WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR THE WEEK ENDING Thursday, October 30, 2008
Prince Edward County and much of the immediate Quinte area escaped the snowfall mid-week, so it was mostly business as usual for birds, and watchers of birds. The reporting period started off on an impressive note with the appearance of a BREWER'S BLACKBIRD at a feeder just east of Lake-on-the-Mountain on the 23rd, followed by the season's first sighting of a SNOWY OWL at the Wellers Bay National Wildlife Area (Bald Head Peninsula) the same day. The owl could have been one of two seen the same day at Presqu'ile. A MERLIN was also present at Wellers Bay, along with the season's first SNOW BUNTINGS (60). The area also produced NORTHERN SHOVELER, MALLARDS, AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS, 8 GREEN-WINGED TEAL, LESSER SCAUP and numerous MUTE SWANS. The week also produced three rather late sightings of OSPREY, with one at the above location on the 23rd, one in the Windatt Lane area of West Lake on the 24th, and another at South Bay on the 29th. Also late was a female ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK at a Lake-on-the-Mountain area feeder on the 29th. A FOX SPARROW showed up at Crookston Road in the Tweed area on the 25th and another was seen at Prince Edward Point on the 29th, along with 2 NORTHERN SHRIKES, 20 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS, and some 20 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS. Twenty-five or so EASTERN BLUEBIRDS were seen cavorting around a backyard bird bath in the Point Petre area on the 24th. There was a SNOW GOOSE mixed in with 3 CANADA GEESE in Trenton on the 24th, and a BARRED OWL was heard calling in the area as well. Forty DUNLIN and 5 BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER at the Wellers Bay Channel at Barcovan were also good sightings. Except for one sighting at Prince Edward Point this week, very little in the way of COMMON REDPOLLS in the area although last week's sighting of over 23,000 passing over the Obseratoire d'oiseaux de Tadoussac, heading southwest, suggests we should keep our binoculars aimed at our feeders. For now, it is just the usual clientel at most feeding stations. RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS have appeared at feeders along County Road 1 and in Bloomfield. PURPLE FINCHES and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS were at a 2800 County Road 1 feeder this week and a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW is at a feeder east of Lake-on-the-Mountain. Of course, DARK-EYED JUNCOS have been the bird of the week at feeders across the county. RED-TAILED HAWKS during the week were seen at South Bay, Consecon and Northport, and a fairly dependable one can be seen most days near the corner of County Road 5 and Bethel Road. DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS seem to be thinning out a bit as November approaches, although a flyby was noted at Picton Bay early in the week, performing a perfectly executed U-turn as they headed into Picton Harbour then turning east and heading up toward the Bay of Quinte, returning later to the harbour. LESSER SCAUP at Trenton have started to build in numbers in Tremur Lake with one estimate involving 300 to 400 birds. Muscote Bay has 20-30 MALLARDS, HOODED MERGANSERS, and this morning, 250-300 LESSER SCAUP showed up. At Prince Edward Point, few COMMON LOONS are being seen on the lake and there were 3 RED-THROATED LOONS seen on the 29th. DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS have all but disappeared with only about 10 a day being seen. Up to 7 female NORTHERN PINTAIL are frequenting the harbour area and a male was swimming offshore on the 30th. GREATER SCAUP still number between 5 and 10,000 and 150 or more WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS are present as well. LONG-TAILED DUCKS are increasing and 40 were seen on the 29th and 12 BUFFLEHEAD were mixed in with the scaup flock on that day as well. Kingston Field Naturalists members found a CACKLING GOOSE in a flight of about 150 CANADA GEESE on the 29th, as well as one each of SURF SCOTER and BLACK SCOTER. RAPTORS have been fairly scarce this fall but the 29th made up for that with a heavy passage of birds occurring all morning. Ten species were tallied as follows - 9 BALD EAGLE, 8 NORTHERN HARRIERS, 37 SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS, 3 COOPER'S HAWKS, 2 NORTHERN GOSHAWKS including a splendid adult male at tree top height, at least 8 RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS, 4 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, 2 AMERICAN KESTRELS and a very impressive total of over 1350 RED-TAILED HAWKS along with an even more impressive 61 GOLDEN EAGLES. The latter two species were dropping out of the clouds over the lighthouse and heading northwest into the wind and directly over the Observatory. Quite a few times there were 5-10 GOLDEN EAGLES in view at one time. A DUNLIN was seen at the lighthouse on the 29th and a few BONAPARTE'S GULLS have started to trickle through again. LONG-EARED OWLS have been seen or heard on a couple of occasions during the week and a BARRED OWL escaped from a net on the 26th. Nearly 110 NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWLS have been trapped during the week but netting has been hampered by the strong winds and rain. A late BLUE-HEADED VIREO was seen on the 29th and RED-EYED VIREOS were trapped on the 26th and 27th. Kinglets are slowing down as the season comes to an end and a peak of 16 GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS and 8 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS were seen on the 27th. HERMIT THRUSHES are coming to an end as well but AMERICAN ROBINS continue to move through in reasonable numbers and peaked at 120 on the 27th. A VESPER SPARROW was banded on the 25th. CHIPPING SPARROWS are hanging in with new birds being caught every few days, a late SWAMP SPARROW was banded on the 26th, and 30 to 40 DARK-EYED JUNCOS are still present. A flock of 22 LAPLAND LONGSPURS flew over on the 24th as did 4 SNOW BUNTINGS. Five more SNOW BUNTINGS were seen on the 29th. PURPLE FINCHES are definitely on the move and up to 600 a day are going over, AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES are increasing and have started to come to the feeders, meanwhile PINE SISKINS are passing over but not in any great numbers. And that other winter finch, the COMMON REDPOLL, flew over in small flocks totaling 35 on the 29th. The Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory will close for the season after banding on the 31st and will reopen in early April. Observatory Manager David Okines hopes everyone has a good winter. The Quinte Area Bird Report thanks David for his tireless efforts in providing weekly summaries every Thursday evening, and we look forward to his report again when banding gets under way in the spring. And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area. Our thanks to David Okines from the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory, Pamela Stagg, Paul Thompson, Anne Potter, Viviane Jennings, John & Janet Foster, Nick Quickert, Nancy Fox, Russ Williams, Frank Artes & Carolyn Barnes, John Charlton, John & Margaret Moore, Paul Mackenzie, Ted Cullin, and Heather Heron for their contributions to this week's report. This report will be updated on Thursday, November 06, but sightings can be e-mailed any time before the Wednesday night deadline. Featured photo on the Main Birding Page is of John & Janet Foster who were guest speakers at the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory fundraising dinner Photos in the online edition of the Quinte Area Bird Report include a NORTHERN SHRIKE by Lloyd Hanna and a DARK-EYED JUNCO by Carol Perlberg. - Terry Sprague Prince Edward County [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.naturestuff.net _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list ONTBIRDS@hwcn.org For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdssetup.php ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdsguide.php
