[Ontbirds]Kingston area birds to Jan. 18, 2008

[Peter and Jane Good]

The best local concentration of waterfowl is in Elevator Bay with 11 species
reported on Wednesday. There is nothing particularly rare but the mix of
ducks seems to change from day to day and the task of sorting through a
flock of a thousand sleeping scaup to find something different is more than
a bit of a challenge.
Sharp-shinned Hawks seem to be raiding feeders all over the area; Opinicon,
Gananoque, Camden East, Bedford Mills, and within the city. A Cooper's Hawk
has been patrolling the Queen's campus all week. Six Bald Eagles were
reported this week from a variety of locations but the best numbers for
these and other raptors are still on Wolfe Island. There are at least a half
a dozen Snowy Owls as well as a few Barred and Short-eared. There does seem
to be some movement of Barred Owls this winter as we are seeing good numbers
all across the southern portions of Frontenac and Lennox and Addington
Counties. Great Horned Owls have started calling in the Camden East area.
Both the Violet and Napanee Dumps have lots of gulls including both Iceland
and Glaucous but viewing these is complicated by the fact that the Violet
dump is only open a few days a week and at Napanee the birds are often out
of sight behind the "landfill mountain".
Finch numbers, still dominated by redpolls, are down. The weather has been
erratic, to say the least, and this is having an effect on feeder
populations.
A few  miscellaneous observations; Belted Kingfishers at Elevator Bay and
Collin's Bay, Pileated Woodpeckers at Camden East and Bedford Mills, and 11
Ruffed Grouse visiting a feeder just outside Tamworth.

Cheers,
Peter Good
Kingston Field Naturalists
613 378-6605