It has been an excellent week for new arrivals. Great Blue Herons, Wilson's Snipe, Eastern Phoebes, N. Flickers, Golden-crowned Kinglets, E. Meadowlarks and Tree Swallows were reported from numerous locations. Common Loons were seen at Amherst Island and on Devil Lake. There was a Chipping Sparrow and a Winter Wren in Frontenac Park yesterday. A bit early was a group of Ruby-crowned Kinglets at the Cataraqui Golf Club last Saturday.
Waterfowl numbers have increased considerably; there is good variety of ducks in Hay Bay, out the Bath Road, on the Cataraqui River and in most of the small marshes that have recently opened up. There were 2 Mute Swans in Collin's Bay a week ago and a Pied-billed Grebe and a pair of Double-crested Cormorants were in the Cataraqui River last Saturday. A few Snow Geese have been mixed in with migrating Canadas at Elginburg and on Amherst. More Turkey Vultures returned this week and Red-shouldered Hawks are now abundant north of the city. A trip to Amherst last Saturday tallied 5 Snowy and 5 Long-eared Owls, 18 Rough-legged and 13 Red-tailed Hawks as well as 9 N. Harriers. Interestingly there were 6 Snowies on the small offshore islands southwest of Kingston last Tuesday and a lot of the local late winter sightings of Snowy Owls were out on the ice in Lake Ontario. Ospreys have returned to several locations; the first arrival was at RMC last Friday. To complete the raptor picture there has been a pair of Peregrine Falcons in the vicinity of St. Mary's Cathedral in downtown Kingston. Maybe Kingston will soon join the ranks of those cities hosting these spectacular predators. There is little to report in the way of winter passerines; Dark-eyed Juncos, Tree sparrows and Pine Siskins continue to patronize feeders and there was a flock of a dozen Bohemian Waxwings in Frontenac Park yesterday. Goldfinches are gradually switching from olive drab to bright yellow. There seems to have been a bit of a Purple Finch movement midweek; there were 6 at Camden East on Tuesday and another 4 at Bedford Mills on Wednesday. It's the time of year when one has to be careful in looking at shrikes. There was a Northern Shrike at Elginburg a week ago and another two on Amherst on Saturday. The season's first Loggerhead was south of Camden East on Friday and another was north of Newburgh on Sunday. The oddest bird of the week was an all-white grackle with a grayish head frequenting feeders in Cartwright's Point. 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/
