On Friday, April 2nd, 2010, this is the HNC Birding Report: Ruffed Grouse Wild Turkey Red-necked Grebe Double-crested Cormorant Turkey Vulture Osprey Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Northern Goshawk Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Rough-legged Hawk Golden Eagle Sandhill Crane Killdeer Lesser Yellowlegs Pectoral Sandpiper Wilson's Snipe Glaucous Gull Iceland Gull Caspian Tern Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Eastern Phoebe Northern Shrike Tree Swallow Golden-crowned Kinglet Eastern Bluebird Eastern Towhee Chipping Sparrow Fox Sparrow Eastern Meadowlark Rusty Blackbird
Nice warm temperatures (away from the lake) and southeast winds have brought in more migrants to the area this week. The majority of the list covers things seen at the Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch at Beamer Memorial Conservation Area and surrounding area. Today is the open house up there so if you have not been to check it out please do today. http://www.niagaragreenbelt.com/index.php/site-map/522-niagara-peninsula-haw kwatch-openhouse.html There have been two spectacular days at the Hawkwatch this week with our first Ospreys yesterday, many Turkey Vultures, Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered, Red-tailed and Rough-legged Hawk. Other migrants seen this week include Double-crested Cormorant, Sandhill Crane, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Eastern Phoebe, Tree Swallow, Golden-crowned Kinglet and Fox Sparrow. In the area known as Saltfleet not too far from the Hawkwatch, a Northern Shrike is still present on 10th Road East. Eastern Meadowlarks are singing here as well. On 8th Road East between Ridge and Green Mountain Road, Rusty Blackbird has been reported. 5th Road East between Powerline and Green Mountain Road seems to be our best bet for shorebirds. This week in the ploughed furrows of the field on the west side, many Killdeer, a Lesser Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpipers and numerous Wilson's Snipe have been seen. Patience is necessary with seeing these birds as they disappear in the furrows. There is also a Northern Shrike hanging out here. Out on the lake a large migration of Red-necked Grebes has been occurring this week with over 200 being counted from locations at the west end of the lake on Monday and over 500 being counted from the mouth of Joshua Creek in Oakville. Also seen here were Iceland Gulls. A Glaucous Gull was seen on the bay this week, their numbers down. Caspian Terns however have returned to their nesting islands off Eastport Drive. In the odds and sods this week, a Golden Eagle flew over the Windermere Basin on Wednesday. At the park across from Kerncliffe Park on Kerns Road in Burlington, a small hawk flight that same day included Turkey Vulture, Northern Goshawk, Red-tailed Hawk and an immature Bald Eagle. Today one of our birders near Brantford awoke to Wild Turkey (two Toms with 9 females) displaying in the yard. Also in the vicinity are Sandhill Cranes. Ruffed Grouse continue to be coming in to a feeder in Flamborough. An early Chipping Sparrow was seen at Bronte Creek Provincial Park. Eastern Bluebirds have returned to Courtcliffe Park in Carlisle. An Eastern Towhee was a welcome guest at a feeder in Dundas and Fox Sparrows have been reported a few feeders at various locations this week. That's the news this week. Long weekends with warm temperatures are great for getting people out looking. Please forward your sightings as always. 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/
