Birds seen on OFO outing October 25, 2008
About 10 birders took part in our annual trek to Hawk Cliff to hope for a sighting of the elusive Golden Eagle, and some of the other late October raptor migrants. We even had two people show up from St. Louis, Missouri, though they claim that they were just there because of hearing about Hawk Cliff online, and not to take part in the OFO trip. Unfortunately the weather didn't co-operate to produce a movement of our target species. In fact it was one of the slowest days I have ever had for any actual moving migrants at Hawk Cliff. We had only one each of Coop and Red-tail, and an immature Bald Eagle, the latter two most likely being locals. Add to that the smaller birds such as one each of grackle and redwing, and a few jays, and it was indeed slow. The somewhat gusty winds were out of the south, and the sky ranged from overcast with a low ceiling to sunny with a high ceiling. If you didn't like the weather you just had to wait a minute and it would change. The expected rain didn't arrive and we had just a few sprinkles. Neither was it particularly cold, except when we were in the exposed wind areas. That was the bad news. But there was a lot of good news. As we arrived, all sorts of migrants that had arrived the night before were eagerly feeding along the roadside. There was a huge crop of food, including wild grape, floribunda rose, loads of seeds, which scads of robins, waxwings, the bluebirds, sparrows and etc were eating. Insects were plentiful, and so there were many kinglets, and tons of yellow-rumps. We scanned them all for other warblers and in our study found some of the other ones as listed. One of our favourite sightings was the imm. Baldie, coursing by the cliff at head height. Another was the Fox Sparrow, getting grit off the road, chasing the Juncos about. It took a while, until just after 11 am, to realize that the migration watch was going to be a bust, but as I said, we had spotted a lot of birds to temper our disappointment with that. On we went to refreshments at Mackies, in Port Stanley harbour. After refreshing ourselves with their patented orangeade, and wolfing down some sinful fries, we scouted the gulls out on the beach and breakwall. Why is that people enjoy so much disturbing the resting gulls on the beach. Must be a "guilty pleasure" for some brainless fools. Amongst the many gulls on the pier, Gavin spotted a Lesser Black-backed Gull. The wind was quite stiff out of the south, so it was difficult to see any ducks out in the water, over the heavy waves. So we headed up to the Port Stanley Sewage lagoons, which have two nice blinds overlooking 4 ponds. The first two held a number of duck species and lots of bonies, but the second two helped bring out total bird species higher, as they had mud flats. Note the few shorebirds, which included a Pectoral Sandpiper. Ian and I were pretty satisfied that though people were probably disappointed with the turnout of migrants at Hawk Cliff, we are pretty sure they enjoyed the rest of the birding experiences. Thanks to all who came out. I hope the two from St. Louis get more raptors over the next few days. The last we saw of them was them standing firm waiting anxiously at the Cliff. You don't think they would give up and jump, do you? Below are the species I have listed, including approximate numbers of the 67 species were noted, which includes those seen at the various locations and in transit from those locations. If you took part, and notice a discrepancy, let me know. Pete and for Ian Canada Goose 100+, Wood Duck 1, American Black Duck 6, Mallard 10, Northern Shoveller 20, Northern Pintail 2, Green-winged Teal 10, Redhead 2, Lesser Scaup 5, Bufflehead 5, Common Merganser 10+, Red-breasted Merganser 50+, Ruddy Duck 50+, Wild Turkey 10, Turkey Vulture 10+, Bald Eagle 1, Sharp-shinned Hawk 1, Cooper's Hawk 2, Red-tailed Hawk 2, American Kestrel 1, Killdeer 1, Pectoral Sandpiper 1, Dunlin 5, Wilson's Snipe 2, Bonaparte's Gull 100+, Ring-billed Gull 50+, Herring Gull 100+, Lesser Black-backed Gull 1, Great Black-backed Gull 10+, Rock Pigeon 40+, Mourning Dove 5, Downy Woodpecker 2, Hairy Woodpecker 1, Northern Flicker 1, Blue-headed Vireo, Blue Jay 10+, American Crow 8+, Horned Lark 1, Black-capped Chickadee 5+, Red-breasted Nuthatch 1, Winter Wren 1, Golden-crowned Kinglet 5+, Ruby-crowned Kinglet 50+, Eastern Bluebird 12, Hermit Thrush 1, American Robin 50+, European Starling 100+, American Pipit 2, Cedar Waxwing 25, Yellow-rumped Warbler 50+, Eastern Towhee 2, Field Sparrow 2, Fox Sparrow 1, Song Sparrow 10, Swamp Sparrow 3, White-throated Sparrow 50+, White-crowned Sparrow 2, Dark-eyed Junco 10+, Northern Cardinal 2, Red-winged Blackbird 1, Common Grackle 1, Brown-headed Cowbird 50, Purple Finch 3, House Finch 12, Pine Siskin 8, American Goldfinch 10+, House Sparrow 20+ _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. 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