Rain and wind have limited birding the last few days but the Easter weekend produced some interesting sightings. While cycling on Good Friday I heard numerous Easter(n) Phoebes and Easter(n) Meadowlarks singing between Bradford and Beeton but my best bird was an early VESPER SPARROW. It flushed up from the roadside ditch when I was riding west on Line 9 east of Hwy. 27, flashing its white outer-tail feathers like a big beige junco. It then sat long enough on a fencepost for me to sling my binoculars up and see its white eye-ring before it jumped down into the brushy edge of a big field. NORTHERN FLICKERS seemed to materialize overnight, appearing on Friday in several different places around Newmarket and Bradford, calling from treetops and flying in long undulations across various roads, fields and forests. GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS were singing their high,sweet songs in the Cawthra Mulock Reserve and many other locations over the weekend. On Saturday morning in southwest Keswick Bruce Brydon found at least a dozen PECTORAL SANDPIPERS in the flooded field at the end of Yonge St. south of Ravenshoe Road. There were also several NORTHERN SHOVELERS, AMERICAN WIGEON, and a few NORTHERN PINTAIL present at this location. John Watson relocated the same birds on Sunday and I found the same selection (Pectorals included) Easter Monday. Bruce also checked Cook's Bay on Saturday - he had calling PIED-BILLED GREBE, an AMERICAN COOT and many, many ducks - RING-NECKED, BUFFLEHEAD, COMMON MERGANSER, more AMERICAN WIGEON and GREEN-WINGED TEAL. The BALD EAGLES on territory (and staking out a nest) north of Ravenshoe Road were seen both Saturday and Monday. They are in the heronry directly north of Best Asia Farms. Ron Fleming, Newmarket Newmarket, Bradford and Keswick are north of Toronto and south of Barrie _______________________________________________ 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/
