Kingston Field Naturalists (KFN) maintains records in a 50km radius of MacDonald Park, Kingston. Birders using eBird are encouraged to share their sightings with ‘Kingston FN’. Alternatively, please email or send records directly to me – contact details below. Please note that some sightings may require review and remain unconfirmed unless stated otherwise.
Reminder re Amherstview Sewage Lagoons:
Access to the lagoons is restricted to card-carrying members of KFN only. The manager there has reported that several people were evicted from the site last week for not carrying their cards. To ensure continued access, please make sure to keep your membership with you at all times.
Highlights:
Again, it was a fairly quiet week with things progressing much as expected. One highlight however, was a male Yellow-headed Blackbird seen in Kingston on 26th. Here are the highlights of the past week:
SURF SCOTER – up to 9 birds were seen in the vicinity of Prince Edward Point this week.
BLACK SCOTER – 16 birds were seen near Prince Edward Point on 29th.
EASTERN WHIP-POOR-WILL – the early bird continued at Prince Edward Point to 24th, with another at Marble Rock Road on 29th.
SORA – the first bird of the season was noted at Gananoque Provincial Wildlife Area on 28th.
SANDHILL CRANE – singles were noted at Blue Mountain on 24th, and Kaiser Cross Road on 29th.
UPLAND SANDPIPER – the first birds of the season were seen at Napanee Limestone Plain IBA on 24th.
LITTLE GULL – this increasingly-encountered species was present for much of the week at Reed’s Bay, Wolfe Island, with a high count of 7 on 24th. Martin Edwards Reserve, Amherst Island, also had good numbers with 10 seen there on 25th.
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL – an adult was seen at Prince Edward Point on 27th.
GLAUCOUS GULL – a late bird was seen on Wolfe Island on 25th.
GREEN HERON – the first was noted at Belle Park, Kingston, on 28th.
BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON – the first (2) were seen at Hillview Pond, Kingston, on 26th.
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER – a single bird was seen at Gananoque on 29th.
PEREGRINE FALCON – singles were seen at Gananoque on 27th, Pitts Ferry and Prince Edward Point on 29th, and Napanee Limestone Plain IBA on 30th.
EASTERN KINGBIRD – the first was seen at Prince Edward Point on 28th.
LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE – single birds were seen at the known breeding location of Napanee Limestone Plain IBA on 24th and 27th.
HOUSE WREN – widespread from 27th.
MARSH WREN – 2 birds were seen at Amherstview Sewage Lagoons on 28th.
CAROLINA WREN – a single continuing bird was noted on Old Front Road, Kingston, for most of the week with another at Ravensview on 28th. A further bird was near Verona on 25th.
GRAY CATBIRD – the first was seen at Marshlands CA, Kingston, on 29th.
VEERY – the first was seen on Wolfe Island on 29th.
WOOD THRUSH – missed from last week’s report, an exceptionally early report from Marshlands CA, Kingston, would be the second earliest record for the area and apparently the earliest for Ontario in 2021.
AMERICAN PIPIT – one was seen at Prince Edward Point on 26th.
EVENING GROSBEAK – birds are still being seen in the area with 1 at Lansdowne, 2 at Bedford Mills and 5 near Bethany, all on 28th.
RED CROSSBILL – 4 birds were seen at Bur Brook Road, Kingston, on 26th.
PINE SISKIN – a few birds continue to be seen in the area with records from Bur Brook Road, Bedford Mills and Verona.
YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD – a male was seen at a private feeder in Kingston on 26th.
RUSTY BLACKBIRD – there were numerous widespread sightings this week but the high count came from Newburgh where 40 were seen on 30th.
OVENBIRD – the first of the season was at Prince Edward Point on 29th.
LOUISIANA WATERTHRUSH – the first report from the known location of Canoe Lake Road came in on 28th.
NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH – the first bird was reported from Verona on 24th, with widespread observations by the end of the week.
CAPE MAY WARBLER – an early record came from Prince Edward Point where a male was seen on 28th.
ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK – the first was seen near Lansdowne on 28th.
In order to minimise disturbance to wildlife and property in the recording area, Kingston Field Naturalists has adopted the KFN Sensitive Sightings Policy. Please note that you must be a card-carrying member of Kingston Field Naturalists (KFN), or be accompanied by a member, to access both the Martin Edwards Reserve and Amherstview Sewage Lagoons.
As always, a big thank you goes to all those who have submitted sightings directly or via eBird.
Mark.
Mark D. Read
337 Button Bay Road,
Wolfe Island,
Kingston, Ontario
K0H 2Y0