[Ontbirds] Hamilton Naturalists Club Birding Report - Friday, May 16 th, 2008

[Cheryl Edgecombe]

On Friday May 16th, 2008, this is the HNC Birding Report:

WHITE-EYED VIREO
CERULEAN WARBLER
PROTHONOTARY WARBLER

Ruffed Grouse
Common Loon
Horned Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Green Heron
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Willow Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Great Crested Flycatcher
Yellow-throated Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Eastern Bluebird
Veery
Gray-cheeked Thrush
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
Gray Catbird
Cedar Waxwing
Blue-winged Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Pine Warbler
Palm Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Mourning Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Canada Warbler
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Baltimore Oriole

Another busy week of birding in the Hamilton Study Area.  Twenty-eight
species of warblers reported in the week including two not so common
warblers CERULEAN and PROTHONOTARY Warblers.

We'll start east and work our way around the lake.  On Tuesday of last week
a male CERULEAN WARBLER was seen and heard at Rhododendron Gardens located
just west of Mississauga Road off Lakeshore Road.  Other warbler species
seen here Tuesday and Wednesday were Tennessee, Nashville, Northern Parula,
Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Cape May, Blackburnian, Black-throated
Blue, Black-throated Green, Yellow-rumped, Palm, Pine, Bay-breasted,
Black-and-white , American Redstart, Mourning Warbler, Louisiana
Waterthrush, Canada and Wilson's Warbler, Eastern Kingbird, Veery,
White-crowned Sparrow, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Baltimore Oriole.

At nearby Rattray Marsh located at the end of Bexhill Drive in Mississauga,
a PROTHONOTARY WARBLER was found last Saturday at the edge of a flooded area
of woodland adjacent the north end of the marsh. On Wednesday a cruise
around this great location yielded a variety of migrating birds including
Common Tern, Pileated Woodpecker, Least Flycatcher, Great Crested
Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo and Red-eyed Vireo, House Wren, Blue-gray
Gnatcatcher, Veery, Wood Thrush, Cedar Waxwing, Tennessee, Nashville,
Northern Parula, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Yellow-rumped,
Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Pine, and Bay-breasted Warbler,
American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, Scarlet Tanager, Rose-breasted
Grosbeak, Baltimore Orioles and Indigo Bunting.

Down at Bronte Bluffs a few migrating warblers seen on Saturday included
another male PROTHONOTARY WARBLER singing loudly working its way around the
park.  Other species seen here included Black-throated Blue, Black-throated
Green, Black-and-White and many Yellow rumped Warblers.

Surprisingly Shell Park and Paletta/Shoreacres have been quiet this week.
Shell Park had little activity and the Shoreacres list included Horned
Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, Red-breasted Merganser, Least Flycatcher,
Blue-headed Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher,
Swainson's Thrush, WHITE-EYED VIREO (last reported Monday), Black-throated
Blue Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler (last seen Saturday) Yellow Warbler,
Scarlet Tanager, and Indigo Bunting.

Another hotspot this week has been Fifty Point Conservation Area.  A couple
of searches of the area bordering the large trout pond have yielded a
spectacular number of species this week.  Its worth a check of this area on
a regular basis as the diversity this week has been good.  Included in this
weeks findings were Tennessee, Nashville, Northern Parula, Yellow
Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Yellow-rumped,
Black-throated Green, Palm, Blackpoll, Black and White Warbler, American
Redstart, Ovenbird, and Hooded Warbler, Common Yellowthroat.  Yesterday,
Least Flycatcher, Swainson's and Gray-cheeked Thrush, Veery, Blue-winged
Warbler, Brewster's another male PROTHONOTARY WARBLER and Orange-crowned
Warbler, and Lincoln's Sparrow were additions to this list.

Shore birding spots are hard to come by here in the Hamilton Study area.
The Grimsby and Smithville Sewage Lagoons are both high however a couple of
other sites have been productive for shorebirding this week.  The wet fields
next to the Rockton Berry Farm produced Semipalmated Plover, Greater and
Lesser Yellowlegs, Pectoral, Least, Solitary and Spotted Sandpiper and
Dunlin.  Still in the Flamborough Area at the back of Christie Conservation
Area on Middletown Road just south of Hwy 5, Semipalmated Plover, a number
of Least Sandpipers and a Solitary Sandpiper were seen on the large mudflat
exposed here.  A small storm water pond located on Upper Middle Road between
Burloak and Appleby Line in Burlington had Semipalmated Plover, Least and
Spotted Sandpiper.

In the odds and sods department this week, a Green Heron was seen at the
McCormack Trail last weekend, another one seen by a large pond on Safari
Road. A Bald Eagle is nesting in Caledonia at the end of McClung Road with
two eaglets in the nest. A Yellow-bellied Flycatcher was reported from
Merrick Orchard in the Dundas Valley.  Bobolinks are being seen and heard at
Rock Chapel and at Bronte Creek Provincial Park.  Up at Courtcliffe Park in
Carlisle, Eastern Bluebird, Eastern Kingbird, and Willow Flycatcher were
birds seen this week.  A Ruffed Grouse was drumming in the Halton Forest
last evening.  A Yellow-throated Vireo was seen on Captain Cootes Trail at
the RBG.  An Osprey was seen fishing on the Grand River just south of
Cambridge, probably nesting somewhere along it.

That's the news for this very busy week.  Please keep reporting your
sightings.

Good Birding,
Cheryl Edgecombe
HNC Hotline
905-381-0329