Sunday 21 January 2018

Rare Waterfowl Roundup

Saturday was a perfect day.  I decided to head back down to the Hamilton area to try to clean up some of the waterfowl rarities that I had missed my last time down.  I was happy to be able to track down all 3 of my main targets.

First up was the female Harlequin Duck that has been hanging out on the Burlington side of the shipping canal.

I found it almost immediately towards the end of the pier.

Female Harlequin Duck
 A male Bufflehead seemed to be taking a shine to the Harlequin Duck and was following her around displaying.  She didn't seem very impressed.
Female Bufflehead, Male Bufflehead, Female Harlequin Duck, young White-winged Scoter
Next up were King Eiders.  I eventually saw two at Green Road, both were fairly far out.  A female and a nice young male bird as well.  Unfortunately they were too far for good photos.

After this I headed down to the Grimsby area to see the pair of Ross's Geese.  Quite a rarity in the Niagara Region!  I saw them out in the field with a flock of Canada Geese, and also bumped into some other familiar faces including Josh, Barb and Dave Pryor among others.  We enjoyed watching them circle around the farm fields before settling back into the flock.  The homeowners at this spot were very welcoming, allowing people to even walk onto their land to get better views!

Ross's Geese
 


After having a successful morning birding I decided to zip over to the Silverdale Gun Club to do some target practice with my relatively new 30-30 Lever Action Rifle.  Lets just say I am a better birder (or a luckier one) than I am marksman.

Either the sights are off or my eyes are crooked.

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