WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR THE WEEK ENDING Thursday, May 07, 2009
Now that the early May migrants have all arrived, most of them, incredibly, before April 30th, it is a matter of keeping our eyes peeled for those that are typically a little later. The first BOBOLINKS of the season arrived at Big Island on May 2nd, and RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS turned up at two separate locations at both ends of Sandbanks Provincial Park, one of which was in the Dunes Beach Day Use Area at West Lake where a pair nested last year. A BLUE-WINGED WARBLER was seen at Point Traverse on the 1st, and an unlucky OVENBIRD made its debut headfirst against the window of a house in Belleville on the 6th. A somewhat early OVENBIRD was along the Arkon Trail at Frontenac Provincial Park on May 1st. Some repeats of earlier sightings included WHIP-POOR-WILL at South Bay, WOOD THRUSH at Elmbrook, 4 RED-NECKED GREBES on South Bay on the 1st and 2nd, and 2 GREEN HERONS along the Outlet River on the 6th. BALTIMORE ORIOLES, ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS, RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS, both LEAST and GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHERS are all well established now in Prince Edward County. A SANDHILL CRANE continues to appear and call periodically west of Sprague Road on Big Island, as does a COMMON RAVEN. As many as four GREAT EGRETS have been seen at Kaiser Crossroad this week, and another flew over Smoke's Point Road on the west side of the County yesterday. A MERLIN was at Sandbanks on the 4th. A PILEATED WOODPECKER was seen working away on a Norway Maple stump west of Picton this week, and another did likewise on an apple tree stump at 23 Sprague Road. The nesting season is also in full swing and among the birds reported this week were nesting WOOD DUCKS at Consecon Lake and another pair at Adolphustown. At Prince Edward Point this week, a RED-NECKED GREBE was seen on the 5th and AMERICAN BITTERNS can be heard booming on most days. In the harbour a GREEN HERON was present on the 5th and 6th. The CANADA GEESE have at least 13 goslings in tow. A GADWALL was seen on the 1st and, on the 2nd two BLUE-WINGED TEAL, 15 GREEN-WINGED TEAL and 2 GREATER SCAUP were present. The first SURF SCOTERS (3) of the spring appeared on the 5th and four BLACK SCOTERS flew past on the 4th. WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS peaked this week at 210 on the 1st and 150 on the 4th. On calmer days up to 2000 LONG-TAILED DUCKS can be seen and RED-BREASTED MERGANSER are going past in small numbers. A COOPER'S HAWK was seen on the 3rd, and on the 2nd 15 BROAD-WINGED HAWKS and 3 RED-TAILED HAWKS were seen slowly circling over the area. A MERLIN can often be seen in the area and a female PEREGRINE FALCON was found on the 6th. KILLDEER are sitting on at least two nests but one of them is in the middle of the gravel road. SPOTTED SANDPIPERS can often be found around the harbour and 3 LEAST SANDPIPERS were at the lighthouse beach on the 4th. BONAPARTE'S GULLS are offshore and peaked at 3000 on three dates. A COMMON TERN was offshore on the 2nd and CASPIAN TERNS are frequenting the harbour. WHIP-POOR-WILLS have been seen on three dates and the first RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS appeared on the 6th when two were present. A YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER was trapped on the 1st and RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS have been seen at Point Traverse on most days. On the 6th a NORTHERN FLICKER intergrade was trapped. LEAST FLYCATCHERS were seen on the 3rd and 6th as were GREAT-CRESTED FLYCATCHERS. EASTERN KINGBIRDS continue to hang around the Observatory. WARBLING VIREOS are definitely in now and up to 8 are being seen daily, both at the Observatory and at Point Traverse. BLUE JAYS are very scarce so far and only 10 have been caught so far this spring, surely the flood gates on this species will open soon. A COMMON RAVEN was seen on the 3rd. Occasional PURPLE MARTINS are being seen and CLIFF SWALLOWS are actively building on the lighthouse and at the Observatory. RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES are starting to be seen and 1-2 are present most days. A late BROWN CREEPER was seen on the 4th and HOUSE WRENS have increased to about 10 a day while WINTER WRENS are still being heard singing in the swamp most days. No GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS have been seen this month but RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS continue to trickle through with up to 30 being seen daily. Two or 3 GRAY CATBIRDS are singing in the area as are 5-6 BROWN THRASHERS. CEDAR WAXWINGS are still present in high numbers with a peak of 150 on the 6th. Eighteen species of warblers were seen this week. A BLUE-WINGED WARBLER was found on the 7th, 2 BREWSTER'S WARBLERS were seen on the 3rd and on the 6th and GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLERS were found on the 3rd and 6th as well, NASHVILLE WARBLERS numbered 45 on the 6th, mostly at Point Traverse. YELLOW WARBLERS are singing everywhere now and the first CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER was found on the 6th. CAPE MAY WARBLERS are being seen in good numbers with 2 on the 3rd, 7 on the 5th and four the next day. Two BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLERS were seen on the 4th and up to 125 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS are being seen daily. BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLERS arrived on the 3rd and at least 10 were present on the 7th. BLACKBURNIAN WARBLERS are occasionally being seen and a female PINE WARBLER has been around for the last four days. A YELLOW PALM WARBLER was seen on the 4th and up to 15 WESTERN PALM WARBLERS are being seen daily. A fine singing male CERULEAN WARBLER was found at Point Traverse on the 6th. OVENBIRDS on the 2nd and COMMON YELLOWTHROATS on the 4th rounded out the latest warblers to arrive. A female SCARLET TANAGER was seen on the 3rd. SWAMP and LINCOLNS SPARROWS continue to be seen in small numbers and a SAVANNAH SPARROW was found on the 5th. Eastern WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS have started to move and up to 35 a day are being seen. ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS have returned and can be seen around the feeders, an INDIGO BUNTING was found at Point Traverse on the 6th just across the road from the first BOBOLINKS of the year, all 35 of them in one tree. RUSTY BLACKBIRDS continue to be found singing in the swamp and three ORCHARD ORIOLES were seen on the other side of the harbour on the 3rd. PINE SISKINS continue to move through in exceptional numbers with a peak of 130 on the 1st. AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES are also starting to increase with up to 30 present daily. Elsewhere across the region, RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS are still at feeders in the Hay Bay area, and along Glenora Road. PINE SISKINS have finally thinned out a bit much to the delight of feeder operators and to the chagrin of bird feed suppliers, although one feeder east of Lake on the Mountain still had 130 as of the end of last week. A SHARP-SHINNED HAWK is still a regular at a feeder at Allisonville. Also at a low ebb this week has been waterfowl activity at the Kaiser Crossroad flooded cornfields, down from several thousand ducks to only a dozen or so. Present there this week were just a handful of GREEN-WINGED TEAL, NORTHERN SHOVELERS, AMERICAN WIGEON, 1 NORTHERN PINTAIL and 7 very lonely CANADA GEESE. Also present have been LITTLE GULLS (4), LEAST SANDPIPERS, LESSER and GREATER YELLOWLEGS, BELTED KINGFISHER, CASPIAN TERNS, AMERICAN BITTERNS, GREAT BLUE HERONS, NORTHERN HARRIERS, and flocks of feeding TREE SWALLOWS and BARN SWALLOWS. A park naturalist returning to Prince Edward County from Presqu'ile Park during the week was surprised to see an OTTER scurry in front of his car along County Road 1 near Consecon. With some tricky braking and maneuvering, the driver managed to straddle the otter and come to a stop. After a pregnant pause and some banging under the car, the otter emerged from under the vehicle, apparently unscathed, and continued on its way toward Consecon Lake. And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area. Our thanks to David Okines, David Bree, Paul Wallace, Laura Pierce, Chesia Livingston, Donn Fanno, Silvia Botnick, Brock Kirkpatrick, Joanne Dewey, Pamela Stagg, Nancy Fox, Charles Crowe, Ove Ojaste & Mary-anne Caswell, Bill Hogg, Janet Mooney, Frank Artes & Carolyn Barnes, and Brian Durell for their contributions to this report. This report will be updated on Thursday, May 14th, but sightings can be e-mailed any time before the Wednesday night deadline. Featured photo on the Main Birding Page of the NatureStuff website of a BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE in the fast lane is by Peter Mohr of Stirling. Photos in the online edition of the Quinte Area Bird Report of a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW and a GREAT EGRET are by Derek Dafoe and Paul Wallace respectively. Terry Sprague Prince Edward County tspra...@kos.net 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 information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/