Bald eagle- Bowmanville waterfront- Jan. 11

[beresford]

What looked like a second year bird coasted past hugging the coastline at a height of about fifty feet. Allowing me a great close-up. It looked great!

Sightings January 8-12th

Bowmanville Valley

10 pine siskins
1 N. shrike
1 adult m sharp shin- a great close up
1m 1f belted kingfisher
1 wb nuthatch
1 gc kinglet

West Side Marsh

30+ snow buntings
1 merlin
1m kestrel
1 N. Harrier

Long Sault

1 f rb nuthatch
15 cedar waxwings
2 robins
1 pileated woddpecker

Cranberry Marsh and Halls Rd.

1 merlin
2 song sparrows
1 brown creeper
4m 3f cardinals
1m 2f downy woodpecker

Other odd and ends:

Upwards of a dozen long tailed ducks at Oshawa harbour and two adult greater black backed gulls and of course the bald.

Another great stretch.

Happy birding one and all.

Cheers
-Tim-

[beresford]

Some great sightings again this week including a trip to Uphill to visit Ginny's biring oasis. I couldn't resist, the evening grosbeak has for some time been one of the birds I most wanted to see and yesterday morning they didn't disappoint.

Thanks again to Ginny. Its wonderful of her to be so welcoming to her fellow birders.

Ginny's (Thursday morning):

-15m 20+ f evening grosbeaks- some awesome close-ups- even with its oversized beak its still a beautiful bird
-1m 2f hairy woodpeckers
-1m 1f downy woodpeckers
-2 wb nuthatches
-30+ blue jays
-60-70 common redpolls. some really lovely males with bright pink bibs...
-20+ goldfinch

On the drive up (hwy 35 to 45):

-1 N. Shrike
-1 barred owl- just west of the town of Norland on the telephone wires- my first of the year
-4 snow buntings
-60+ bohemian waxwings on Victoria Rd. nears a log home on the east side with a sign out front advertising firewoood for sale- $5
-8 ravens

Waterfront trail- from Bennett road to the Bowmanville waterfront:

-1 N. mockingbird
-1 f kestrel
-1 juv. f coopers hawk
-3 red tails
-1m rb merganser
-3 mute swans

Solina:

-1m red-bellied woodpecker
-1m pileated woodpecker
-1 f downy
-2m 3f cardinals
-1 song sparrow
-17 cedar waxwings
-13 horned larks- on the SW corner of Courtice and Taunton roads

Another great week.

Happy birding to one and all.

-Tim-

[beresford]

Its time once again to share my sightings for another week and once again it was an eventful one. Compared to past winters I'm not having any really slow weeks whcih is great it sure helps me escape the worst of the winter blahs.

Bowmanville Valley:

1m 1f cardinal
6 black ducks
1m belted kingfisher
1 great horned owl

Cranberry Marsh:

1 white throated sparrow
1 swamp sparrow
1m 1f downy woodpecker
4m 4f cardinals
2 white breasted nuthatches

Long Sault:

1m coopers hawk
1 raven

Whitby Harbour:

1 adult 1 juv. greater black-backed gull
1 (what I guess is the consensus) lessser black-backed gull
1 glaucous gull- a pale juvenile at the end of the ice floes on Tuesday... allowed me to approach quite close
7 redheads
6m 9f long-tailed ducks
1 peregrine falcon- flew past startling the gulls
6 trumpeter swans
17 mute swans
1 sub-adult harlequin duck- a first for me!

Odds and ends:

2m 2f cardinals, 1 f hairy 1 m downy woodpecker, 2m 4f house finches in Solina
9 robins along the waterfront trail near darlington nuclear
On Courtice Rd. between Highway 2 and Bloor on the east side where the shoulder widens I saw a large, mixed flock of snow buntings, horned larks and lapland longspurs... around 35 horned larks, 25 snow buntings and 10 longspurs... they were most obliging at least when they sat still for more than 15 seconds...

Happy birding

Tim