On Friday, February 6th, 2009, this is the HNC Birding Report: POMARINE JAEGER
American Wigeon King Eider Redhead Greater Scaup Surf Scoter White-winged Scoter Long-tailed Duck Bufflehead Common Goldeneye Common Merganser Red-breasted Merganser Turkey Vulture Bald Eagle Red-shouldered Hawk Iceland Gull Glaucous Gull Snowy Owl Short-eared Owl Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Northern Shrike Horned Lark Brown Creeper Brown Thrasher Eastern Towhee Snow Bunting Common Redpoll Pine Siskin Had enough of cold and snow? The coming weeks weather will be balmy compared to this week so there may be a mix in the birds seen throughout the week. Meanwhile this past week, things remained somewhat the same. The big excitement for the week was a POMARINE JAEGER photographed at the beach canal last Sunday flying over the Burlington Waterfront. This light morph juvenile bird is extremely unusual this time of year and has not been recorded in February since 1983. The bird was seen again on strong east winds at Hutches at Van Wagner's beach in pursuit of a gull in the early afternoon. Other birds seen down at the beach canal include a variety of ducks mores now that the bay has been frozen over. These include a female King Eider (seen yesterday), Redhead, Greater Scaup, Surf and White-winged Scoter, Long-tailed Duck, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye and Common and Red-breasted Merganser. Yesterday at 40 Mile Creek in Grimsby a pair of American Wigeon were seen. Iceland and Glaucous Gulls can be seen on the floating ice packs at the ends of the canal and Bald Eagles continue to be seen around the bay in the air and on the ice. In the Stoney Creek Ravine this week accessed from the end of Huckleberry Court and from the end of Gilbraith, the Red-shouldered Hawk was seen briefly flying around last Sunday. The Eastern Towhee, Brown Creeper and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker were all heard in the ravine north of the Huckleberry Crescent access point on the east hillside as you head north toward Barton. There are a number of feeders in this area. Up in Saltfleet this week, reports of Snowy Owl continue to filter in from the 8th Road East and Mud Street area. There is some discussion as to how many owls may be present in this area as there seem to be photos of three different owls circulating. Also in this area Horned Larks are on the increase at roadsides, Snow Buntings continue to pick at the wheat bales on 8th Road East at Highland and the Northern Shrike on 10th Road East between Green Mountain and Ridge Road. Reports of Common Redpolls and Pine Siskins continue to filter in this week. Many feeders reporting number of Siskins surpassing 100. White-winged Crossbill reports have eased a bit but a flock was seen in the Walkers Line and New Street area on Wednesday, flushed by a passing Cooper's Hawk. In the odds and sods, Short-eared Owls were seen flying over Sydenham Road in Flamborough, a new location for this species this year. Turkey Vultures continue to be seen at Waterdown Garden Supply on Hwy 5 along with Iceland, Glaucous and Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a sizable flock of Horned Larks. The Brown Thrasher is still present along the Credit River at the MacEwan Field Station in Mississauga. That's the news for this week. Keep your eyes open for possible spring migrants (okay so I'm hopeful) this coming week as temperatures rise. If anything it may move birds around and bring us a surprise. Have a great week! Cheryl Edgecombe HNC Hotline 905-381-0329 _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
