Eastern Phoebes showed up here on Saturday: Bruce Brydon had one at the Holland
Landing lagoons while Kevin Shackleton and Mike Van den Tillaart had another at
the Cawthra Mulock reserve in NW Newmarket. The latter two birders were
leading a hike for the West Humber Naturalists that day. Other interesting
sightings they had at the reserve included Eastern Bluebird, Northern Harrier,
Pileated Woodpecker, and a late-ish Northern Shrike.
Waterfowl numbers along Bathurst Street N. and Hochreiter Rd. appear to be past
their peak but Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, and Ring-necked Ducks are
still present. Late this afternoon I had 32 GW Teal on the east side of
Bathurst along with my first two Blue-winged Teal of the spring. The last
sightings of Tundra Swans that I am aware of were Craig Corcoran's observation
of a dozen in the vernal pond near Weston Road and 15th Sdrd. (NW side) last
Sunday and Steve Walsh's report of 49 along Ravenshoe Road (SW Keswick) this
past Thursday.
Hooded Mergansers and Wood Ducks are continuing to show up in the canal that
surrounds the vegetable fields south of Bradford and east of Hwy. 400. Common
Mergs are showing up in the West Holland River and Cook's Bay along with Common
Goldeneye.
Great Blue Herons are back in force - the heronries on Ravenshoe Rd. in Keswick
and Leslie St. in Richmond Hill both have over two dozen birds present now.
While enjoying "the dance of the timberdoodles" (American Woodcock flight
displays) near Silver Lakes golf course in Holland Landing on Monday evening I
tried a few Screech Owl calls and had two Great Horned Owls respond (!). On
Thursday evening in a wooded valley near suburban Newmarket, Mike Van den
Tillaart also heard the characteristic "peent" calls of an American Woodcock.
Speaking of characteristic sounds, Steve McAllister heard the deep "gronk" of a
Common Raven (then observed it fly by) while walking his dog in the North Tract
(one of several York regional forests) at Vivian and Hwy. 48 that same day.
Ron Fleming, Newmarket
York Region is located north of Toronto and south of Barrie. For more specific
directions to any of the locations mentioned, please e-mail privately.
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