The waterfowl picture remains bleak. Amherst Island remains frozen in with only a few openings off the south shore. Common Mergansers have become more abundant both in the ferry channel and at the Dupont lagoon. A few mild days (maybe next week?) should open up the Cataraqui River and give us an influx of ducks. In the meantime the only change of late has been the increase of Mallards and Canada Geese in the recently exposed corn fields.
Raptors on the other hand continue to attract interest. Last Saturday Amherst had 16 Snowy, 7 N. Saw-whet, 2 Long-eared and a Barred Owl. On Tuesday the Owl Woods produced 3 Saw-whets and a Boreal. An Eastern Screech Owl is calling from City Park across from the Biosciences Complex at Queen's and the Peregrine Falcon continues to roost nearby on Botterell Hall. An immature Bald Eagle was spotted near Perth Road Village and Cooper's Hawks were seen in the city and at Bedford Mills. The most unusual sighting was a Rough-legged Hawk on the Queen's campus last Friday. Ring-necked Pheasants are more conspicuous on Amherst near the Owl Woods and I know that Wild turkeys have become ubiquitous but to have 4 of them roost nightly, right in the village of Camden East is more than a bit odd. A Ruffed Grouse strutted across the Cataraqui Trail near Yarker on Wednesday. The finch numbers remain much the same; lots of Common Redpolls, many Pine Siskins and Am. Goldfinches, with a few Purple Finches and Hoary Redpolls thrown in to make the flocks interesting. A group of Pine Grosbeaks has been dining on crabapples all week near Glenburnie. A Red-bellied Woodpecker continues to visit a Gananoque area feeder; there appears to be about 8 in the Kingston area this winter. There were 15 Cedar Waxwings at Bedford Mills last Saturday and a flock of 30 Am. Robins filled a tree near Camden East yesterday. 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 information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
