On Friday, August 26th, 2011, this is the Hamilton Naturalists Club Birding Report
Green-winged Teal Scaup sp. White-winged Scoter Common Loon Red-necked Grebe Great Egret Green Heron Black-crowned Night Heron Osprey Bald Eagle Merlin Black-bellied Plover American Golden-Plover Semipalmated Plover Spotted Sandpiper Solitary Sandpiper Greater Yellowlegs Willet Lesser Yellowlegs Sanderling Semipalmated Sandpiper Least Sandpiper White-rumped Sandpiper Baird's Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Stilt Sandpiper Short-billed Dowitcher Bonaparte's Gull Common Tern Yellow-billed Cuckoo Common Nighthawk Ruby-throated Hummingbird Olive-sided Flycatcher Eastern Wood Pewee Least Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Warbling Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Nashville Warbler Yellow Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Cape May Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Blackburnian Warbler Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart Common Yellowthroat Bobolink Baltimore Oriole It's been a busy week this week in the Hamilton Study area, no super rarities, but there is a clear indication that birds are on the move and birders should be out and about looking. Shorebirds are still in the news this week and there is a great variety to be seen if you have the time and patience and a scope. The viewing platform at Windermere basin is almost finished and this venue provides the most variety in the area for shorebirds at this time. Morning light is better. Throughout the week, the following was reported: Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper and Solitary Sandpiper, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Willet (last reported Sunday), Semipalmated, Least, Baird's, Pectoral and Stilt Sandpiper and Short-billed Dowitcher. Another good place east of here is Rattray Marsh where water levels have dropped to expose mud for shorebirds. Here this week were Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Spotted and Solitary Sandpiper, Semipalmated, Least, White-rumped and Baird's Sandpiper. A good showing of over 120 Red-necked Grebes were recorded on the lake from here. This is a major staging ground for this species. Other non shorebird species noted here were Great Egret, Nashville, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Blackburnian, Black-and-white and Canada Warbler, Common Yellowthroat and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo was seen and heard here. Today, light east winds were present at Van Wagner's Beach. None of specialty species were present yet but Long-tailed Duck, Scaup sp., Green-winged Teal, White-winged Scoter, Common Loon, Common Tern, Bonaparte's Gull and Sanderling were birds seen here today. Passerine numbers are picking up this week. Last weekend at Woodland Cemetery, Osprey, Chimney Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Least and Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Warbling and Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Yellow, Cape May, Blackburnian and Black and White Warbler, American Restart, Bobolink (36) and Baltimore Oriole were migrants seen. At Waterdown North Wetlands Trail, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Least Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Warbling and Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Blackburnian, Black and White and Canada Warbler, American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat and Baltimore Oriole were migrants seen here. Olive-sided flycatchers are moving through with reports in traditional places such as Courtcliffe Park in Carlisle. Other reports of this bird came from the Crieff Bog in Flamborough and from Bronte Harbour. An Osprey and a resident Merlin were also seen in the vicinity of the harbour, the Merlin likely a bird that has nested here. In the odds and sods Green Heron, Black-crowned Night Heron and Great Egret were seen in Dundas Marsh. A Bald Eagle is also still present out in Cootes Paradise. A large group of Common Terns were seen out on the Hamilton harbour likely staging for migration. That's the news for this week. It should be a good couple of weeks of heavy migration and the east winds are always cause to get out to the beach. Good birding, Cheryl Edgecombe _______________________________________________ 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/
