Hello Birders, My wife, Heather, and I along with Jerry Guenther located the juvenile PURPLE GALLINULE at 11:25 am this morning, Wednesday, 12 October, along the east side (lake side) of the pond, feeding and preening in the open along the edge of the pond. The bird was in the same location when we left at noon. We had earlier met Mark Cranford along the main trail from the gate to the pond; Mark kindly took us back to the viewing spot on the west (canal) side of the pond where he had been when he first located the bird earlier this morning at the south end of the pond where the phragmites is dense. The bird was not at this location when we first arrived. When we located the bird, it had moved to the east side of the pond across from our viewing location on the west side. We observed the bird through a telescope as well as binocs.
*Directions*: Take the QEW to exit 44 - Niagara Street. Go north on Niagara to Lakeshore. Turn right on Lakeshore and cross the canal. Turn left at Seaway Haulage Road and stay on this road as it goes along the edge of the canal until you reach a gate; a parking area is along the road. The walk along a hard-packed trail is about a km to the west side viewing area, a bit further if you go to the east side of the pond. A steady walking pace takes about 15-20 minutes. To view the bird as we did from the west (canal) side of the pond, we had continued on the main trail past the intersection with the trail that goes to the east (lake)side of the pond until we reached a less-obvious trail turning right off the main trail – this trail took us to the south-west side of the pond. The gallinule was active along the open shoreline of the east side of the pond -- no phragmites in this area. Bill Wilson Cambridge, ON [email protected] _______________________________________________ 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/
