On July 4th an adult Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was found at LaSalle Park in Burlington by Lori Whibbs. It was seen roosting in the morning, then continued being seen by numerous birders until the evening, when it flushed and disappeared down the lakeshore. Unfortunately I was working all day and wasn't able to chase it. I was debating going the following weekend when I had some time off, but the Neotopic Cormorant took priority (it was being seen, heron wasn't).
The heron then vanished for a few weeks, then was found by Alvan Buckley at his local birding patch of Bayfront Park on west side of the Hamilton Harbour. Again I was too busy with work to chase it when it was first seen, but I made plans to do a quick search before I left for a birding trip to North Carolina on July 28th (post on that soon). I walked the entire area around Bayfront searching, along with Alvan and Luke Raso, but ultimately came up empty.
Then after nothing again for a few weeks, Alvan refound the bird roosting along a footpath at Bayfront Park. This time it was seen consistently throughout the day, so when I finished work at 4pm I booked it down to Hamilton. Richard Poort and a few other locals were keeping tabs on the bird for me, texting me updates to let me it was still there. I was half an hour out and got a message saying "It has turned around and opened its eyes"... I will not lie that was slightly concerning! I wheeled into the parking lot at Bayfront after hitting what seemed to be every red light in Hamilton, then full out sprinted to the end of the park where the bird had been seen. Alvan and another birder who I only know as Paul were waiting there, and sure enough the heron was still roosting in its tree! Oh sweet success. This was a lifer for me too, another bird I have had plenty of chances to chase in the past and haven't... so kinda overdue.
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| - Yellow-crowned Night-Heron |
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron is still an OBRC review species for Ontario, although with sightings on the rise I doubt it will be for many more years. Besides the Hamilton/Burlington bird (or two birds possibly) there were also reports in Niagara and Cornwall this year. I didn't chase either one of these, as the Niagara one was seen by one person and never seen again... and the Cornwall one was when I was in Pelee and it was 8 hours away & needed a canoe to access... so wasn't that enticing. So after missing it once before in Hamilton, it was a relief to get it.
In other news I got lucky and saw a King Rail recently, but I can't say where/when right now due to how sensitive they are. With the heron, this brings me up to 335 species... only 11 shy of the record now!
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| - King Rail |
Ontario yearlist @ August 10 - 335
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