| HALDIMAND - NORFOLK | Archived Birding Reports - 2001 |
Rock Point Birds 08-18-01 - Sat, 18 Aug 2001
Please Excuse my spelling ,I am Dyslexic thank you for your understanding. Today Carol Horner and I tuck a drive to Rock Point P.P found south of Dunnville Ont. on Lake Erie. As posted before by others we wear looking forward to a good day of shorebirds what we found was a great day for all birds ..... A good sing as we wear going down county rood # 65 (east of Dunnville) we found a grass farm with 72 BBPlovers and 2 LGPlover . Onece in the Park we went loking for shorebirds we came up with 15 species hear ,but we only had 2 Willets earlier in the mooring ?? nice to see moor came in Western Sandpiper 1 Baird's Sandpiper 2 Red Knot 2 Ruddy Turnstone 16 Semipalmated Plover 5 Semipalmated Sandpiper 15 Greater Yellowlegs 2 Lesser Yellowlegs 30+ Willet 2 Pectoral Sandpiper 22 Least Sandpiper 30+ Sanderling 7 Kildeer 30+ Spotted Sandpiper 15 Black bellied plover 10 I also no that S B Dowager was seen before we got their and that White- Rumped Sandpiper was seen after we left that wood mack for 17 species I am sheer their wear moor ( like Solitary or Stilt Sandpiper ?? any one ??) this was jist amazing to see this many birds right at your feet fantastic , if you don't have the time to go for Storks ( WOW) and you want to work on your shorebirds this is the best place in Ont. right now to do it... Then it was off to see what we could find with land birds Thanks to Jim Smith for showing us some nice birds around at his banding station found on the west side of the park. Birds included ,,Blue-Winged Warbler ( one of 2 for the day) and N Waterthush , other good birds in the area , Red Bellied Woodpecker and B.B.Cuckoo ... I look forward to going back to see if we can find moor ... A fast stop in to Rattray Marsh wich is found off of Bexhill rd south of Lakeshore rd in Mississauga we came up with some good warblers ,Chesnut-sided , Blackburnian, B&W, Blue-winged and Magnolia. I was only aball to count 27 RN Grebes but still a good area to keep a eye on for all types of birding... after today dont know what to exspekt for tomorow .... got to love this birding in Ontaro..... Craig.S.A.McLauchlan Toronto/Ont/Canada/World. csam@sympatico.ca
backus woods - Wed, 09 May 2001
Gord, I hope I'm sending this to the right address - went to Long Point this weekend and ran into Alf Epp who said it was deader than a funeral parlour - the horrifying thing for me was that it was my first time in Backus Woods for two years and THERE WAS NO SWAMP! Where did it go? Is this Climate Change or is it the natural cycle for that area - I know Lake Erie is low and I guess that means the water table is low but can anyone tell me if this has happened before - is it happening in Rondeau, for instance, where the prothonotary nests over SWAMP? In Backus, there were no herons. usually there are around l5. Where are they now - can anyone reassure me out there?
On a more positive note, I heard lots of wood thrushes, yay. cheers,
Debbie
dhonickman@ctchc.com
Townsend lagoons and Owl Sanctuary - Mon, 02 Apr 2001
Hi other Ontario Birders
Yesterday April 1, 2001 Stan Bajurny and I took one of our usual trips down towards Long Point and on the way we stopped at the Townsend sewage lagoons (just west of Simcoe) where we found a good sampling of the waterfowl in the area.
In the lagoons were 16 Ruddy Ducks, 8 Tundra Swans, 500+ Canada Geese, 18 A. Wigeon, 8 Gadwall, 50+ Mallards, 8 Black Ducks, 4 N. Pintail, 53 Canvasbacks, 12 Redheads, 250+ Lesser Scaup, 4 C. Goldeneye, 47 Bufflehead, 53 Com. Mergansers and 3 A. Coots.
As we stood out in the cold, mid winter, windy weather we were also able to spot 2 Great Blue Herons and 2 N. Harriers passing by and around us were 6 Killdeer and 1 E. Meadowlark as well as Horned Larks. Standing there in the wind we spotted a bird descending towards the lagoons that turned out to be our day's biggest surprise. As it got closer and turned (possible spotting us ??) (I unlike the G. Goomer can't read birds minds) away only about 75 feet up we identified it as a Red-throated Loon, my first in this area. I don't know if it would have landed in the lagoons or not but it came down as if to land.
After this we headed out towards Long point along Concession 14 Road between the lagoons and Simcoe (this has become a routine) and at 1 puddle in a field we saw 1 male Wood Duck, 36 Mallards, 2 Black Ducks, 4 N. Pintails and 2 Killdeer. As we traveled along the road we found a further 10 Wood Ducks alongside the road in Catfish Creek. Other birds seen along this road included 2 A. Wigeon, 2 Ring-necked Ducks, 2 Turkey Vultures, 2 Sharp-shined Hawks, 1 Cooper's Hawk, 4 more Killdeer, 1 male E. Bluebird, 67 A. Robins, plus many blackbirds. We enjoy this road as in the last year we have also found Tufted Titmouse, Red-bellied Woodpecker, many E. Bluebirds and a variety of other birds.
Returning from Long Point in the evening we stopped at the Owl Sanctuary on Concession 6 (about 1 km east of Fisherville Road) where it wouldn't be too healthy to be a rodent as here we watched 5 N. Harriers, 3 Red-tailed Hawks and 2 Short-eared Owls hunting. Always with the 3 species visible over the field at the same time. We watched as the Owls dive bombed the Red-tails and also interacted with the Harriers. While here we also spotted 2 E. Meadowlarks on territory.
As it was dark we returned to Hwy 6 at Hagersville and stopped at the Six Nations gas station north of town (the station across the tracks) and while filling up Stan heard A. Woodcock across the road from the station. We listened for a while and then it was off for home.
Norm Murr
Richmond Hill, ON
NORMURR@SYMPATICO.CA
OFO Haldimand Hawk and Owl Trip February 10, 2001 - Sat, 10 Feb 2001 Sighting reports originating from the ONTBIRDS mail server network are repeated courtesy of the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO).
17 brave souls gathered this morning at the Cayuga High School parking lot despite winter storm warnings, high winds and dropping temperatures. The first stop was at Ruthven Park where the bander-in-charge of the Haldimand Bird Observatory field station there told the group some of the better species of birds that have been found there. The group wandered the estate grounds for a few minutes looking for the Tufted Titmouse that had been seen there before we arrived. A Bald Eagle was spotted in the distance soaring over the Grand River. Some of the sharp eyed birders spotted the Red-bellied Woodpecker that was flying back and forth below the eagle.
The next stop was the 4th line where over 20 Red-tailed Hawks were spotted. The strong cold biting winds kept most of the hawks low and out of sight for most of the day. A few Horned Larks were spotted as we went around the country block on onto the MacKenzie Road into a snow streamer that redued visibility at times to less than 100 feet. Conseqently we could barely make out the birds at the good feeder on the MacKenzie Road. By the time we reached Reg. Rd. #9 the snow had stopped but the Snowy Owl that has been in the area could not be found. Just west of Reg. Rd. #9 on Reg. #20 we pulled over as the field was full of Snow Buntings with a few Horned Larks and some Lapland Longspurs mixed in. Here we were hit with another snow streamer that again reduced visiblility to 100 feet or less.
We retired to Tim Horton's in Hagersville to warm up etc and wait for the streamer to subside. We returned back along Reg. Rd. #20 and stopped at the first field west of where we had been earlier. It too was full of Snow Buntings, a few Horned Larks and Lapland Longspurs. The next field to the east still was full of birds. An estimate of 5000 Snow Buntings may have been low.
We meandered the back roads to the 6th concession of South Cayuga where a Short-eared Owl was located in a Red Cedar. It took off landing in an apple tree and then flew around for all to see.
Continuing east we were again hit with another heavy snow streamer but safely made our way into Selkirk where it cleared and then headed west stopping at the eagle tree. Here a 1st year Bald Eagle was perched fairly close to the road. It was joined by a second bird and they took to the air and played tag over the wood lot while in the back ground 2 more eagles were spotted.
Along the lake east of the Nanticoke Power Gererating Station we spotted our 6th Bald Eagle for the day that came fairly close during its flyby. Serveral hundred Common Mergansers were tucked in close to shore near the power plant.
At Peacock Point a male Red-winged Blackbird and serveral Brown-headed Cowbirds were mixed in with a flock of Starlings. We headed east along the lakeshore picking up several species of waterfowl including both species of Scaup. Another Short-eared Owl was spotted in the trees between the road and the lake. This bird flushed and flew around out over the lake.
Near Dunnville an immature male Snowy Owl was spotted sitting on the ice. We had good looks through the scopes of it on the ice. This bird also flew a couple of times giving the group good looks of a Snowy Owl in flight. Along King's Row a light phase Rough-leg gave the group a good view as it sat on the ground before lifting up and coming across the road in front of us. We headed into Dunnville and to Tim Horton's to warm up again where nearly 200 cowbirds flew over as we got out of the cars.. The group broke up around 3:30 on the East River Road north of Dunnville.
Despite bitterly strong cold winds that kept most birds out of sight, periods of brilliant sunshine, ground drifting, white outs streamers, etc. the group recorded 39 species of birds.
John Miles Box 449 Jarvis, On 1-519-587-5223 miles@kwic.com Haldimand Bird Observatory www.geocities.com/haldimandbirdobservatory/
| Archived Birding Reports |
Recent Birding Reports |
| Ontario Birding Home Page |
Birding in Canada |
This page was created: Saturday, January 02, 1999
Last Updated: April 10, 2002 7:01:10 PM