On Friday July 17th, 2009 this is the HNC Birding Report LAUGHING GULL
American Wigeon Ring-necked Duck Lesser Scaup White-winged Scoter Common Goldeneye Ruffed Grouse Wild Turkey Peregrine Falcon Sandhill Crane Lesser Yellowlegs Solitary Sandpiper Spotted Sandpiper Semipalmated Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Bonapartes Gull Black-billed Cuckoo Eastern Wood Pewee Acadian Flycatcher Willow Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Eastern Phoebe Eastern Kingbird Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Gray Catbird Blue-winged Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Cerulean Warbler Ovenbird Common Yellowthroat Hooded Warbler Eastern Towhee Vesper Sparrow Orchard Oriole As I sit and type this report from 3 hours away from the Hamilton Circle, I just received a phone call that a hooded gull is present at Waterdown Gardens Supply located on Hwy 5 west of Peters Corners. It is most likely the Laughing Gull which was present a while ago (last time I was away *#%$). Any further information will be posted but please only enter the property with the proper safety vest obtained from the office during open hours. Things continue to be relatively quiet over the last two weeks however shorebird numbers seem to be picking up as non-breeders or failed breeders return south. At the Windemere Basin this week shorebirds included Solitary, Spotted, Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers, Lesser Yellowlegs along with some ducks in the basin including Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye and AmericanWigeon. This will be an excellent spot going forward to check for shorebirds. On Britannia Road between 4th and 5th Lines East Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs were present last week. At the Rockton Berry Farm a small wet area yielded 5 Lesser Yellowlegs earlier in the week. On the lake this week, two White-winged Scoters were seen off Fifty Road and a couple of adult Bonapartes gulls were present near the lift bridge There has been another casualty at the lift bridge. One of the chicks succumbed to illness leaving only one fledgling in the nest. Passerine migration has not started up yet however breeders are continuing to be reported in many places. At the Rona Ponds in Waterdown, Spotted Sanpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Kingbird and Vesper Sparrow were highlights this week. On 7th Concession West in Flamborough on the north side of Safari Road just east of Valens, Ruffed Grouse, Black-billed Cuckoo, Blue-winged Warbler and Eastern Towhee are established breeders here. At Courtcliffe Park in Carlisle, Least and Willow Flycatcher, Eastern Wood Pewee, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Belted Kingfisher and Vesper Sparrow were reported. Further afield, a sanctuary owned by the Hamilton Naturalists Club near Normandale known as Spooky hollow, is a great place for diversity. This week Acadian Flycatcher, Black-throated Green, Blackburnian, Cerulean, Magnolia and Hooded Warbler, Ovenbird and Common Yellowthroat were seen in this Carolinian Tract of land. In the odds and sods this week Sandhill Cranes were seen and photographed at Grass Lake in Glen Morris. Wild Turkeys were reported in a field near East River Road just before McLean School Road near Brantford. Thats the news for the week. Things should be picking up soon. Anyone seeing the Laughing Gull is asked to tie it down (kidding). 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/
