On Thursday, June 21st, 2007, this is the HNC Birding Report: Blue-winged Teal Lesser Scaup Least Bittern Black-crowned Night Heron Northern Goshawk Peregrine Falcon Common Moorhen American Coot Spotted Sandpiper Great Black-backed Gull Common Tern Yellow-billed Cuckoo Black-billed Cuckoo Eastern Screech Owl Eastern Kingbird Yellow-throated Vireo Red-breasted Nuthatch Winter Wren Marsh Wren Eastern Bluebird Brown Thrasher Pine Warbler Canada Warbler White-throated Sparrow
Slim pickings this week in the Hamilton Study Area. No rarities around but reports from a few spots of some less common birds around the area offer some diversity in birding this week. Last Saturday at the Grimsby Sewage Lagoons, an early morning trip produced Common Moorhen, probably sitting tight on nest but heard clucking in the marsh. Other birds seen here were Blue-winged Teal, Black-crowned Night Heron, three pair of American Coots with young, Common Tern with young and Spotted Sandpiper. An interesting nook of the Hamilton Study Area is the LaFarge Trail running between 8th Road West and 10th Road West in Flamborough near Middletown Road. This northern habitat presents a unique and diverse number of birds with a more northern element not found elsewhere in the HSA. This week on the trail just north of 8th concession a Winter Wren, Canada Warbler and White-throated Sparrow were heard. This particular part of the trail is also good for Ruffed Grouse. Another neat spot this week is the Millgrove Loam Pits. Located west of Hwy 6 (just west of Moffat Road) on 5th Concession West in Flamborough, a trip in by canoe yielded a pair of Least Bittern, Common Moorhen, Yellow-throated Vireo and Marsh Wren. Both species of Cuckoos are doing well here and an Eastern Kingbird was seen on nest. A trail on the west side of the property goes back into the Loam Pits and some of these birds may be heard and/or seen without a canoe but it is a great place to walk and probably one of the most extensive marshes in the area. A trip back to see the Northern Goshawks in Killbride came up with two young calling and an adult calling back in the distance but the birds were not seen. Pine Warblers were also trilling away in the area. At Hopkins Tract off of York Road near Dundas, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Eastern Bluebirds and a Brown Thrasher were among birds seen here in the week. Our Peregrine Falcon chick, Jump Up, is doing extremely well at the Sheraton Hotel in Hamilton. The other surviving chick had to be taken to Guelph University to treat a bacterial infection. Unfortunately, two more chicks succumbed to this infection. Jump Up appears to be exercising its wing and ready to give the falcon watchers a good show and scare, probably sometime this week! In the odds and sods, a few Lesser Scaup are still present in the Windermere Basin, a Great Black-backed Gull was seen flying past Sioux Lookout Park in Burlington this week, an Eastern Screech Owl pair has taken up residence in the New Street and Tiperrary area of Burlington and a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatches are nesting close to the Walkers Line and New Street area, a bird not often seen in the summer months in the city. Keep reporting your sightings! Summer is here and birds will be on the move again. Have a great week! Cheryl Edgecombe HNC Hotline 905-381-0329
