On Friday, December 21st, 2007, this is the HNC Birding Report: NORTHERN GANNET VIRGINIA RAIL NORTHERN HAWK OWL BOHEMIAN WAXWING PINE WARBLER
Cackling Goose Wood Duck Green-winged Teal Hooded Merganser Gray Partridge Wild Turkey Pied-billed Grebe Great Blue Heron Turkey Vulture Bald Eagle Red-tailed Hawk Peregrine Falcon Glaucous Gull Great Horned Owl Long-eared Owl Short-eared Owl Belted Kingfisher Northern Shrike Horned Lark Yellow-rumped Warbler Snow Bunting Pine Grosbeak Common Redpoll Wintery weather hit the Hamilton Study Area last Sunday making conditions treacherous for finding birds. In the nick of time however, the South Peel Christmas Bird Count was held on Saturday with some good birds found. A NORTHERN GANNET was seen off Port Credit Harbour at very close range. A Cackling Goose was seen at Arkendo Park in Oakville. A Yellow-rumped Warbler was spotted near the sewage treatment plant at 3rd Line and lakeshore. It was in brambles along side a small creek beside open concrete treatment ponds and another good find, a PINE WARBLER was seen on the Lake Promenade off Birchill Lane in Oakville. Last Friday keen scouters were able to find a VIRGINIA RAIL at a small marsh north northeast of Streetsville. This may be the very outer edges or even out of the Hamilton Study Area! but a great bird to find nonetheless. The NORTHERN HAWK OWL is still present on 10th Road East and I am certain if one goes shortly before dusk the Short-eared Owls can also be viewed. The Pine Grosbeaks continue to be seen at various places in the HSA. The most reliable spot seems to be the Guelph Arboretum where a sizeable flock of BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS is now present and at the orchard located at 4250 Walkers Line north of Hwy 5. At the arboretum the best places to see the waxwings are around the Arboretum Centre, in the Dwarf Conifer Collection and in the World of Trees collection. Christie Conservation Area also had a flock of about 22 Pine Grosbeaks this week. In keeping with the winter finch theme, larger flocks of Common Redpolls are now being reported throughout the area. Out in the Brantford Area, the Gray Partridge have made their first of season appearance last Friday. A covey of six were found on York Rd which runs between Colbourne St. W & Airport Rd on the south side of the Brantford Airport. They were between the Confederation Refrigeration shipping docks and the next (chocolate-coloured) building, where the old airplanes used to sit. Large flocks of Snow Buntings and Horned Larks were also floating about. No Lapland Longspurs to report yet. Some other good winter birds are still about. A Wood Duck and Green-winged Teal were seen in the Windermere Basin last Saturday. A Turkey Vulture was reported this week in front of the Griffin House in the Dundas Valley C.A. on Mineral Springs Rd. Another is being reported with some frequency on the 403 and it was both north and south of the 403 and east and west of Garden Ave. Wild Turkeys were reported from Walkers Line and the 407 (4), from the 407 North of Dundas in flocks of 15 and 6 and a flock of 12 on the southwest corner of the intersection of Elm Tree Road and Park Rd. on Grimsby Mountain. At the Desjardins Canal Pied-billed Grebe, Hooded Merganser, Great Blue Heron and Belted Kingfisher are all present here. In the odds and sods this week, a Great Horned Owl is setting up shop on the Creek Woods Trail in Bronte. A Glaucous Gull flew past Canada Centre for Inland Waters. Northern Shrike was reported from the Brantford Area and from the Hopkins Tract off York Blvd. Two Long-eared Owls were flushed from the pines near this property. A Bald Eagle was seen over the Grand River near Brantford and another immature flying over Waterdown Road at Flatt Road a couple of days ago. At the lift bridge the local Peregrine Falcon knocked a Red-tailed Hawk out of the air today, quite the show. Important for our area this week: The Hamilton Christmas Bird Count is scheduled on the traditional day of December 26th. Please report your sightings this week so that we can get them into count week. Happy Holidays Everyone! 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/information/ontbirdssetup.php ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdsguide.php
