Bill Rapley and I spent the holiday weekend birding on the Bruce
Peninsula. While our final tally of 87 species was not overly
impressive, some notable findings were made. The highlights of the
weekend were the two active bald eagle nests that were confirmed in
the lower Bruce Peninsula; one of these appeared to be feeding
young. Our first nesting of spotted sandpiper (4e) and eastern phoebe
(4e) for the year were also noted. We were pleasantly surprised by
the healthy black tern population at Boat Lake. Some of these birds
had set up breeding territories which they were actively defending. We
also saw Forster's, Common, and Caspian terns in this location.
On Monday at Cabot Head, we witnessed the kettling of several raptors
over the escarpment--5 red-tails, 2 broad-wings, 10 turkey vultures,
and 1 peregrine falcon. Unfortunately, the peregrine did not exhibit
any territorial aggression towards the turkey vultures that it was
circling with.
Also noted on the Bruce this weekend were philadelphia vireo,
blue-gray gnatcatcher, a very late greater scaup, sandhill crane,
Wilson's Warbler, merlin, and semi-palmated sandpiper. We did not
encounter any "waves" of migrating songbirds. Most of the birds
appeared territorial. Along Crane Lake Road, we saw several
yellowthroats. However, the great gray owl was not located.
From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tue May 24 18:20:10 2005
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From: "Mike Williamson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 18:37:06 -0400
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Subject: [Ontbirds]High numbers Female Warblers
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Hello Ont.Birders; Just a question , is it just me at the the wrong spot =
at the wrong time ,but this years migration atleast to me seems to be =
mostly Females. At Thickson`s Woods the majority are female birds. Have =
the males bypassed to territory due to conducive weather conditions?? I =
think I`ve seen the least amount of males of all species this spring.Any =
comment from other locations on this observation!! Normally Black =
Throughted Blue & Green out number Females 5 to 1, this year it seems to =
be reversed as with many others. Not conclusive but just my overall =
observation this spring!! Wonder if Peelle & Rondou have similar =
tallies??
Cheers
Good Birding
Mike Williamson
Pickering, Ont
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Date: Tue, 24 May 2005 22:05:39 -0400
From: richardtafel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Subject: [Ontbirds]North Bay's "big day round-up" May 22-23
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All;
The annual big day contest to determine who can see the most birds within
50 miles of North Bay within 24 hours took place this past week-end
from1:00PM Sunday till 1:00PM Monday.
Very cool north-east winds on Monday morning did not help the disposition
of the participants, but did not seem to unduly bother the birds.
123 species were seen by three hard-working teams.
This included 19 warblers, 21 ducks or duck-like birds, 8 hawks or
similar, including Bald Eagle, two rails, (only) 3 shorebirds, three terns
including many Black Terns, Whippoorwill, 4 flycatchers (only);
22 other birds were noted by others who did not get into the event
during that week-end, being the local Baillie Birdathon time slot; making a
grand total of 155.
Yours etc. Dick Tafel, event co-ordinator,
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From: "Ethan Meleg" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Date: Wed, 25 May 2005 11:50:12 -0400
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Subject: [Ontbirds]Bruce County Big Day (164 species) - May 20
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Greetings birders,
Sorry for a delayed report here.... technical difficulties caused by lack of
sleep from doing the big day!
On Friday, Mark Wiercinski, John Haselmayer and I consumed large doses of
sugar and caffeine to fuel our annual Bruce County Big Day (Baillie
Birdathon) as a fundraiser for Bird Studies Canada and the Bruce Peninsula
Bird Observatory. We started at 2:30am, under spectacular displays of
Northern Lights and ended at 8:45pm, tallying 164 species. This is our
second highest total ever for the region, falling short of the record we set
last year at 174 species. Special thanks to the OPP officer who kindly let
me off a speeding ticket at 4:00 in the morning! No doubt he thought we were
crazy - racing around chasing birds in the dark!
Here are the details and some highlights:
Time: 2:30am - 8:45pm
Mileage: 485km
Total Species: 164
Weather: cool clear night, warm sunny day with moderate winds
First Bird: Eastern Screech Owl (in my yard, near Wiarton)
Last Bird: Willow Flycatcher (Issac Lake, near Wiarton)
Route: Began at Wiarton, south to MacGregor Point Prov Park for dawn chorus,
then gradually birded north up the Bruce Peninsula to Tobermory, then back
down to the Wiarton area for dusk.
Noteworthy birds:
Short-billed Dowitcher (2) - Stokes Bay
White-rumped Sandpiper (1) - Miramichi Bay (thanks Ted!)
Least Bittern (1) - MacGregor Point Provincial Park
Common Moorhen (2) - MacGregor Point Provincial Park
22 Warbler Species including Golden-winged & Blue-winged (at the Hooded
Oriole spot), 2 Blackpolls
Clay-coloured Sparrow (1) - near MacGregor Point Provincial Park
Red-headed Woodpecker (2) - MacGregor Point Provincial Park
Red-bellied Woodpecker (1) - Tobermory
Northern Shoveler (1) - Wiarton
Ring-necked Duck (4) - Cabot Head
Surf Scoter (approx 25) - Dyers Bay
White-winged Scoter (approx 30) - Dyers Bay
Long-tailed Duck (approx 50) - Dyers Bay
Barred Owl (1) - near Howdenvale
Virginia Rail (5) - Issac Lake
We missed a few desirable birds including the Hooded Oriole, and 2 Great
Gray Owls that we had scouted out earlier in the week. Overall, we found the
number of migrants to be very low - mostly we had ones or twos of each
species.
Thanks to Mark and John for good comradeship and for the enormous supply of
junkfood. I may never be able to eat another 'gummy dinosaur' again.
Happy birding!
Ethan Meleg
Wiarton
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