BIRD LIST
last updated Jan 11th, 2009

 

A couple of older photos of good yard birds: SUMMER TANAGER male April 30th, 2004 and PRAIRIE WARBLER male July 16th, 2004 - both at Wild Rose guest house

Tom and Lily moved to Wheatley, Ontario on February 26^th, 1999. This list of birds includes all species positively identified by sight or sound while birding on their property. The Wild Rose is located on the east side of Wheatley next to a small creek that feeds into Wheatley Provincial Park. Most of their 2.5 acre property is deciduous woodland. This list will be updated as new birds are found.

UPDATE:  - On March 23rd, 2007 around 4 pm Tom heard and saw a WHOOPING CRANE flying low over the yard flying west!  This amazing sighting was the first of a series in southern Ontario this spring!

UPDATE: - On November 13th, 2007 a single EVENING GROSBEAK flew west over the yard in mid morning. 

UPDATE - On June 20th, 2008 a male WORM-EATING WARBLER was first heard and then seen foraging in the yard. It was present for most of the day and then again briefly on the 22nd, and 23rd of June.

1. Common Loon (regular in April flying off the lake from the southeast in early morning)
2. Double-crested Cormorant
3. Great Blue Heron
4. Great Egret
5. Green Heron (likely nests nearby)
6. Black-crowned Night Heron
7. Yellow-crowned Night Heron (observed on property prior to owning it)
8. Turkey Vulture
9. Snow Goose (one record with Canada Goose flock)
10. Canada Goose
11. Tundra Swan (several large flocks seen in early March)
12. Wood Duck (has nested right over the pool!)
13. American Black Duck
14. Mallard
15. Gadwall (one record, April 30th, 2005)
16. Blue-winged Teal (one record)
17. Green-winged Teal (one record)
18. Canvasback (three in flight Oct. 99 spotted by Al Maley!)
19. Lesser Scaup (one record)
20. Common Goldeneye (two records)
21. Hooded Merganser (four records - all females flying up and down the creek in spring)
22. Common Merganser (two records)
23. Red-breasted Merganser (one record)
24. Osprey
25. Bald Eagle (at least five records)
26. Northern Harrier
27. Sharp-shinned Hawk
28. Cooper's Hawk (a regular at the feeder)
29. Red-shouldered Hawk (regular in fall, occasional in winter - #149)
30. Broad-winged Hawk (finally! - August 21st, 99 - #150)
31. Swainson's Hawk  (one record with broad-wings, Sept 2000)
32. Red-tailed Hawk (surprisingly few observations, though a regular some winters in the ravine)
33. Rough-legged Hawk (first Nov. 29th, 99, one or two a year)
34. Golden Eagle (two records, first an adult, Oct 99)
35. American Kestrel
36. Merlin (one bird in early March 2001 chasing birds at feeder, two others)
37. Peregrine Falcon (three records, two the same day in Sept, 2000)
38. Ring-necked Pheasant (spring 2004 male calling for several weeks)
39. Wild Turkey (now seen sporadically in the back yard after an initial sighting in 2005)
40. Sora (May 31st, 2005 11:30 pm - our 200th species for the yard!)
41. Sandhill Crane (three records!)
42. WHOOPING CRANE (March 23rd, 2007 - flying low over the yard calling and heading west!!!)
43. Black-bellied Plover
44. American Golden-Plover
45. Semipalmated Plover (August, 2001)
46. Killdeer
47. Greater Yellowlegs
48. Lesser Yellowlegs (flock of ten in flight on Aug. 14th, 99 - #148)
49. Solitary Sandpiper (at night, by call several times)
50. Spotted Sandpiper (regular in the creek)
51. Upland Sandpiper (at night, by call - several daytime flyovers in fall)
52. Ruddy Turnstone (night flyover)
53. Least Sandpiper (night flyover)
54. Pectoral Sandpiper
55. Dunlin (night flyover)
56. Short-billed Dowitcher (night flyover)
57. Common Snipe
58. American Woodcock (breeding on the property)
59. Bonaparte's Gull
60. Ring-billed Gull
61. Herring Gull
62. Great Black-backed Gull
63. Caspian Tern
64. Common Tern
65. Forster's Tern
66. Black Tern
67. Rock Pigeon
68. Eurasian Collared Dove (June 21st, 2001!)
69. Mourning Dove
70. Black-billed Cuckoo
71. Yellow-billed Cuckoo
72. Eastern Screech Owl (breeds most years in the yard)
73. Great Horned Owl (heard irregularly)
74. Long-eared Owl (squeaked into the back deck at 11:45 pm on Dec 17th, 2008! Landed on top of the feeder post!)
75. Common Nighthawk
76. Whip-poor-will (one record - May 2^nd, 99)
77. Chimney Swift (a regular)
78. Ruby-throated Hummingbird (seems to be breeding in yard)
79. Belted Kingfisher (heard often, seen rarely)
80. Red-headed Woodpecker (despite great habitat, only seen in migration)
81. Red-bellied Woodpecker (breeds nearby, regular at feeder in winter)
82. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (lots during migration)
83. Downy Woodpecker (breeds in yard)
84. Hairy Woodpecker (scarce, but most winters a female or a pair at the feeders)
85. Black-backed Woodpecker (one record fall 2003)
86. Northern Flicker (breeds in yard)
87. Olive-sided Flycatcher
88. Eastern Wood Pewee
89. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
90. Acadian Flycatcher (three records - all in June, the first on June 22nd, 1999)
91. Alder Flycatcher
92. Willow Flycatcher
93. Least Flycatcher
94. Eastern Phoebe
95. Great Crested Flycatcher (breeds in yard)
96. Eastern Kingbird
97. Northern Shrike (juvenile November 2004)
98. White-eyed Vireo (at least five records)
99. Yellow-throated Vireo
100. Blue-headed Vireo
101. Warbling Vireo
102. Philadelphia Vireo
103. Red-eyed Vireo
104. Blue Jay
105. American Crow
106. Horned Lark
107. Purple Martin (formerly bred at the end of our street now rarely seen)
108. Tree Swallow
109. N. Rough-winged Swallow
110. Bank Swallow
111. Cliff Swallow
112. Barn Swallow
113. Black-capped Chickadee (nests in yard)
114. Tufted Titmouse (two records)
115. Red-breasted Nuthatch (first record an early fall migrant July 28th, 99, sometimes overwinters)
116. White-breasted Nuthatch (mostly in winter)
117. Brown Creeper
118. Carolina Wren ( a family group of four arrived in early July, breeds almost every year)
119. House Wren
120. Winter Wren
121. Marsh Wren
122. Golden-crowned Kinglet
123. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
124. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
125. Eastern Bluebird (four records including a pair investigating a box in spring 2002)
126. Veery
127. Gray-cheeked Thrush
128. Swainson's Thrush
129. Hermit Thrush
130. Wood Thrush
131. American Robin
132. Gray Catbird (nests)
133. Northern Mockingbird (one record April 2002)
134. Brown Thrasher (at feeder in early spring several times)
135. European Starling
136. American Pipit
137. Cedar Waxwing
138. Blue-winged Warbler (five records all in May)
139. Golden-winged Warbler (three records, all in May)
140. Tennessee Warbler
141. Orange-crowned Warbler
142. Nashville Warbler
143. Northern Parula
144. Yellow Warbler
145. Chestnut-sided Warbler
146. Magnolia Warbler
147. Cape May Warbler
148. Black-throated Blue Warbler
149. Yellow-rumped Warbler
150. Black-throated Green Warbler
151. Blackburnian Warbler
152. Pine Warbler
153. Prairie Warbler (one record a singing male photographed July 16, 2004)
154. Palm Warbler
155. Bay-breasted Warbler
156. Blackpoll Warbler
157. Cerulean Warbler (May, 2001)
158. Black-and-white Warbler
159. American Redstart
160. Worm-eating Warbler (one record of a male seen and heard June 20, 22nd and 23rd, 2008)
161. Ovenbird
162. Northern Waterthrush
163. Louisiana Waterthrush (two records including one record, August, 2001)
164. Connecticut Warbler (May, 2002)
165. Mourning Warbler
166. Common Yellowthroat
167. Hooded Warbler (eight records, seven of which were males)
168. Wilson's Warbler
169. Canada Warbler
170. Summer Tanager (adult male for 3 weeks at feeder in both '99 and 2000, plus males seen and photographed in '01 and '04)
171. Scarlet Tanager
172. Eastern Towhee
173. American Tree Sparrow
174. Chipping Sparrow
175. Field Sparrow
176. Vesper Sparrow (one record, heard on April, 2001)
177. Savannah Sparrow
178. Fox Sparrow (up to six at a time at feeder in spring and fall)
179. Song Sparrow
180. Lincoln's Sparrow
181. Swamp Sparrow
182. White-throated Sparrow
183. White-crowned Sparrow
184. Dark-eyed Junco
185. Lapland Longspur (regular fly over in spring and fall in good numbers)
186. Snow Bunting (regular fly over with Horned Larks in early spring and late fall)
187. Northern Cardinal (28 at once during a snow storm in March!)
188. Rose-breasted Grosbeak (up to a dozen at the feeder in early May)
189. Indigo Bunting (another feeder regular in May)
190. Dickcissel (flyover in summer, 2000)
191. Bobolink
192. Red-winged Blackbird
193. Eastern Meadowlark
194. Rusty Blackbird (regular at feeder in late March)
195. Common Grackle
196. Brown-headed Cowbird
197. Orchard Oriole
198. Baltimore Oriole (breeds)
199. Purple Finch
200. House Finch
201. White-winged Crossbill (seven small flocks Jan 11, 2009)
202. Common Redpoll (single flyover Nov. 99)
203. Pine Siskin
204. American Goldfinch
205. Evening Grosbeak (flyover November 13th, 2007)
206. House Sparrow
207. ?

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