A Young King...Eider

Today I was down in the Hamilton area for some field work and decided to make a quick stop at the lift bridge/shipping canal to try to see the continuing King Eider.  This bird has been seen regularly at this location for a few days, and after sifting through the copious Long-tailed Duck and scoters I spotted this young male, a first of the year for me!  I think this is my favourite duck species - rare enough to be exciting but not so rare that I hardly ever see it!

Certainly a far cry from the adult male King Eider (see below photo from previous year/location), but still a beautiful bird!

Hamilton Unchained! Western Kingbird and Black-throated Sparrow

Great birds have been popping up left, right, and centre in Hamilton following the fall count that went on over the weekend.  This morning I decided that enough was enough and I would take a morning off to go see what I could find!  My main targets were Barrow's Goldeneye, Black-throated Sparrow and Western Kingbird.  My colleague, Josh Pickering and I looked for an hour for the goldeneye but to no avail.  Hearing that the sparrow was seen again in Oakville, we drove up and quickly found the bird!

I believe this is only the 4th record for Ontario for Black-throated Sparrow.  The last time I saw this species was in Joshua Tree in California!

After great looks at this little beauty we headed out to find the Western Kingbird, which was refound in Hamilton just before we arrived.  We got great views again!