On a very busy Friday, August 31, 2007 this is the HNC birding report; Wood Duck Blue-winged Teal Green-winged Teal Pied-billed Grebe Least Bittern Great Blue Heron Great Egret Green Heron Osprey Broad-winged Hawk American Coot Black-bellied Plover Semipalmated Plover Killdeer Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Solitary Sandpiper Spotted Sandpiper Sanderling Semipalmated Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Baird's Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Stilt Sandpiper Buff-breasted Sandpiper Short-billed Dowitcher Long-billed Dowitcher Wilson's Snipe Red-necked Phalarope Bonaparte's Gull Black Tern Common Nighthawk Ruby-throated Hummingbird Eastern Wood-Pewee Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Traill's Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Great-crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Warbling Vireo Philadelphia Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Purple Martin Carolina Wren Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Veery Swainson's Thrush Blue-winged Warbler Northern Parula Chestnut-sided Warbler Magnolia Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart Ovenbird Mourning Warbler Common Yellowthroat Wilson's Warbler Canada Warbler Vesper Sparrow Rose-breasted Grosbeak Bobolink Baltimore Oriole Purple Finch
What a busy week is has been here in Hamilton. Migration is in full swing on all fronts and there is lots of news to report this week. No rarities have occurred (yet) but many great birds have been seen during the week. Starting with shorebirds, at Smithville Sewage Lagoons a juvenile Long-billed Dowitcher was found here last Tuesday along with 4 Short-billed Dowitchers. This is a record early date for a juvenile of this species. Also seen here were a number of Wood Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, Solitary, Spotted and Least Sandpipers and Lesser Yellowlegs. Conditions here are not as good as other areas but anything can drop in at any time so no area should be overlooked. The hotspot for shorebirding continues to be the Dundas Marsh this week. Yesterday 5 Red-necked Phalaropes were circling out on the water and there were also 10 Bairds Sandpipers on the mud flat. On Wednesday evening a lucky observer viewed a Buff-breasted Sandpiper which ended up being a one day wonder. Other birds observed here were Great Egret (9), Great Blue Heron, Black-bellied Plover, Killdeer, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated, Least, Pectoral and Stilt Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher and Bonapartes Gull. The landscape changes daily out here so it is worth the trek out. At Grimsby Sewage Lagoons a Least Bittern was observed here last Sunday. Among shorebirds present were Short-billed Dowitcher, Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated, Pectoral, Least and Spotted Sandpiper. PLEASE NOTE: The Department of National Defense has started to drain the north pond and will be removing sediments. This work will take up to a couple of months. Access should be limited to evenings and weekends and for liability reasons please access from the informal path leading from the Regions shed at the SW corner of the property and stay on the south or west side of the south pond. Please do not venture near where there is work being done or piles of sediment present. It is important for future use of this property that we comply with the municipality and the DND. The back of Mountsberg Conservation Area viewed off of Leslie Street, was also productive the week with Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Solitary, Spotted , Semipalmated, Least, Baird's, Pectoral and Stilt Sandpiper and Wilson's Snipe. Now onto passerines where activity at the lakeshore properties around the area is starting to pick up. At Woodland Cemetery last Sunday, Broad-winged Hawk, Osprey, Least, Traills and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Eastern Wood Pewee, Eastern Kingbird, Philadelphia, Warbling and Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Veery, Nashville, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Blackpoll, Black-and-White, Wilsons, Magnolia Warbler, American Redstart, Ovenbird, Bobolink and Purple Finch were seen. Down at Shoreacres/Paletta this week, Veery, Least and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Red-eyed and Warbling Vireo, Chestnut-sided, Blackburnian, Black-and-White, Wilson's, Magnolia, Mourning Warbler, Northern Parula, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart and Rose-breasted Grosbeak were reported throughout the week. At Fifty Point Conservation Area , Red-eyed, Warbling and Philadelphia Vireo, Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, and Wilsons Warbler, Northern Parula, American Redstart and Baltimore Oriole were seen yesterday. Five Sanderling were found on the beach. A couple of significant number sightings this week. Behind the Halton Region Building on Bronte Road a mass of 500+ Purple Martins were seen on Tuesday. Along the lakeshore from Bronte Harbour to Sioux Lookout over 350 Eastern Kingbirds were seen throughout the day on Saturday and from various places in the Hamilton Study Area, larger flocks of 25 50 Common Nighthawks have been reported from the Dundas Marsh and over Dundas with smaller numbers being seen at various spots. In the odds & sods an Olive-sided Flycatcher made the yard list again at a house in Brantford, a Swainsons Thrush made the yard list out in Ancaster, Blue-winged Warblers were seen along the rail trail in Dundas, a Vesper Sparrow was seen at Courtcliffe Park on Tuesday and five Black Terns were seen at VanWagners Beach on steady east winds yesterday. North to northeast winds over the next two days could be interesting down here at the beach. As you can see, there are many places to visit in Hamilton for a variety of birds. Please report your sightings to the hotline. Good Birding, Cheryl Edgecombe HNC Hotline 905-381-0329 _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdshow.htm ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm
