AMERICAN AVOCET Northern Shoveler Green-winged Teal Lesser Scaup Hooded Merganser Red-necked Grebe Osprey Semipalmated Plover Spotted Sandpiper Lesser Yellowlegs Ruddy Turnstone Sanderling Semipalmated Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Stilt Sandpiper Short-billed Dowitcher Wilson's Phalarope Bonaparte's Gull Eastern Screech Owl Great Horned Owl Red-headed Woodpecker Eastern Phoebe Eastern Kingbird Warbling Vireo Carolina Wren Wood Thrush Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Gray Catbird Blue-winged Warbler Black-and White Warbler Mourning Warbler Scarlet Tanager Baltimore Oriole
Mid July is always fairly quiet here but then as the month progresses, you can see things starting in a miniscule way to pick up with some birds gathering up in areas and numbers moving about preparing to move en masse in the not too distant future. Song is relatively non-existent but family groups can be seen moving about their breeding grounds. Shorebird species being the most notable migrants, continue to grow in number and change up every few days making places like Windermere Basin one of the hotspots at this time of year. And every once in a while you get a surprise, this past period being an AMERICAN AVOCET which quietly snuck in and out of the Hamilton Study Area along the Grand River near Brantford just after the walking bridge that connects the Brant Crossing Skate Park and Fordview Trail. The bird was seen by a very fortunate kayaking birder! It was a one hour/day wonder but you never know whether this bird has moved along the river elsewhere or decided to relocate out of the Hamilton Study Area. As mentioned above, the Windermere Basin has brought some interesting mixes of waterfowl and shorebirds and keen birders check almost daily for things dropping into this ideal shorebird habitat. Located on Eastport Road with the parking lot just southeast of the Outdoor World RV in Hamilton, a scope is necessary to view the shorebirds here and patience is a must as birds move in and out of the vegetation. A good hour or so can wrangle up several species but every scan brings different birds and different numbers. Here this week, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, Lesser Scaup, Hooded Merganser, Osprey, Semipalmated Plover, Spotted Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Semipalmated and Least Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher and Wilson's Phalarope. Another cold front will change this mix up again. Meanwhile, cool north to northeast winds blew into Van Wagner's Beach last Sunday bringing a significant flock of 22 Sanderling scurrying along the beach. Three adult Bonaparte's Gulls also cruised the beach. Wrapping up Shorebirds, a couple of Stilt Sandpipers were reported on e-bird one near Mountsberg Conservation Area and another at Hespeler Mill Pond in Cambridge which is on the border of the Hamilton Study Area. No migrants were seen today at Shoreacres in Burlington but Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Kingbird, Warbling Vireo, Carolina Wren, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Gray Catbird and Baltimore Oriole were all present, some with young in tow. Numbers of Swallows along the lakeshore seem to be increasing and mixing up as the colonies are void of birds after nesting season. In the odds and sods, a couple of pair of Red-necked Grebes are toting young around, one at the traditional Bronte Harbour side and another family seen at Bronte Beach and later at Bronte Cemetery. An Eastern Screech Owl serenaded this birder in south Burlington during the wee hours of the morning. A Red-headed Woodpecker is a guest at a feeder at 592 Sawmill Road in Ancaster, bringing its young in tow. Along the escarpment near Rock Chapel and Borers Falls, Great Horned Owls are present, Wood Thrush and Scarlet Tanager could also be heard singing along here. Another family of Eastern Kingbirds can be seen in the parking lot at Canada Centre for Inland Waters. At the Beverly Swamp, a walk along a trail here yielded Blue-winged Warbler with young, a few Black-and-White Warblers and a juvenile Mourning Warbler. The next couple of weeks will change things up again and this reporter will be putting out weekly updates. Late summer and fall are the best of birding here in the Hamilton Study Area, rest up, last year was spectacular. Good birding, Cheryl Edgecombe HNC. _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup
