Today I spent an hour searching for Andrew's Sabine's Gulls at Van
Wagner's beach and had a white-rumped Whimbrel flying from the east.
It sat on the beach for at least 15 minutes before I left 1:45 pm.
It was beside one of the rocky headlands just opposite Barranga's
Restaurant. It acted very tired and there several people sitting on
the boulders of the headland about 60 feet away and it did not seem at
all disturbed. I had my 15x scope and it had the typical Whimbrel
profile with slightly down-curved bill, but on short range of
Whimbrels; mottling on the breast and on the sides, dark brown eye
stripe with light eyebrow from top of bill to back of head; dark cap.
The white V was clearly when it flushed once, flew about 100 m into
the lake and then came back and landed. It did not have the heavy
mottling typical of juveniles ... and there is a high probability this
was the same bird seen on TOC Whimbrel watch in late May. There were
no other shorebirds in the area.
Van Wagners beach is continuous with Confederation Park which located
east the skyway bridge in Hamilnton/Burlington. It is best accessed
from East Port dive if you driving from the north/west. It is a bit
more tricky coming from the south/east so follow direction or use your
GPS.
Wayne Renaud (289-828-0043)
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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/
