There was a drake Barrow's X Common Goldeneye on the St.Lawrence River east of the village of Cardinal among ~300 Common Goldeneye.
The bird was there about noon today while the flock was very actively feeding. It could be surprisingly elusive at times. No sooner had I found the bird when I lost it again for over 20 minutes! It shows 'classic' intermediate plumage and structure, but is ostensibly more Barrow's like overall. A scope was necessary to see the birds well. I also had several tempting looks at a female that might well have been a hybrid, but it proved to be even more elusive than the male. The head shape seemed odd and the bill was mostly orange and perhaps slightly shorter than Common...but conditions were unfavorable and I eventually gave up trying to pin it down. (It might have been just an unusually bright billed common? But, makes you wonder how often hybrid female Goldeneye go unnoticed in large Goldeneye flocks- or not, as they say). There were thousands of Canada Geese spread along the river between Maitland and Brockville with a three Greater Snow Geese mixed in that I saw. The geese were mostly congregated in areas where it was difficult or impossible to view them well due to trees being in the way. Lastly, there was a flock of ~ 200 scaup in one of the sheltered coves west of the village of Maitland, mostly Greater with a fair number of Lesser mixed in, plus a few Ring-necked and three Redhead. Directions: Cardinal is located on the St.Lawrence river between Cornwall and Prescott. Exit 730 off the 401, follow Route 22 (Shanly Rd) to the river. Good birding, Gerard Phillips Merrickville. _______________________________________________ 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
