Hi All, With only a week remaining until the Minden Christmas Bird Count, Dan Busby and I did a quick scout this morning and turned up a few nice birds. There is less than 5cm of snow cover and other than the largest alkes, most are frozen.
We tried for the Great Gray Owl observed earlier in the week but struck out. On Gull Lake, S of Minden, at the mouth of the Gull River, we found 3 Red-necked Grebes. There has been a single bird present here for a few week so it was nice surprise to find 3 together. Also present were Hooded Mergansers, Common Goldeneye, and several Mallards. We just missed an adult Bald Eagle at the Minden Landfill (reported by the attendant). There were still about 30 Herring Gulls milling around. A Kingfisher was briefly observed at the S end of Horseshoe Lake, at the outflow into the Wildwater Preserve. Finally, we had 2 first-winter Iceland Gulls mixed with about 50 Herrings at the Haliburton Landfill. Cheers, Ed Poropat Haliburton, ON _______________________________________________ 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
