It has been quite a week for Pine Siskins. Feeders are inundated and the amount of niger seed consumed is considerable. There have been a few Purple Finches and Pine Grosbeaks and many feeders are getting small numbers of Common Redpolls. There was a flock of 300 redpolls near Godfrey last Sunday so there must be lots of food in the woods because nobody has reported numbers like that coming to feeders.
Three reports came in this week from Wolfe Island; high counts were 14 Snowy Owls, 7 Red-tailed Hawks, 4 Rough-legged Hawks, 3 Am. Kestrels and 4 N. Shrikes. Other birds of interest locally included 3 Trumpeter Swans at Newboro Lake and 5 E. Bluebirds at Elginburg last weekend. Flocks of Cedar Waxwings were seen at Bedford Mills and Camden East. The Camden East group contained 8 Am. Robins as well. The Amherst Island Christmas Count was last Friday and the island did not disappoint. There were 15 species of waterfowl including 78 Tundra Swans ( I said they were all gone last week; well they were, at least from the city and Wolfe Island, but obviously not from Amherst) and singletons of both White-winged and Black Scoter. Raptors were abundant as expected; 8 N. Saw-whets and 3 Boreal Owls in the Owl Woods and 27 Red-tailed and 39 Rough-legged Hawks as well as 15 Snowy Owls spread all over the island. Other noteworthy birds included a Red-bellied Woodpecker, a N. Flicker, a Winter Wren, 2 Hermit Thrushes, and a Brown Thrasher; in all a total of 57 species. 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
