Leaders: Fred Jazvac, Judith King, OFO leaders
Participants: Fred Jazvac, JIm and Judy Duncan, James Turland, Ralph Knowles, Carole Lupton, Norma Nanni, Gord and Norah Toth, Judith King, Liz Addison, Bruce Edmunds, Doug and BJ Martin,Judy Wyatt, Cindy McGregor, Marilyn Ohler, Vivianne Hebert, Becky Grieveson, Bob and Anne Marie Taylor, Marshall Byle, Judy and Kiah Jasper, Anne Goulden and Daughter. (26 people)
Hi Everyone.
Well the weekend birding expedition was quite successful with 75 birds seen. Here is a recap of some of the good birds we saw. Kiah , our youngest birder, found us a Black-legged Kittiwake. He has a had a great year in the rare bird department this year. Earlier in the fall, he found us a Glossy Ibis, a Summer Tanager in the summer and for an early opening winter he comes up with a kittiwake (on Lake Ontario by Hutches.) Well done Kiah! We are really proud of you. Oops,not finished with Kiah yet. He had the highest score in the gull quiz at the Niagara Gull work shop. There were some really good birders in that room that he competed with. Moving on, look at this list of great birds - Northern Mockingbird, Harlequin Duck, Brant, Black Vulture, and our reason for going, we saw 8 species of gull.
In the non birding department, there was a great Super Moon that came up orange and placed itself neatly over the falls. The food at Betty’s Restaurant and Joe the manager were really great service and excellent food at reasonable prices. And finally, we had great fun on this trip.
Thank you to Judith for taking over the last day and half of the hike, and thank you to OFO hike leaders, Josh Vandermeulen, Marcie Jackman, and Jeremy Bensette for for finding some great birds for us. Also thank you to Marilyn Ohler for keeping the bird list for the weekend.
The weather was wonderful, with above freezing temperatures some sunny skies and no rain.
Take care,
Fred
Places visited:
York Road, Dundas
DesJardins Canal,
Valley Inn Road, Hamilton
LaSalle Marina
Canada Centre for Inland Waterway
Toll Gate Ponds and Windemere Basin
Van Wagners Beach (Hutches)
Grey Side Road Waterfront
Sayer’s Park
Sir Adam Beck, Niagara Falls
Whirlpool Rapids
Niagara-on-the-Lake
Dufferin Islands
Chippewa to Fort Erie
Queenston Flyby
50 Point Conservation Area, Grimsby
Birds Seen:
• Brant (BRAN)
• Canada Goose (CANG)
• Mute Swan (MUSW)
• Trumpeter Swan (TRUS)
• Tundra Swan (TUSW)
• Wood Duck (WODU)
• Gadwall (GADW)
• American Wigeon (AMWI)
• American Black Duck (ABDU)
• Mallard (MALL)
• Northern Shoveler (NOSH)
• Canvasback (CANV)
• Redhead (REDH)
• Greater Scaup (GRSC)
• Lesser Scaup (LESC)
• King Eider (KIEI) (probable)
• Harlequin Duck (HADU)
• Surf Scoter (SUSC)
• White-winged Scoter (WWSC)
• Black Scoter (BLSC)
• Long-tailed Duck (LTDU)
• Bufflehead (BUFF)
• Common Goldeneye (COGO)
• Hooded Merganser (HOME)
• Common Merganser (COME)
• Red-breasted Merganser (RBME)
• Ruddy Duck (RUDU)
• Common Loon (COLO)
• Pied-billed Grebe (PBGR)
• Horned Grebe (HOGR)
• Double-crested Cormorant (DCCO)
• Great Blue Heron (GBHE)
• Black Vulture (BLVU)
• Bald Eagle (BAEA)
• Cooper's Hawk (COHA) Enroute
• Red-shouldered Hawk (RSHA)
• Red-tailed Hawk (RTHA)
• American Coot (AMCO)
• Sandhill Crane (SACR)
• Black-legged Kittiwake (BLKI)
• Bonaparte's Gull (BOGU)
• Little Gull (LIGU)
• Ring-billed Gull (RBGU)
• Herring Gull (HEGU)
• Iceland Gull (ICGU)
• Lesser Black-backed Gull (LBBG)
• Great Black-backed Gull (GBBG)
• Rock Pigeon (ROPI)
• Mourning Dove (MODO)
• Great Horned Owl (GHOW)
• Snowy Owl (SNOW)
• Belted Kingfisher (BEKI)
• Red-bellied Woodpecker (RBWO)
• Downy Woodpecker (DOWO)
• Hairy Woodpecker (HAWO)
• American Kestrel (AMKE)
• Peregrine Falcon (PEFA)
• Blue Jay (BLJA)
• American Crow (AMCR)
• Black-capped Chickadee (BCCH)
• Tufted Titmouse (TUTI)
• White-breasted Nuthatch (WBNU)
• Brown Creeper (BRCR)
• Winter Wren (WIWR)
• Carolina Wren (CARW)
• Golden-crowned Kinglet (GCKI)
• American Robin (AMRO)
• Northern Mockingbird (NOMO)
• European Starling (EUST)
• American Tree Sparrow (ATSP)
• Song Sparrow (SOSP)
• Dark-eyed Junco (DEJU)
• Northern Cardinal (NOCA)
• American Goldfinch (AMGO)
• House Sparrow (HOSP)
75 Species of birds seen.
Any errors or omissions, please contact sender.