Well, Terrie Smith and I went up to Carden Alvar today to work on the new Grassland Bird Survey, hosted by CWS, BSC and Wildlife Preservation Canada - but didn't do as well as Norm ... sigh! ... anyway, lots of nice birds - one Loggerhead Shrike (not at box 10), many bluebirds, snipe, Upland Sandpipers, towhees, Field & Vesper Sparrows, several ravens, yellow warblers and waterthrushes, one Sandhill Crane, 2 Eastern Kingbirds, winter & house wrens, solitary sandpiper + both yellowlegs and much more ...
At Port Perry lagoons we had 142 lesser and 3 greater yellowlegs + 4 killdeers - no other shorebirds, but hundreds of ducks of 11 species + Bonaparte's gulls and common & Caspian terns ... the habitat is excellent at the lagoons as one is drawn almost halfway down and two are being lowered. I spoke to the Region of Durham last fall and again this spring and they have agreed to lower the lagoons whenever they can to accommodate the shorebirds, bearing in mind the limitations on their operating permits. They will have the lagoons lowered "all summer" but in the fall they can't do so because of their permit restrictions. This should bode well for the shorebirds going north at least! Remember your permits pls ... Directions to Port Perry: Permits must be purchased in advance of entering the lagoons. They cost $5.00 as they did last year. The permits may be purchased at the Durham Region Transfer Site located at 1623 Reach Rd, Port Perry during the following business hours .... Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. To get to the transfer station, travel north on Hwy 12 past Port Perry [Hwy 7A] to the next traffic lights [Regional Road 8 = Reach Rd.] and travel east to #1623 on the north side of the road. The lagoons are located one road north of the transfer site east off Hwy 12 on Concession Rd. 8 [don't get confused as, despite the fact that these roads are both numbered "8", they are two different roads - one is a regional paved road, the other a dirt concession road.] Geoff Carpentier Ajax, Ontario _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ 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/
