On Friday, August 31st, 2012, this is the HNC Birding Report:
SABINES GULL LONG-TAILED JAEGER PROTHONOTARY WARBLER KENTUCKY WARBLER Great Egret Green Heron Osprey Broad-winged Hawk Black-bellied Plover American Golden Plover Semipalmated Plover Spotted Sandpiper Solitary Sandpiper Greater Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Semipalmated Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Baird's Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Stilt Sandpiper Buff-breasted Sandpiper Short-billed Dowitcher Wilsons Phalarope Red-necked Phalarope Bonaparte's Gull Common Nighthawk Chimney Swift Ruby-throated Hummingbird Eastern Wood Pewee Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Traills FLycatcher Willow Flycatcher Great Crested Flycatcher Eastern Kingbird Philadelphia Vireo Red-eyed Vireo Common Raven Gray-cheeked Thrush Swainsons Thrush Golden-winged Warbler Tennessee Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Magnolia Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Bay-breasted Warbler Blackpoll Warbler Black-and-white Warbler American Redstart Ovenbird Northern Waterthrush Wilson's Warbler Canada Warbler There has been a lot of excitement here in the Hamilton Study Area this week as the list grows longer and some of the specialities we are known for start arriving. Northeast and even southwest winds brought the arrival of the lovely SABINES GULLS to VanWagners Beach a couple of days ago. Although seen from a zodiac on the lake the birds were viewable from shore along with a juvenile LONG-TAILED JAEGER. Two more SABINES GULLS were seen from the Lakeland Centre yesterday. East winds forecast for this weekend make it promising for more of these birds to be viewed from the shore. The warbler list has grown this week as winds from the north brought in a fresh set of migrants. Today at Rattray Marsh a PROTHONOTARY WARBLER was seen early this morning. Earlier in the week a first year KENTUCKY WARBLER made an appearance along with a Northern Waterthrush at a back yard in Rock Chapel in Flamborough. There have been no further reports of either but this is the time to be out looking in your local haunts for these little jewels. We will work down the list with shorebirds still being a major force going through the area although some of the spots which were once good for these have dried up. At the Red Hill Stormwater Pond, a single Black-bellied Plover has been here all week. Lesser Yellowlegs, Least and Semipalmated Sandpiper were also present. Conditions have deteriorated at Red Hill and it is mostly dry. At Tollgate Ponds off Eastport Drive, four Ruddy Turnstones made an appearance yesterday. By far one of the best spots to view shorebirds without grief is Princess Point accessed at the end of Longwood Drive in Hamilton. Water levels have dropped significantly here exposing a large mud flat. Present here this week were Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated, Least, Pectoral, Stilt, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher and Wilsons Phalarope. Scanning back toward Dundas Marsh, several Red-necked Phalaropes were seen spinning. Other birds out in Cootes Paradise include American Golden and Semipalmated Plover, Greater Yellowlegs, Bairds Sandpiper, Great Egret, Bonapartes Gull, Bald Eagle and Osprey. Rattray Marsh had a smattering of good shorebirds including Buff-breasted Sandpiper last weekend, Sanderling on the beach at Jack Darling Park and Spotted, Solitary and Least Sandpipers. A check of the pond near Onandaga Farms yielded more than a dozen Solitary Sandpipers (so much for Solitary). Local woodlots seem to be hopping these days with Vireos, Flycatchers and Warblers. At Shoreacres in Burlington this week, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Yellow-bellied, Willow and Great Crested Flycatcher, Warbling and Red-eyed Vireo, Gray-cheeked and Swainsons Thrush, Tennessee, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Canada and Wilsons Warbler, and Common Yellowthroat. At Woodland Cemetery, Philadelphia and Red-eyed Vireo, American Redstart and Canada Warbler were birds noted here. Along the Bruce trail in west Waterdown, Yellow-bellied, Least and Great-crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Philadelphia Vireo, Golden-winged, Magnolia, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Blackpoll, Bay-breasted, Palm, Black and White, Black Throated Blue, Canada and Wilsons Warbler and Common Yellowthroat were highlights on Tuesday. At Courtcliffe Park in Carlisle, Eastern Wood Pewee, Least and Trails Flycatcher, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided, Nashville, Blackpoll, Wilsons and Canada Warbler, Indigo Bunting were migrants noted here. It will soon be time for the hawks to start moving. Broad-winged Hawks were seen over Waterdown and south Burlington on north winds last Tuesday. The bulk of the movement will come the second or third week of September. In the odds and sods, eight Green Herons were seen at the pond at Onandaga Farms. Great Egrets seem to be everywhere with birds at Dundas Marsh, Valley Inn, the Onandaga Farms and other traditional spots. Common Nighthawks have been going through in numbers this week with many birds reported over South Burlington, Brant Hills, Rock Chapel and Waterdown. Chimney Swifts are also moving in numbers over these areas. Two Common Ravens were seen over Lowville mid week. A group of five Purple Finch were seen flying over my yard in South Burlington this week, not record early but unusual in my books. The bottom line here is that in the past couple of weeks around the province there have been a few great rarities. Now is the time to get out and look for others that might have gone under the radar. Long weekends are excellent for getting out and looking. Please report your sightings here! Good Birding, Cheryl Edgecombe HNC _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. 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