On Friday, May 15th, 2009, this is the HNC Birding Report: AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN LITTLE GULL CERULEAN WARBLER KENTUCKY WARBLER SUMMER TANAGER
American Wigeon Blue-winged Teal Peregrine Falcon Virginia Rail Sora Sandhill Crane Black-bellied Plover Semipalmated Plover Spotted Sandpiper Solitary Sandpiper Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Semipalmated Sandpiper Least Sandpiper White-rumped Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Dunlin Short-billed Dowitcher Wilson's Snipe Common Tern Black-billed Cuckoo Yellow-billed Cuckoo Ruby-throated Hummingbird Willow Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Yellow-throated Vireo Blue-headed Vireo Warbling Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Gray-cheeked Thrush Swainson's Thrush Wood Thrush Gray Catbird American Pipit Blue-winged Warbler Tennessee Warbler Nashville Warbler Northern Parula Yellow Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Magnolia Warbler Cape May Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Prairie Warbler Palm Warbler Bay-breasted Warbler Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart Ovenbird Northern Waterthrush Mourning Warbler Hooded Warbler Wilson's Warbler Common Yellowthroat Scarlet Tanager Eastern Towhee Clay-colored Sparrow Lincoln's Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Lapland Longspur Rose-breasted Grosbeak Orchard Oriole Baltimore Oriole Pine Siskin. It's been another great and busy week here in Hamilton with a few spectacular highlights for migration. Yesterday, 5 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS were seen and photographed in Cootes Paradise in the late afternoon and into the early evening. They could still be floating about but this is an impressive number to be seen. The birds could be seen from the west end of the high level bridge on York Blvd, looking back into Cootes Paradise near Rat Island. Warblers were on the move this week. At LaSalle Park on Wednesday, a CERULEAN WARBLER was found singing at the east end of the park high in the trees. Last Saturday the same lucky observer was able to see a KENTUCKY WARBLER during a mini fallout in Rhododendron Park in Mississauga. A search the next day for both these birds did not turn it up however. Other birds seen in this cluster included Hooded and Mourning Warbler, American Redstart and Common Yellowthroat. Down the way at Jack Darling Park, a LITTLE GULL made a flyby, another bird not common to the area. Another rarity found this week was a female SUMMER TANAGER in a small creek ravine known as Langs Park located just east and south of the Chedoke Radial Trail in West Hamilton. The bird was seen well by many on Monday and Tuesday but has not been reported since. Many of the migrant traps have been productive this week. Fifty Point Conservation Area was alive yesterday with warblers wanting to get out of the wind. Migrants seen here in the sloughs leading to the lake included. Black-billed Cuckoo, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Least and Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Warbling and Red-eyed Vireo, Gray-cheeked and Swainson's Thrush, Gray Catbird, Nashville , Northern Parula, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia Warbler, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Yellow-rumped, Palm, Bay-breasted and Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, Scarlet Tanager, Lincoln's and White-crowned Sparrow, Orchard and Baltimore Oriole and Pine Siskin. Last weekend other goodies seen here were Tennessee Warbler, Blackburnian, Cape May Warblers (4 males in one flowering tree!), Northern Waterthrush, Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Eastern Towhee. At Sherwood Forest Park in Burlington, a search of the two woodlots located at the north end of the park yielded a smattering of warblers including a female Prairie Warbler on Wednesday. Others found here include Swainson's and Wood Thrush, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Nashville, Black-throated Green and Tennessee Warbler, Ovenbird, Lincoln's Sparrow and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. For shorebirding, conditions seem best up in Saltfleet this year. Several flooded fields can be located on 10th, 8th and 5th Road East. On 10th Road East east of the railway tracks, a walk east down the trail provides the best view to a flooded area in the back. Here this week Semipalmated Plover, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Least, Solitary and Spotted Sandpiper and a Short-billed Dowitcher were seen in this field. A Sandhill Crane made a guest appearance here last Sunday. Bobolinks could be seen and heard in numbers around this area. On 8th Road East, a large flooded field on the west side between Ridge and Green Mountain Road is an excellent place for viewing many species of shorebirds this week. Among birds found here in the week were Semipalmated and Black-bellied Plover, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Spotted, Solitary, White-rumped and Least (many!) Sandpiper, Dunlin and a few American Pipits. A pair of Blue-winged Teal and an American Wigeon were seen in the week also. On 5th Road East between Powerline and Green Mountain Road a flooded area there yielded Wilson's Snipe, Short-billed Dowitcher, Pectoral Sandpiper and both Yellowlegs. Virginia and Sora Rail were both heard calling in the area. At Elmtree Rd & Mountain Rd in Grimsby, there were Least Sandpipers and 2 American Pipits in the drier field SE of the intersection last Sunday. Down at the Grimsby Sewage Lagoons an early Semipalmated Sandpiper was seen in the wet area before the main lagoons. On a non-shorebirding note, there were still a group of 60 Lapland Longspurs found in the field on 6th Road East south of Green Mountain Road last week. Good news for the Peregrine Falcons at the Sheraton in Hamilton Madame X and Surge have 4 chicks in the nest. It's worth a peak on the camera at http://falcons.hamiltonnature.org/ In the odds and sods, migrants seen at Shell Park in the week include many warblers species seen above with the addition of Willow Flycatcher and Blue-headed Vireo. A Yellow-throated Vireo and Wilson's Warbler were seen at Paletta /Shoreacres Park in Burlington. Clay-colored Sparrow has returned the fields out near Paddy Green Road in the small pine plantation east of the communications tower. The Berry Tract also harboured a Black-billed Cuckoo and Blue-winged Warblers this week. Out in Brantford along the rail trail a pair of Yellow-billed Cuckoos were already establishing a territory. One interesting sighting for me this week was the presence of 65 Common Terns sitting on the beach in front of Hutches Restaurant yesterday. Please keep reporting your sightings. Many people are doing their birdathons (including me) in this coming week or two. Any stakeouts would be appreciated! Have a great week. Good birding! 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/
