A couple of relatively rare birds were the highlights this week; a Pacific Loon at Prince Edward Point (PEPt) last Saturday and a Lesser Black-backed Gull in the Kingston harbour yesterday. Waterfowl numbers remain quite high in all the usual locations; noteworthy were 34 White-winged Scoters at PEPt on Sunday and 50 Canvasbacks in Bayfied Bay on Wolfe Island yesterday. Common Loons and Horned Grebes continue to be seen in small numbers as do Great Blue Herons. Am. Coots seem to be particularly abundant with 65 counted in Hay Bay on Sunday and 350 on Wolfe Island yesterday. Raptor numbers on Amherst are excellent but very low on Wolfe Island. Our ongoing survey found 2 Snowy and 22 Short-eared Owls on Wednesday. Earlier that same day there were 11 N. Harriers, 20 Red-tailed and 28 Rough-legged Hawks. Bald Eagles are regular but still in small numbers. There was very little new this week regarding winter finches. There are large numbers of Am. Goldfinches visiting some feeders but the only others reported were a Purple Finch, a Common Redpoll and 3 Pine Siskins at PEPt on Saturday and a pair of White-winged Crossbills north of Millhaven yesterday. Lingering birds are particularly sought after by the winter listers in the first few days of December. We have a few of these locally; both lingerers and listers. What they have uncovered so far includes 20 Brown-headed Cowbirds and 2 N. Flickers on Amherst and 3 Killdeer at Bath last Saturday as well as 3 more Killdeer at the lagoons and another N. Flicker and a Winter Wren on Wolfe Island yesterday. The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at Elginburg last appeared on Wednesday, a Common Grackle visited a feeder out Montreal Street and remarkably a Clay-colored Sparrow was found near Cressy in Prince Edward County last Saturday. 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/
