Sightings

We live in Cottesloe (Webster Road and 4th Line Dummer) and two days ago our neighbour called to say there was an unusual snake in her garden. She is not a snake person so I went over to find a brown snake. It was quite thick in the main body Read more

This evening at about 8:25 there was a Common Nighthawk circling over the University Road Wetland which is almost completely dried up which I have never seen before. The only shorebirds present were about 10 Killdeer but it looks like great habitat. There where also about 10 Black Terns over Read more

I just got back from walking my dogs on the Trans-Canada Trail this evening off Lily lake Road where I saw a cougar come out of the woods, briefly run along the trail and then head off the trail away from the road. I observed it well for about 2 Read more

Once again (as in the last few years) I have a Great Crested Flycatcher hitting its reflection on the same window at the front of our house – not hard but steady and usually early in the a.m. only. The Turkey Vultures have been more than just flying around our Read more

I went out to Mark S. Burnham Provincial Park this morning and found a nice cluster of scarlet cup fungus. They are in the open, along the trail, in moist shade.  Well worth the mosquito bites! These were definitely not there a week ago. The scarlet-cups I found this morning Read more

At 7:20 pm this evening,  just ahead of the storm, I heard and then saw a single Common Nighthawk near Dodworth Island on  Stony Lake. Observer: Rob Welsh

A morning walk on David and Ghan Frank’s property on Stewart Line (near Cavan) today produced the following species of note: Wilson’s Warbler, Mourning Warbler, Indigo Bunting, Scarlet Tanager, Wood Thrush, Veery, Great Crested Flycatcher and Eastern Wood-pewee. Alder Flycatchers were calling along Stewart Line, west of County Road 10. Read more

Today’s  harvest of butterflies along the Lang-Hastings Rail-trail near Keene included a Meadow Fritillary, a Cherry Gall Azure , a Juvenal’s Duskywing and a West Virginia White. Observers: Michael Gillespie and Jerry Ball

  More butterflies and a few new birds May 18 – Three West Virginia White butterflies on Bass Lake Rd by Nogies Creek May 19 – Several Bobolinks calling around the county May 20 – Three Black Swallowtails and four Clouded Sulphurs around the intersection of Base Line and Nelson Read more

We have seen a white-headed American Robin in our yard several times and thought it was quite unusual. (Note:  The robin is “leucistic” (reduced pigmentation as a result of a recessive gene). Birds like these seem to be turning up with increased frequency, especially in robins, cardinals, grackles and chickadees. Read more

This evening, for a brief moment, I had a Red-headed Woodpecker at my feeder. I was able to get a quick picture.   Observer: Gary Aitkens, 7th Line of Selwyn Twsp

I haven’t been out too much this May but made the effort to get out early this morning. On Nichols Cove Road I found a male Brewster’s Warbler that was singing the typical Blue-winged song in the same spot that I had one last year and a Clay-coloured Sparrow and Read more

Butterflying is still slow but I did pick up my FOY Olympia Marbles (3 on Devil’s 4 Mile Rd) and Juvenal’s Duskywing (1 on Devil’s 4 Mile Rd, 4 on Sandy Lake Rd, 1 on FR 83). The trip was more notable for warblers with Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Nashville Read more

This afternoon at 2:15, I spotted a Barred Owl at2:15 at Reid and Hunter near downtown Peterborough.  I was able to take several pictures. The owl was identified by Bob Prentice. Observer: Mike Faught  

I had a lot of fun watching the swallows zipping over the meadow today, and I saw the season’s first Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  I also saw a Green Heron on two occasions around the pond. I didn’t get close at all, since it was very shy. What really stood out were Read more

Today I had two Bonaparte’s Gulls on Stony Lake. They were on an islet about 200 metres east of Eaglemount in Lower Stony. Observer: Rob Welsh

Today, we walked the Blue Trail at the Trent Nature Area on University Drive. Although it was cool and there was very little bird song, I did manage to see/hear Great Crested Flycatcher, Common Raven, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, Black-and-white Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler and a beautiful male Northern Parula. White Read more

  Today, on the Hastings rail-trail , I spotted some movement to my left in the swampy area just off the trail. Having purposefully taken my new point and shoot Canon sx50  in case I saw a new butterfly , I quickly flipped it on and began to focus ( no Read more

I have two days worth of sightings to report. The first is from May 2. We were on University Road, at a marsh on both sides of the road, south of the Wildlife  Sanctuary. We saw Chris Risley (lol) who helped us to identify a small group of Ring-necked Ducks, Read more

On our walk this morning near Bailieboro, we frightened a large, blackish bird from a pile of shrubbery, so I investigated why it had been there.  Low and behold, she was sitting on eggs ! Through a little research, I determined them to be the eggs of a Wild Turkey. Read more

  Our latest squatter is an American Toad.  We’ve never had one in the yard before – just in the hood, but this one was visible (and audible).  I know they aren’t rare but I always get a kick out of seeing what makes the noise.  Here is his YouTube Read more

For the past five days or so, the Sugar Maples throughout the Kawarthas have been covered in a garb of pale lemon, with countless thousands of tassel-like flowers hanging from the twigs. As many as two dozen individual flowers – all male, all female or a mixture of both – Read more

For the last two days, we have had a female Eastern Towhee in our yard on Stockdale Road. We are also getting lots of White-crowned Sparrows. Observer: Tom Bell  

    Both Sora and Virginia Rails were calling at 10:30 a.m. this morning from the swamp/marsh in the south-east corner of the intersection of the Trans-Canada Trail and David Fife Line near Keene. Observer: Tony Bigg  

We had a Wild Turkey visit our lawn today at about 3 pm. We’re on Armour Road, about 1 km north of Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School. I’ve never seen one up here before. As you can see, it had no fear of traffic or me and let me get Read more

Sightings from ebird-alert@cornell.edu  Ruby-throated Hummingbird seen on Rock Rd in village of Warsaw between Douglas Rd and South St – “visiting feeder at residence on N side Rock Rd (#898)”  Observer: Don Sutherland  

Robert DiFruscia found Eastern Pine Elfin, Hoary Elfin and Henry’s Elfin yesterday on Sandy Lake Road (off of County Road 46, south of Lasswade). Today he and I checked the area again, seeing the same three elfins plus we added Brown Elfin, Chryxus Arctic, and Olympia Marble. First of year Read more