Outdoor Ontario

Birding Reports => Migration Movements => Topic started by: Brian Bailey on November 01, 2008, 07:17:01 PM

Title: Scaup Have Arrived
Post by: Brian Bailey on November 01, 2008, 07:17:01 PM
I was cycling through Sam Smith Park this afternoon, and saw two flocks of scaup, totaling several hundred birds.  They were off the east side.  I wasn't close enough to make a positive ID on the species, but it appeared to be a mixed flock with mainly Lesser and a few Greaters.  There were a handful of Redheads mixed in as well.  Small numbers of Bufflehead were nearby, and close to shore were 6 American Coots.  There was a pair of Northern Shovelers in the (almost empty) pond.

Off the west side were 5 Hooded Mergansers (2M, 3F), and a few female Common Mergansers.

From now through the rest of the winter I always check the docks if I see the gulls avoiding them.  Today, the culprit was a large orange cat, not an owl.

I also had my first Brown Creeper and Chickadees of the season around the house today.  It looks like winter is coming!

BB