Good evening birders.
Today Ian Cannell and I birded some of the spots in the Whitby area and despite the on again off again rain and showers we did okay.
On our way along Halls Rd to the Hawk Watch at Cranberry we observed 3 TV's, 2 Northern Harriers, a Cooper's Hawk, a Merlin, a couple of Fox Sparrows, the first of 26 for the day, 11 Hermit Thrushes, first of 64 for the day, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers.
After an hour or so with Doug we all decided to get out of the rain
and go get a coffee. After the coffee Ian and I headed to the Whitby Harbour area where we found the usual suspects. from here we drove a little further east on Water Street to Heydenshore Kiwanis Park where we watched a juvenile Merlin take a small bird out of the air, a Northern Harrier fly past and 7 Common Loons, 1 Red-necked Grebe and a Bufflehead on the Lake.
We next drove to Thickson Woods where we were greeted by many Sparrows and Robins on the trail (Waterfront Trail) on the north side of the woods. In Corbett Creek on the east side of the woods we found a Lesser Yellowlegs, Swamp Sparrows and many Song Sparrows. The Trail, the meadow and the woods themselves were quite productive and following are some of the birds we found here.
Northern Harrier overhead, Coopers Hawk in the woods, Great horned Owl (great views), many Black-capped Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creepers, many Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglets, 53 hermit Thrushes (undercounted by far), 50+ A. Robins, Cedar Waxwings, 2 Blue-headed Vireos, 3 Orange-crowned Warblers (very close up looks), Ovenbird, at least 11 N. Cardinals, 22 Fox Sparrows, Song, Swamp, White-crowned and White-throated Sparrows, 75+ Dark-eyed Juncos, 1 Purple Finch and overhead many Red-winged Blackbirds and at least 25 Rusty Blackbirds along with Common Grackles.
As the rain stopped and we actually saw blue sky
we headed back to Cranberry Marsh and in time to observe the following Raptors.
Turkey Vulture - 56, Osprey - 1 (late), Bald Eagle - 1 juvenile, Northern Harrier - 2, Sharp-shinned Hawk - 6, Cooper's Hawk - 3, Red-tailed Hawk - 6, and Merlin - 1.-
These are unofficial counts. We found a total of 66 species today. Not bad in the rain.
