Waterfowl numbers are improving, and with that some notable sightings. Last weekend there were 4 Ruddy Ducks in the Amherstview sewage lagoons, a Redhead, a dozen Common Mergansers and 75 Greater Scaup on Amherst Island and 5 Tundra Swans, a Snow Goose and 7 Cackling Geese on Wolfe Island.
Besides the ducks, Amherst also had an interesting mix of birds. There were 8 Am. Bitterns, an equal number of N. Harriers and 2 Peregrine Falcons harassing shorebirds last Sunday. The shorebirds were a mix of eleven species including an Am Golden Plover, 2 Sanderling and a Baird's Sandpiper. Passerines included 300 White-throated, 2 Lincoln's, a Fox and another 4 Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrows. There were 25 Am. Pipits, 20 Marsh Wrens, a Sedge Wren, two each of Rusty Blackbird, Purple Finch and Red-breasted Nuthatch as well as the first Snow Bunting of the fall. Things in the Owl Woods have picked up; there were 8 Long-eared Owls and a N. Saw-whet there on Sunday. Another 3 Long-eared were at Lemoine Point yesterday. Our last(?) Ruby-throated Hummingbird was seen in Gananoque last Saturday, 2 Sandhill Cranes flew over Wolfe Island on Sunday and a late (pun intended) Yellow-billed Cuckoo did itself in on a Kingston window on the weekend. Cheers, Peter Good Kingston Field Naturalists 613 378-6605 _______________________________________________ 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
