A field trip to the Queen's Biological Station (QUBS) last Sunday found Common Ravens, an adult Bald Eagle, both Red and White-breasted Nuthatches, a N. Shrike and both Common and Hoary Redpolls. The open water at Chaffey's Lock had Black Ducks, Canada Geese and several Trumpeter Swans as well as a Belted Kingfisher. The Collin's Bay kingfisher was seen this week and the Dupont lagoon continues to be the hot spot for waterfowl in the city; nothing rare but lots of variety. The Wolfe Island ferry dock and the Violet dump had relatively few gulls; the Amherst channel had none; but this should improve as spring approaches. Raptor numbers seem to be way down; the fields on Amherst Island are blown clean but what remains of the considerable snow we had earlier is a hard crusty coating of frozen snow (no that's not redundant) and ice that must make it very difficult to catch rodents. A Short-eared Owl survey across the centre of the island tallied 6 Red-tailed Hawks, an Am. Kestrel, 21 White-tailed Deer and a pair of coyotes; not an owl to be found. Other raptors noted this week were a Merlin at Amherstview last Friday, a Bald Eagle at Bellrock on Saturday, a Long-eared Owl at Lemoine Point on Sunday, a Sharp-shinned Hawk at Bedford Mills on Wednesday and a Barred Owl yesterday, sitting on a fence post west of Odessa in the bright mid-afternoon sun. Small winter finches are still present with large flocks of Common Redpolls at QUBS, Bedford Mills and Camden East with the odd Hoary thrown in. Pine Siskins were seen near Elginburg and at Camden East and 2 White-winged and 3 Red Crossbills were a nice bonus for a local winter lister at Lemoine Point on Sunday. Signs of spring are hard to come by, especially looking out my window at a very blustery day, but cardinals and chickadees have been singing all week, woodpeckers have been drumming and a Great Horned Owl hooted near Camden East on Tuesday night. Two Red-winged Blackbirds showed up at the Bedford Mills feeder on Friday, Am. Crows and Canada Geese are being seen were they haven't been all winter and a flock of Am. Robins was seen on the Unity Road on Monday. Cheers, Peter Good Kingston Field Naturalists 613 378-6605 _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
