crowned Sparrows on First Road West, Field Sparrow at a feeder near Rock Chapel, Eastern Bluebirds in Waterdown, Wild Turkeys on First Road West and more on York Road in Dundas, Brown-headed Cowbird on a street adjacent to a variety store on Beach Blvd. and on count week an immature Black-crowned Night Heron was seen at VanWagners Ponds. Out in Flamborough, there seem to be a number of Northern Shrikes around as three were seen in one area on Concession 5 W from Millgrove Loam Pits to Brock Road. On Christmas Eve Day a CACKLING GOOSE was photographed at the quarry pond on 10th Road East. There were several other smaller geese in the group so worth checking again. The bird was not present yesterday. There was however a Northern Harrier floating around the quarry. Around the lakeshore this week, a Horned Grebe was seen at Fifty Point Conservation Area, all three scoters were seen off of Grays Road and L.P. Sayers Park. The Common x Barrows Goldeneye was found yesterday at the end of Grays Road. A group of eight Double-crested Cormorants were seen flying here, more unusual this time of year. Moving along the lakeshore, a male HARLEQUIN DUCK was seen at Sioux Lookout in Burlington and today at Bronte Bluffs in Oakville, a Common Loon and a few Red-necked Grebes were seen out on the water. Count week is not over here in Hamilton until tomorrow so keep reporting your sightings. There will be more to report next week as results roll in. Have a very Happy New Year and good birding in 2007! Cheers, Cheryl Edgecombe HNC Hotline 905-381-0329
