On Friday, June 13th, 2008, this is the HNC Birding Report: LAUGHING GULL
Common Loon Horned Grebe Red-necked Grebe Great Egret Green Heron Spotted Sandpiper Upland Sandpiper Semipalmated Sandpiper Dunlin American Woodcock Wilson's Phalarope Yellow-billed Cuckoo Olive-sided Flycatcher Alder Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Warbling Vireo Common Raven Horned Lark Tufted Titmouse Winter Wren Marsh Wren Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Brown Thrasher Golden-winged Warbler Brewster's Warbler Yellow Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Pine Warbler American Redstart Hooded Warbler Clay-colored Sparrow Field Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Grasshopper Sparrow Bobolink Eastern Meadowlark Things have quieted down significantly this week. Most birds in the area have settled into housekeeping giving brief glimpses of themselves and the occasional song to let us know they are still about. Migrants were few this week. The best bird of the week was a flyby at Canada Centre for Inland Waters of a LAUGHING GULL last Tuesday. A further search for this bird in the masses of Ring-billed Gulls didn't turn up the bird, its like finding Waldo in those puzzle books. The bird may be still lurking about, where to start looking is the big question. A new spot visited today was the back of Bronte Creek Provincial Park off Dundas/Hwy 5 at Tremaine in Oakville. This is where the Dickcissel nested a few years ago. Birds found in here along the hydro line to the east included Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Brown Thrasher, Horned Lark, Sedge Wren, Yellow Warbler, Bobolink, Field, Savannah and earlier in the week Grasshopper Sparrow. Shorebirds were sparse this week, a highlight though was a male Wilson's Phalarope found Tuesday at the Great Lakes Storm water Pond at the northeast corner of Rebecca and Great Lakes Blvd. in Oakville. A search yesterday didn't turn up the bird but a couple of Semipalmated Sandpipers were seen here so birds are still moving about. Other species seen nesting here are Spotted Sandpiper and Savannah Sparrow. A single Dunlin was seen in the Windermere Basin. At Martin's Lane, a traditional nesting spot for Hooded Warbler, both male and female Hoodies were photographed in the week. Pine and Chestnut-sided Warbler are also present there. Also in the Dundas Valley Conservation Area Brewster's, Golden-winged Warbler, American Redstart and Yellow-billed Cuckoo can still be seen and heard at the intersecting trails.....Homestead and Headwaters off of Sulphur Springs Road near the Homestead parking area. The Lakeshore properties have been quiet of late. Last Saturday at Shoreacres, Horned and Red-necked Grebe, a late migrating Alder Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Warbling Vireo and Yellow Warblers were species recorded here. A good place for grassland species is the Northland Nurseries on Concession 5 West in Flamborough. Grasshopper and Clay-colored Sparrow, Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlarks are all species found here. Further up in the Flamborough area on the Lafarge Trail accessed at the end of Middletown Rd. above Reg Rd. 97, one of the local Common Ravens did a flyby and Winter Wren could be heard singing. A search up in the Saltfleet area last weekend for another Sedge Wren came up short but the bonus was a pair of Upland Sandpipers flying around the berm at the quarry to the west of 10th Road East on the Dofasco Trail. On the escarpment above Grimsby this week a late migrating Olive-sided Flycatcher was a great addition to a yard list. In the odds and sods, a Common Loon was observed flying over Walkers Line/Regal Road on Monday. Marsh Wren and American Woodcock were seen at the Millgrove Loam Pits on Concession 5 West in Flamborough. A Green Heron made a flyby on Millgrove Side Road just north of Hwy 5. A Great Egret has been seen fairly consistently in the North Service Road Ponds just west of Guelph Line and a Tufted Titmouse is a regular in the Hendrie Valley where it most likely has nested. That's the news this week. Please keep me posted on your sightings! 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
