On Friday, July 3rd, 2009, this is the HNC Birding Report: PRAIRIE WARBLER
Wood Duck American Wigeon Ring-necked Duck Common Goldeneye Hooded Merganser Ruddy Duck Common Loon Red-necked Grebe Least Bittern Osprey Bald Eagle Peregrine Falcon Sora Sandhill Crane Spotted Sandpiper Least Sandpiper White-rumped Sandpiper Common Tern Yellow-billed Cuckoo Black-billed Cuckoo Ruby-throated Hummingbird Eastern Wood-Pewee Least Flycatcher Great-crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Warbling Vireo Common Raven Purple Martin Marsh Wren Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Eastern Bluebird Gray Catbird Cedar Waxwing Blue-winged Warbler Yellow Warbler Pine Warbler American Redstart Eastern Towhee Clay-colored Sparrow Savannah Sparrow Grasshopper Sparrow Rose-breasted Grosbeak Indigo Bunting Bobolink Eastern Meadowlark Brown-headed Cowbird Orchard Oriole Baltimore Oriole Pine Siskin This week's report is dedicated to breeding birds which are present in the Hamilton Study Area. Although quieter this time of year, one can see or at least catch of glimpse of young birds which are fledging and who have nested in areas we are familiar with during migration. There were no mega-rarities this week or last. The only bird of note from the last two weeks was the PRAIRIE WARBLER which has not been reported since June 21st. The Laughing Gull was a one day wonder but could still be in the area with a spectacular number of gulls to sort through at the Waterdown Garden Supply. This should be a good area as well to watch for returning shorebirds in the ponds. Common Ravens were seen here the Saturday after the Laughing Gull was seen, a good record for this time of year. The Red-necked Grebes at Bronte Harbour are doing well. There seem to be two stages of birds. One group is has two chicks and is sitting on eggs and the other have half grown chicks which are just learning to dive. Both sets of Peregrine Falcons are doing well. At the lift bridge, one chick has perished but the other two are doing well. A surprise yesterday as one of the adults came in with some very colourful food, a Budgie! The Sheraton Peregrines are putting on quite an aerial show these days and a couple of them seem to be catching their own grub. The dawn to dusk Falconwatch ends today but watchers will be out early morning and late evening to check on them. At Shoreacres in Burlington, breeding birds seen and heard yesterday were Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Cedar Waxwing, Gray Catbird, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Warbling Vireo, Indigo Bunting, Baltimore Oriole and a rather funny sighting yesterday of a Yellow Warbler feeding a Brown-headed Cowbird in the middle of the wood chipped path. It must consume all of this Yellow Warblers time to feed such a bird which is 4 times bigger than it. Out at Windermere Basin a couple of shorebirds were present a week and a half to two weeks ago with an adult Least Sandpiper seen and two White-rumped Sandpipers present for a day. Northbound or southbound these birds were only here briefly. In the basin itself, the Common Tern colony seems to be doing well and there are more Common Terns around this year than in past. A male Ring-necked Duck, a male American Wigeon, a Common Goldeneye in eclipsed plumage and several Ruddy Ducks are also here. Out in the Dundas Marsh, Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos are also calling here. Wood Ducks, Osprey and Least Bittern were also noted here last week. At Courtcliffe Park in Carlisle, Spotted Sandpipers, Eastern Wood Pewee, Least and Great-crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Bluebird, American Redstart, Savannah Sparrow and Indigo Bunting were all seen here this week. On the Fifth Concession West, at the Millgrove Loam Pits, Marsh Wren, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Orchard Oriole are breeders here. The Northland Nursery close by to here is a good spot for some of the grassland breeders such as Clay-colored, Grasshopper and Savannah Sparrow, Bobolink and Eastern Meadowlark. In the odds and sods, at Kerncliffe Park in Burlington, Sora, Eastern Towhee and Indigo Bunting were birds recorded this week. Along the Dundas Rail Trail, Purple Martin, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Blue-winged Warbler, Pine Warbler and Eastern Towhee were seen in the week. A couple of young Bald Eagles have been spotted, probably 1st year individuals in moult, one over the escarpment near Dundas and the other over Guelph Line and Prospect in Burlington. Common Loons were seen at Canada Centre for Inland Waters and Bronte Harbour this past week. Pine Siskins continue to be seen at a feeder in South Burlington. Sandhill Cranes continue to be present near Deer Run Court in Brantford. So in all things are quiet. I needed to crank out a report so people didn't wonder if the HSA reporter had gone missing. Things will pick up soon I expect with the return of shorebirds and some early warblers. Make sure to send those sightings my way. Have a great weekend! 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/
