No major rarities to report but 2 RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS in the past week were surprising. Winter finch numbers remain low except for a small and brief apparent movement of COMMON REDPOLLS. BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS are again being seen for the first time since early January.
City of Kingston Two TUNDRA SWANS, 12 AMERICAN ROBINS and 10 CEDAR WAXWINGS were at Lemoine Point Conservation Area. Navy Bay (at the Royal Military College) had 1 RING-NECKED DUCK, GREATER SCAUP, 2 HOODED MERGANSERS and COMMON MERGANSER. Cataraqui Bay is playing host to lots of waterfowl including hundreds of REDHEADS and COMMON MERGANSERS, 1 male WHITE-WINGED SCOTER and 1 BLACK SCOTER. A BALD EAGLE can be seen hunting and scavenging around the bay most days. Some small flocks of COMMON REDPOLLS moved through the city this past week. Eighty made a brief appearance in the Saint Lawrence Woods neighbourhood and a flock of 30 was seen elsewhere in town. There was 1 AMERICAN ROBIN at Saint Lawrence Woods. Adolphustown Area The Lake Ontario waterfront hosted 2 SNOW GEESE, MUTE SWAN, TUNDRA SWAN, GADWALL, AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, 12 NORTHERN PINTAILS, 4 REDHEADS, GREATER SCAUP, 15 LESSER SCAUP, LONG-TAILED DUCK, BUFFLEHEAD, COMMON GOLDENEYE, RED-BREASTED MERGANSER, 1 COMMON LOON, 5 AMERICAN COOTS, 1 GLAUCOUS GULL and 100 GREAT BLACK BACKED GULLS. Other birds reported in this area (no specific location details provided) included 2 BALD EAGLES, 1 RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, 1 AMERICAN KESTREL, 1 NORTHERN FLICKER, 2 NORTHERN SHRIKES, 2 COMMON RAVENS, 300 AMERICAN ROBINS and 1600 CEDAR WAXWINGS. Amherst Island Birds on the island this week (with high counts for select species) included AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, COMMON GOLDENEYE, LONG-TAILED DUCK, COMMON MERGANSER, RED-BREASTED MERGANSER, 4 BALD EAGLES, 5 NORTHERN HARRIERS, 6 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, 1 AMERICAN KESTREL, 1 MERLIN, 3 SNOWY OWLS, 11 SHORT-EARED OWLS, 1 GREAT HORNED OWL, 1 NORTHERN SHRIKE, 2 AMERICAN ROBINS, 1 GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, SNOW BUNTING and 3 COMMON REDPOLLS. There was 1 COMMON LOON in the ferry channel. Bedford Mills There were 6 TRUMPETER SWANS in the persistent open water yesterday. An adult RED-SHOULDERED HAWK was south of Bedford Mills not far from where the long-lasting FIELD SPARROW and RUSTY BLACKBIRD continue to visit a private bird feeder. Also in the area was a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, up to 4 COMMON REDPOLLS and 1 PURPLE FINCH. Odessa-Newburgh-Enterprise Area There were lots of gulls at the Violet Dump yesterday including at least 2 ICELAND and 2 GLAUCOUS. Earlier in the week there were 2 GLAUCOUS GULLS in a field 1 km north of Newburgh. The 100 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS near the intersection of County Roads 6 and 20 (North of Odessa) is the highest count for this species we’ve had all winter. Another 20 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS were on Mary Moore Road (northeast of Enterprise). Another 63 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS, 2 AMERICAN KESTRELS and 4 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS were on Moscow Road. Opinicon Road TRUMPETER SWANS are still at Chaffey’s Lock. An EASTERN SCREECH-OWL was stalking flying squirrels at the Queen’s University Biological Station (QUBS) feeders on the night of the 29th. Seven BALD EAGLES and 7 COMMON RAVENS were attending carrion on Lake Opinicon. RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES continue to visit the feeders at QUBS and at least 1 BROWN CREEPER can be seen there too. Other Sightings Three TRUMPETER SWANS were heard from the Park Office at Charleston Lake Provincial Park. The wintering SNOWY OWL remains at Millhaven, just east of the ferry dock. CEDAR WAXWINGS were reported at Cranberry Lake. Four more BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS were in Westport. One COMMON REDPOLL was at a feeder north of Batersea. Thank you to those who contributed observations this week. All bird sightings reported to me are included in the Kingston Field Naturalists’ long term records database which has over 60 years of observations on file and is an invaluable conservation resource. Mark -- Mark Andrew Conboy Operations & Research Assistant and Outreach Coordinator Queen’s University Biological Station 280 Queen's University Road Elgin, Ontario, Canada K0G 1E0 phone: 613-359-5629 fax: 613-359-6558 email: [email protected] or [email protected] QUBS website: http://www.queensu.ca/qubs/index.html QUBS blog: http://opinicon.wordpress.com/ QUBS flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/qubsoutreach/ _______________________________________________ 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/
