On Friday July 4th, 2008 this is the HNC Birding Report: Northern Shoveler * Green-winged Teal * Ruddy Duck * Hooded Merganser Pied-billed Grebe Red-necked Grebe Least Bittern Bald Eagle Sandhill Crane Least Sandpiper * Wilson's Phalarope * Yellow-billed Cuckoo Eastern Screech Owl Great Horned Owl Willow Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Sedge Wren Eastern Bluebird Brown Thrasher Blue-winged Warbler Golden-winged Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler American Redstart Vesper Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Grasshopper Sparrow Field Sparrow Indigo Bunting Bobolink Eastern Meadowlark Orchard Oriole
* slightly out of the HSA Another quiet week here in the HSA. Many of the songbirds have quieted down and it takes a bit more effort to find them. However some of our local birders were able to dig up some significant sightings this week. Down at Bronte Marsh, at least 3 Least Bitterns were seen and photographed this week in the marsh accessed off Triller Ave in Oakville. Also found here this week was a family group of Eastern Screech Owls with 2 adults and 2 babies being found. The Red-necked Grebes continue to be seen nesting at Bronte Harbour. North of here at the back of Bronte Creek Provincial Park in the fields south of Hwy 5 at Tremaine, a Sedge Wren continues to be seen and heard signing in the meadow south of the pipeline along the hydro lines that run south from Hwy 5. Other birds seen and heard here were Eastern Kingbird, Willow Flycatcher, a female American Redstart, 30 + Bobolinks, a female Orchard Oriole, Savannah, Grasshopper and Field Sparrow. At Courtcliffe Park in Carlisle, Vesper Sparrow, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Eastern Bluebird, Eastern Meadowlark, and Chestnut-sided Warbler were highlights here this week. A great place for Grasshopper Sparrow in the HSA is 6th Concession West in Flamborough at the power lines west of Westover Road. In addition to nesting Grasshopper Sparrow, Brown Thrasher, Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warbler, Indigo Bunting, Eastern Meadowlark, Field and Savannah Sparrow can be found on the north and south side of Concession 6 at this location. Slightly out of the Hamilton Study Area but not by much, a trip to Townsend Sewage Lagoons yielded some southbound Least Sandpipers and nesting Wilson's Phalaropes. Green-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler and Ruddy Ducks were also seen in the cells. Conditions are good here and should be watched in the coming weeks as shorebirds begin their way back. In the odds and sods, an adult Bald Eagle has been seen on a few occassions around Cootes Paradise. Young Great Horned Owls were seen on the McCormack Trail in Dundas. A potential site of nesting Sandhill Cranes was found in the Brantford Area near Deer Run Court this week. That's the news of the week. Please keep your reports coming in during these lean times! 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
