Timiskaming Birds Forum

 After an errand in KL today, I had a look at the Blanche in Swastika and saw a mallard.

Hello,

One junco at 12:45 pm in the car port.

Good thing a friend asked me over because I might have missed the junco till much later. It flew around the car port and came out towards me. I put seed under the car port after Paul removes the sides and back so this is a return bird as he remembered where to look for mixed seeds. Guess we'll have to remove the sides sooner.

Gert

 My wife called me to the window this morning, with the sighting of one goldfinch, among a squirming storm of redpolls.

A quick stop at the New Liskeard landfill at about noon today yielded about 60 adult Herring Gulls. No other gull species observed.

As per title, I saw a Great Blue Heron fly over Hwy 65 and southward over farm fields in Hudson Twp. this evening.

This afternoon, I saw a pair of hooded mergansers, and a pair of goldeneyes at Charlton. On the 27th, we saw a Northern Shrike at Hilliard Park.

Hi All,

Saw a very 'dark' song sparrow this afternoon. I ran for the camera but the darn squirrel scared him away. I have been watching..no sign of him yet.

Canada geese flew over the other day and Paul saw  a Heron.

Gert

Lionel Venne just reported to me that he saw 3 Killdeer in James Twp. near Elk Lake on Thursday, April 2.  (Beats Pete Gilboe's sighting by a day.)

After a week of spring migration without the forums, I have some catch-up notes to provide.
Here are my "first sightings" for the week.

On Monday, April 13:
    No new spring migrants recorded, but observed a Hawk Owl in Hilliard Twp. on Wool Mill Road and a Short-eared Owl in Harris Twp. on Waugh's Hill Road.

On Tuesday, April 14:
    1 Song Sparrow
    1 Red-tailed Hawk in Casey Twp. east of Casey Marsh

On Wednesday, April 15:
    2 Brewers Blackbirds on Rockley Road in New Liskeard
    1 Woodcock in Henwood Twp.

On Thursday, April 16:
    A pair of Black Ducks in Hills Lake in Bryce Twp.
    1 Purple Finch at my feeder in Henwood Twp.
    1 pair American Wigeon in Wright Creek in Casey Twp.
    2 pair Pintails on Touzin Road in Casey Twp.
    6 pair Pintails in Lake Timiskaming viewed from the New Liskeard marina

On Friday, April 17:
    1 Kingfisher in Henwood Twp.
    1 pair Northern Shoveler on Touzin Road in Casey Twp. (discovered by the Gendrons)
    3 Greater Yellowlegs on Touzin Road in Casey Twp. (discovered by the Gendrons)

In other news, numbers of Rough-legged Hawks, Kestrels, Mallards, Common Goldeneye and Canada Geese have been growing slowly but steadily all week.  The ducks and geese have been starting to invade flooded fields as of about Wednesday. Snow Bunting numbers are still high with flocks of 200-300 birds still commonly seen. Killdeers, Robins, and Harriers are now well established.  Two Turkey Vultures were observed feeding from a road-killed groundhog in Hilliard Twp on Monday.  Sandhill Cranes are being regularly seen.  Songbird arrivals seem a bit slow, but that's probably because we haven't had winds with much of a southern component all week. Can't wait to see what turns up with the next strong south wind.

Redpoll numbers have seriously thinned out now at my feeders. I only have about 20 left. Chickadee activity at the feeder is also way down as they disperse for nesting. Tree Sparrows now number about 15 and Juncos are now at about 50.  On Friday, I was up to two Purple Finches, both males.  Goldfinch numbers still low, at only 4 or 5.

A single Pine Siskin joined the redpolls at my niger feeder today - the first I have seen all year even though in southern Ontario this was considered a major irruption year.

Hi.

Noted 4 tree sparrows yesterday 17th.

A friend in Elk Lake saw a pair of Tree Swallows last week.

Purple Finches have arrived here as well.

Gert

Out for a drive today, I observed the following additions to our growing list of new arrivals:
  Green-winged Teal - 6 males and 1 female on Development Road - Casey Twp.
  Savannah Sparrow - 1 singing loudly in Casey Twp.
  Rusty Blackbirds - 18 males observed on Hilliard River Road in Hillard Twp.
  Lapland Longspurs - several hundred birds in full breeding plumage mixed in with large flock of Snow Buntings in Kerns Twp.

All the rest of my observations were of previously documented arrivals, but it was a good day to be out.  Counted 10 Greater Yellowlegs, mostly in Casey Twp. though 4 were in Hilliard.  A total of 32 Sandhill Cranes.  Hundreds of Mallards are moving in flocks of 20-50. Canada Geese have invaded the fields in fairly significant numbers today.  There were some Horned Larks mixed in with the Lapland Longspurs.  Also saw a Turkey Vulture, a pair of Cowbirds, and way too many to count of Robins and Tree Sparrows and both species of gull.  Large flocks of Snow Buntings still about, often being harassed by Harriers.

A good day for raptors. Final count for the day was 46 Rough-Legged Hawks, 11 Harrier, 1 Red-tailed Hawk, 1 Merlin and 5 Kestrel.  Also saw 1 Northern Shrike.

hi all,

White throat in my yard, mergansers at the bridge in Elk Lake and vultures overhead in Gowganda.

They sure are taking their time getting here.

Gert

 Here is a picture of the critter. What is the one next to it? Plumage is different. I have more pictures of it, possibly better if we want to use one for the species page.

Great find Serge!. Glad you got photos. How have you ruled out Lesser Black-backed?  Leg colour, which you can't see in this photo, can be diagnostic.  Did you get good size comparisons with Herring Gulls?  The Lesser is apparently the rarer one in Ontario, so you're likely right about it being a Greater.  Would love to see more photos.  The other gull looks to me like a 2nd summer Herring Gull. Note the solid grey coming in on the scapulars (upper back).  The dark primaries and tail rule out Glaucous in any plumage.

 This photo shows a pink foot, and relative size. I'm hoping the next photo is OK for the species page. It is a bit fuzzy. In the next 3 pictures, (taken this morning) am I still looking at a herring gull? It is a large gull. The bill is not the right color...?

Can you send me the original file of the second photo to my email?  I'll use it on the species page.  There is a small dark patch in front of the red spot on the bill that looks a little like the bill pattern on a California Gull, but this is definately a Great Black-backed.

I think the other gull is a first year Herring. Bill colour on sub-adult birds does not match bill colour on adult birds, and goes through several colour patterns, just like plumage does, though the bill colours don't always change in sync with plumage changes.  You'll need to get a reference to immature gulls, or check some on line gull references.

I saw one yesterday on the Charlton Road but one arrived today in the back yard.

( one fox sparrow yesterday too)

Gert

 Saw it this morning 23 April 2009. Didn't mention it earlier, thought it had been reported already.

Three Bufflehead today - two males and one female - feeding in the lake where the waters from the Wabi River flow out along the New Liskeard marina breakwall.  Needless to say there was some rivalry going on for the attentions of the female.  Also on the still fairly small amounts of open water in Wabi Bay - five pairs of Common Merganser, several pairs each of Wigeon and Common Goldeneye, and an adult Bald Eagle putting a run on the flocks of gulls out on the ice.

 Sorry guys ,

I followed the wrong thread and have this report also replied to under "white crowned sparrows" so I rewrote it here.

Ed Barnstaple saw the loon fly overhead ( he was first last year in gowganda as well) and Ed and Faye saw the Kingfisher just past Kenabeek.

 Gert

Hi Gert. That's probably the same Kingfisher I reported earlier in the post titled "April Week 2 arrivals" (I had a whole bunch of stuff in there from the week the forums were down).  That Kingfisher has been hunting from the hydro lines over the small creek that runs across the highway just east of the Kenabeek Community Hall, SW of Henwood Lake.  So far, it's the only one I've seen. I'm a little surprised that I haven't been seeing more of them, since birds like Great Blue Herons seem to be all over the place.

Today on Maybrook Rd. near its east end there were 7 tundra swans on the far side of a flooded field on the north side of the road.  Pictures to follow.

Later, on a tributary of the Blanche River along Casey Marsh Road, a pair of Ring-necked Ducks in the river along with two pairs of Buffleheads and several pairs of Common Mergansers.

As promised, here are some of the swan photos:

And a wing stretch from a Greater Yellowlegs just for good measure:

 Nice, Mike! One does not see swans here very often. I would love to see them. I'll probably take a ride there today. Nice batch of yellowlegs. I got one with a worm in its beak yesterday, while trying to find my gull for a better picture. (No luck, he's probably long gone.) Also a dark morph rough-legged.

Nice shot of the tundra swan in the species page, Mike. I like the pintail as well. You havn't been slacking off with the camera.

 Took a pic through window.

Both species of Scaup have arrived at New Liskeard marina on the big lake.  They will no doubt be joining the growing numbers of Ring-necked Ducks at Casey Marsh and in flooded fields by tomorrow.

Yep - that's a chippy all right. Nice going Serge.