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January 1998
Saturday, January 31: A Northern Oriole made a brief appearance in Amherstburg, where it visited Ron and Anne Muir's feeders on January 28 and 29.
Sunday, January 25: The Townsend's Solitaire and Snowy Owl continue to be seen at Pelee. The owl is usually seen at the eastern end of Concession "C" which runs between Pelee Drive and Marentette Beach.
Sunday, January 18: Dave Martin relocated the elusive Townsend's Solitaire today at Point Pelee. The bird was found next to the Blue Heron Picnic Area washrooms.
Saturday, January 17: Highlight of the Nature Centre's outing today was a liesurely study of a Snowy Owl just outside Point Pelee at the corner of Concession C and Smith Road. Other interesting finds during the day included a Savannah Sparrow at the tip and Eastern Towhee at the Visitor Centre.
Along County Road 8 west of Essex Paul Pratt found a field covered with fresh manure. In addition to a large number of American Crows the field contained several hundred Snow Buntings, dozens of Horned Larks and 4 Lapland Longspurs. The field is located 250 metres east of Concession 12 on the north side of County Road 8.
Betty Learmouth found over 30 Common Redpolls and 10 Horned larks at the intersection of Walker Road and County Road 15 at the Cargill Fertilizer plant. The birds were feeding on the profusion of weedy plants around the dogwoods planted next to the plant.
Tuesday, January 13: You may have noticed fewer American Crows in Essex corn fields this winter. The Essex crow roost declined from 96,000 last winter to 29,000 this winter. Meanwhile the Chatham crow roost has steadily increased. The Chatham/Lake St. Clair CBC tallied 106,100 crows on January 3rd.
Monday, January 12: More indicators of the warm winter season include a Big Brown Bat sighting from LaSalle and the capture of a Red-eared Slider and Painted Turtle from the creek in front of the Nature Centre.
Fred Urie found 4 White-winged Crossbills along Turkey Creek in the Spring Garden ANSI on Sunday, January 11th. This is the first record for the Ojibway area.
Tuesday, January 6: The recent mild weather produced two interesting records today. An American Toad found near Essex and two bats flying about the park office at Wheatley Provincial Park.
A Snowy Owl was found January 4th along the south side of the Windsor airport by Phil Roberts.
Thursday, January 1: Twenty-six people began the new year by participating in the Detroit River CBC. Highlights included eight Eastern Bluebirds at Spring Garden ANSI and Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Reserve, Belted Kingfisher at Little River, Northern Mockingbird (Russell at Mill St.), Bald Eagle (Peche Island) and Long-eared Owl (west end of Morton Dr.). Fifty-eight species were recorded on the Ontario side of the Detroit River and 72 species overall. Click here for complete results.
PAST MONTHS
Click here for December 1997 sightings.
Click here for November 1997 sightings.