Sightings

A Bald Eagle was seen at 11:45 a.m. today flying south above the Otonabee River. Location: near Collison Beach at the bottom of Riverview Heights. Observer: Ross Jamieson

Great Blue Heron Location: Highway 36 near Burleigh Falls Observer: Bill Rogers

A Carolina Wren was in my yard today, seemingly taking dormant insects off the screen door and walls of the house. Location: 1010 Mississauga Road, Curve Lake (tel: 657-1061) Observer: David Johnson

20 White-winged Crossbills Location: 733 Ford Crescent, RR#1 Cavan Observer: Ken Rumble

I saw two flocks of Snow Buntings, totaling about 150 birds, in the fields of Caza’s Berry Farm, a few km south of Buckhorn, along Berrie Road. Each flock took flight, wheeled and landed at least once and it was evident that there were no Horned Larks or Longspurs present. Read more…

At the Marshland Centre in Lakefield, we pished in a Common Redpoll that we heard. A very large flock (~200) of Pine Siskins was also there. At the very south end of the Old Young’s Point Road, there was a flock of about 40 Cedar Waxwings with at least 4 Read more…

Great Blue Heron near the side of the road at a small river Location: off County Road 2 between Hasting and Keene Observer: Randy Smith

Upcoming Peterborough Christmas Bird Count, 2008 The 57th Peterborough Christmas Bird Count will be taking place on Sunday December 14, 2008. As usual we are looking for volunteers to participate in the event. The count is for a 24-hour period, but most participants only use the daylight hours. However owl Read more…

The feeders were busy during today’s snowfall. A male Evening Grosbeak, the first of the season here, joined American Goldfinches, Dark-eyed Juncos, Blue Jays and American Tree Sparrows. Good numbers of Common Mergansers can be seen from most vantage points along the north shore of Stony Lake. White-winged Crossbills are Read more…

1 male Hooded Merganser and 1 Common Merganser Location: Little Lake Observer: Randy Smith

For those that like to keep a winter list of birds (Dec-Feb) they might like to know that the Eastern Towhee is still coming to Joe Nocera

At around noon, a flock of about 30 White-winged Crossbills alighted on a spruce in my front yard in Lakefield. They only stayed for about half a minute before taking of to the west. Location: Lakefield Observer: Tony Bigg

We saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk on Lansdowne St. near Erskine Ave and a Cooper

While walking the dogs in Petroglyphs Provincial Park, we observed several small flocks of White-winged Crossbills (totally ~50 birds), a few Pine Siskins, and 3 Red Crossbills near the park entrance kiosk. Reasonable numbers of Red-breasted Nuthatches and Golden-crowned Kinglets and a few Brown Creepers were also heard/observed. Location: Petroglyphs Read more…

Today, we had a sickly-looking male Brown-headed Cowbird at the feeder. Its feathers were a bit messed up and it seemed it couldn’t fly very well. We also had a small flock (~10) of Bohemian Waxwings fly over the house heading south. Location: Young’s Pt. Road, Lakefield Observer: Myles Falconer

I have a Song Sparrow coming to my feeder along with three White-throated Sparrows. Location: Merino Drive, Peterborough Observer: Sue Hill

I drove home in the direction of the snowy yesterday and also had no luck. I did find a couple of Kestrels sitting on wires, one in Assumption and the other just south of Bensfort Bridge. I also saw about 25 Bohmeian waxwings sitting in a hemlock tree at the Read more…

Today, we found a Rough-legged Hawk on Base Line, and Northern Harrier and Northern Shrike at the east end of Moncrief Rd where it meets Airport Rd. Location: Base Line and Moncrief Rd. Observer: Jerry Ball and Tony Bigg

I feed wild turkeys all year long and I now have a female peacock with them. This little lady seems quite happy being with them. I am wondering if she will be able to adapt to the winter? I would hate to see anything happen to her. I have no Read more…

Another dead Varied Thrush was found at a residence on Baptiste Lake near Bancroft on Nov. 25. One of my brother’s co-workers at Bancroft MNR brought it in. Location: Baptiste Lake, near Bancroft Observer: Travis Cameron

At about 4:45 p.m., a female or immature Snowy Owl was seen on Base Line, east of Bensfort Road. Location: Base Line, east of Bensfort Road (south of city) Observer: Ed Czerwinski

A single Bald Eagle flying over Buckhorn Road (507) just N of Lakefield, a Northern Shrike just east of Peterborough at Donwood and several flocks of Snow Buntings from Keene to Peterborough. Location: various Observer: Randy Smith

Yesterday I found a bird that had flown into my window and was killed. I realized that it was a bird I had never seen before and pulled out my bird books. It was a Varied Thrush, although all three of the books I checked indicate that the range for Read more…

Close to 100 Northern Cardinals were seen feeding together on wild fruit along the rail-trail located just north of Crawford Drive in the south end of the city. It is common for this species to form flocks in the winter, but 100 is an unusually large number. Location: Crawford Drive Read more…

For the past several days, we have had an Eastern Towhee at our feeders in Millbrook Seems a little late for it to still be hanging around. This bird seemed to show up at the same time as the many American Tree Sparrows that are now keeping our feeders hopping. Read more…

This morning we had a Northern Flicker (see Nov. 19) at our feeder on Gilmour St. It must be its sixth or seventh year of wintering here (assuming it is the same one, a male). We also have a White-throated Sparrow coming to the feeder along with the 10 or Read more…

Just beyond the borders of Peterborough Co., on Saturday and Sunday, November 22nd and 23rd, there were lots of White-winged Crossbills, lesser numbers of Pine Siskins and redpolls, a few Purple Finches and goldfinches, and even three Pine Grosbeaks. Most of the crossbills were in flocks (

A Pileated Woodpecker was observed hammering on a telephone pole at the corner of Charles and Burnham Streets. Another bird was seen at the corner of Homewood and Albertus. Location: see Sighting Observer: Eric Monkman

A White-throated Sparrow was busy scraffing seeds from under the Yew on this bitter cold morning and it seems to me he should be on his way south. Maybe I will have heavy feeders another winter. (Sue had two White-throated Sparrows stay all of last winter.) Location: Merino Drive, Peterborough Read more…

A Northern Flicker landed on a telephone pole on Alymer Street and was checking out a hole at the top. Location: Peterborough Observer: Randy Smith