Good mornong Yesterday Ian Cannell drove me out to The Ganaraska Forest southwest of Peterborough. After paying the entrance fee ( $5.00 per person ) we checked out a few roads then drove up Hwy 115 to Wilcox Road. Along Wilcox Road we found a nice feeding flock of 12 White-winged Crossbills that contained some very nice males that shone in the sun.
From here we wound our way along a few roads and then drove along Palestine Road south of Kirkfield, up Sandringham Road to Eldon Station Road, along Eldon Station Road and up Rockview Road to County Road 48 and over to Kirkfield. From Kirfield we did the Wylie Road, Alvar Road ( west ), Dalrymple Road and back along County Road 6 to Kirkfield route. Going home we drove down Prospect Road from Count Road 6 to Woodville Road as we usually do. Though there was an almost total lack of singing birds and we only found 3 Waterfowl and 3 Warbler species and the fact that I was almost completely car bound we did come up with 74 species for the day including the following. American Bitterns, Black-crowned night-Herons, Blue-winged Teal, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Broad-winged Hawk, Wild Turkeys, Upland Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpipers, Black-billed Cuckoo, R-T Hummingbirds, B. Kingfisher, 4 Red-headed Woodpeckers ( 2 adults and 2 juveniles together along Prospect Road just north of the Marbert Transport Company ), E. Wood-Pewees, E. Phoebes, Willow Flycatcher, many E. Kingbirds, Cliff and Bank Swallows, Common Raven, Red-breasted Nuthatches, House Wrens, Marsh Wrens, E. Bluebirds, Brown Thrashers, 2 Loggerhead Shrikes ( 1 adult and 1 juvenile along County Rd 6 at the Cameron Ranch ), Pine Warblers, Northern Waterthrushes, Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Buntings, Eastern Towhee, Chipping, Field, Vesper, Savannah, Grasshopper, Song, Swamp and White-throated Sparrows, Bobolinks ( these and most Red-winged Blackbirds and C. Grackles are now in flocks, the Bobolinks have changed to winter plumage ), E. Meadowlarks, Baltimore Orioles ( a small flock ), Purple Finches, and the White-winged Crossbills of course. Compared to May and June there were probably only 10% of the numbers usually seen were visible on this outing. Only one Grasshopper Sparrow and one Towhee sang. Norm Murr Richmond Hill, ON "Sils mordent, mords les" _______________________________________________ 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
