WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR THE WEEK ENDING Thursday, July 02, 2009
It has been said that the month of July marks the period in the year when bird song is at its lowest ebb. However, there is the much touted "dawn chorus" which is still very much in evidence between 5:30 a.m. and 6:00 a.m., before the heat of the day begins to build. On a daily 5 km walk, it results in numerous bird species for me, not normally heard during the rest of the day. Heralding the arrival of July for me on the 1st was 38 species of birds during a walk of just under an hour in length. Perhaps not a challenging contender for the Baillie Birdathon, but certainly a respectable total when this season of the year normally tempts one to shelve the binoculars, until the fall migration rolls around. Although the YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, present for three days along North Big Island Road did not make it on the list, a SANDHILL CRANE managed to be the first entry that morning as it bugled its arrival two fields west of 23 Sprague Road where it appears periodically. Other notable "sights and heards" included WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO, CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER, BROWN THRASHER and INDIGO BUNTING. It is also the season of juvenile birds, and the several noted diagnostic cries of young BALTIMORE ORIOLES can now be heard most days from the tree canopy. Monday night, a family of young EASTERN TOWHEES also announced their presence at the Demorestville Conservation Area, where other species noted included a distant VESPER SPARROW, COMMON RAVEN and at least three WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, the latter species becoming increasingly prevalent now in Prince Edward County as a breeding bird. Also discovered nesting through their cries for food, was a nest of AMERICAN KESTRELS located in a box mounted several feet up on a decommissioned 60' free standing TV tower in our own backyard. Sometimes it means going no further than one's own backyard. Also during the week, two recently fledged COMMON NIGHTHAWKS were flushed from the grass during a guided hike west of Arden Road, north of Tamworth, on Sunday, where other species found during the hike included CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT, ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS, FIELD SPARROW AND OVENBIRD. Patience paid off for one photographer along the Frink Centre's Wetland Ecology Boardwalk during the week, when both a VIRGINIA RAIL and a PIED-BILLED GREBE posed to have their photos taken, albeit briefly. More locally, juvenile BLUE JAYS and ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS are accompanying their parents to feeders in Trenton, and the latter species are regulars at feeders in Belleville, Picton, and along Harmony Road in Thurlow. NORTHERN CARDINALS are at feeders in Thurlow too, and 2 PURPLE FINCHES continue to make daily visits to a feeder east of Lake on the Mountain. A pair of EASTERN BLUEBIRDS turned up at a residence at South Bay on the 28th, and a GREAT HORNED OWL visited a back yard on the 26th in the Adolpustown area. While it was only month ago when the lingering spring shorebirds finally disappeared from the famous Kaiser Crossroad flooded fields in Prince Edward County, the fall return of those shorebirds is already in motion, with the sighing of the first LEAST SANDPIPER in Hamilton on July 25th and the first "fall" LESSER YELLOWLEGS at Reesor Pond in Markham being spotted a day earlier, right on schedule, as these two species are among our earlier "fall" migrants. So far, nothing in the shorebird family yet in Prince Edward County. An UPLAND SANDPIPER sitting on a utility wire on Highway 62 just north of Huff's Winery near Bloomfield was doubtless a summer resident, a species that appears to be declining as a breeding bird in Prince Edward County due to changing habitat. In Trenton, where an old 20-metre high chimney at Gimpel Electric Supply, thought to be the last site in Trenton where CHIMNEY SWIFTS are believed to be nesting, and where some 50 birds poured in during mid-June, is still very much active with 44 being counted on June 27th. No less interesting than the OSPREY reported recently trailing a jess from its leg on the north shore of Hay Bay, was another OSPREY this week at a nest site in Kingston. The parents of these young ospreys had something else in mind as the menu du jour, and it wasn't fish. The observer noticed both grackles and squirrels being offered to the young. The ospreys would fly into the trees in an attempt to capture its prey, missing more than catching, but still a pattern that continued for much of the day as the questionable prey was taken to the nest platform. An employee of RR Donnelley, formerly Moore Business Forms, of Trenton, told of a GROUNDHOG that occupied a den at the corner of the building in that city. As employees left the plant at the end of each day, the animal ducked into a culvert under a sidewalk, giving the customary whistled notes. Recently, the female appeared with four cubs who soon became quite tame, often approaching the cafeteria window and gazing inward, or making their way over to the shipping doors where staff there would offer them handouts. One even took it a step further, and actually entered the building were it was seen scurrying the length of the warehouse. However, it's a dog eat dog world out there, although in this case, a fox eat groundhog world. a RED FOX was observed shaking the life out of one of the groundhogs, followed by the eventual disappearance of the rest of the litter. Nature is not always pretty, but in the real world, we all feed on something else. And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte Area. Our thanks to Henry Pasila, John Charlton, Garry Kirsch, Pamela Stagg, Fiona King, Bill Hogg, Frank Artes & Carolyn Barnes, Jess Chambers, Donn Legate, Doris Lane, and Donna Fano for their contributions to this week's report. This report will be updated on Thursday July 9th, but sightings can be e-mailed any time before the Wednesday nigh deadline. Photo on the Main Birding Page of the NatureStuff website of a VIRGINIA RAIL at the H.R Frink Centre near Plainfield is by Garry Kirsch of Belleville. The online edition of the Quinte Area Bird Report features a photo of a SANDHILL CRANE by Susan Withers of Napanee, and a PIED-BILLED GREBE by Garry Kirsch of Belleville. Terry Sprague Prince Edward County tspra...@kos.net www.naturestuff.net _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. 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