This is Jean Iron's fifth report by satellite phone for the period 7-13 August 2010 from Longridge Point, Ontario, on southern James Bay. The Red Knot and shorebird survey are led by Mark Peck of the Royal Ontario Museum. Partners are the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Trent University and the Canadian Wildlife Service.
SHOREBIRD OBSERVATIONS: For most species only the high count day is given below in checklist order. Date for the first juveniles are noted. Black-bellied Plover: 163 molting adults on 9 August, some mostly in alternate plumage, others well molted to basic plumage. American Golden-Plover: 9 molting adults on 8 August. Semipalmated Plover: 237 mostly adults on 9 August, first juvenile on 8th. No banded birds. Killdeer: 39 on 9 August. Spotted Sandpiper: 1 juvenile on 10 August. Solitary Sandpiper: 2 juveniles on 9 August. Greater Yellowlegs: 130 on 9 August, 60 percent juveniles. Slow shift from adults to juveniles. Lesser Yellowlegs: 572 mostly juveniles on 9 August. Rapid shift from adults to juveniles. Whimbrel: 52 adults on 6 August with numbers dropping off. Hudsonian Godwit: 970 molting adults on 9 August. James Bay is the most important southbound staging area for Hudsonian Godwits. Marbled Godwit: 8 juveniles on 7 August and 7 on 9th. Small numbers breed on Akimiski Island and in the prairie-like marshes of southwestern James Bay. Ruddy Turnstone: 604 mostly adults on 10 August, first juvenile on 5th. RED KNOT: 1382 molting adults on 6 August, adult numbers dropped off with 178 on 7th increasing to 672 on 13th. First juvenile knot on 9 August, 8 on 13th. Sanderling: 36 molting adults on 13 August. Semipalmated Sandpiper: 4715 mostly juveniles on 10 August. Rapid shift from adults to juveniles. WESTERN SANDPIPER: 1 adult was seen by Doug McRae. Least Sandpiper: 264 juveniles on 9 August, 1 adult on 13th. Rapid shift from adults to juveniles. White-rumped Sandpiper: 7541 molting adults on 10 August. Juveniles are late migrants. Baird's Sandpiper: 1 juvenile on 8 August was the first and another on 13th. Pectoral Sandpiper: 695 adults on 9 August, first juvenile on 8th. Dunlin: 127 mostly adults on 13 August, first juveniles (2) on 10th. Stilt Sandpiper: 2 molting adults on 9 August. Short-billed Dowitcher: 12 juveniles on 9 August. Rapid shift from adults to juveniles. Wilson's Snipe: 10 on 10 August. Wilson's Phalarope: 4 juveniles on 7 August and 6 juveniles on 8th. Small numbers breed in the prairie-like marshes of James Bay. Red-necked Phalarope: 8 on 7 August included 5 molting adults and 3 juveniles. OTHER BIRDS: This is not a complete list. Brant, 1, probably summered on James Bay. Canada Goose. Gadwall. American Wigeon. American Black Duck. Mallard. Northern Shoveler. Northern Pintail. Green-winged Teal. Greater Scaup. Lesser Scaup. Surf Scoter. White-winged Scoter. Black Scoter, 1042 mostly molting males on 10 August was only day with high numbers. Bufflehead. Common Goldeneye. Common Merganser. Red-breasted Merganser. Double-crested Cormorant. American Bittern, 2 on 10 and 11 August. Great Blue Heron. Bald Eagle. Northern Harrier. Merlin, family group of 2 adults and 3 juveniles hunting shorebirds. American Kestrel, 1 juvenile or female on 13 August. Yellow Rail, last heard actively ticking on 10 August. Little Gull, 1 that has almost completed its molt to second basic plumage. Bonaparte's Gull, 1647 molting adults on 9 August and only 10-12 juveniles, the low number of juveniles suggests that many are still on the breeding grounds or have migrated south. Common and Arctic Terns feeding juveniles with a ratio of 13 Common to 8 Arctic. Caspian Tern, 5 or 6 most days. Parasitic Jaeger, 2 light morph adults on 10 and 11 August. Long-eared Owl, 4 on 6 August were probably a family group. Short-eared Owl is seen regularly over the marshes. Common Nighthawk, 1 on 9 August. Black-backed Woodpecker, 1 on 13 August. Western Meadowlark, 1 probable on 8 August, photos taken which will be examined later. Le Conte's and Nelson's Sparrows, singing has dropped off noticeably to almost no song now. White-winged Crossbill, 49 on 9 August. Common Redpoll, 8 on 7 August. HUDSON BAY REPORT: The following report is from Ken Abraham of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. "The melt was very early this year. The phenology of goose nesting seems to have responded accordingly with a very early laying and hatch. Nest success in our study areas was below average because of very high predation rates. I wasn't in a position to get any evidence of duck or swan reproduction this year. We did not do a survey of molting scoters this year, so I have no explanation for the lack of scoters off Longridge Point. We've been speculating about possible differences in weather patterns, winds or water temperatures, but we don't have any data. I was on Southampton Island from July 20-30. I spent a week at East Bay and a few days in Coral Harbour doing vegetation surveys and trying to evaluate the role of geese in the changes that have occurred there in the last 30 years. All four species of geese (snows, cackling, brant and Ross's) seemed to have a good year with nest success in the 60-80% range for the first three and relatively early hatching; brood sizes ranged from 1-5 but seemed to average about 2. We had a couple of broods of Red Knots with half grown chicks at the beginning of that period. We also saw several broody White-rumped Sandpipers and Ruddy Turnstones. Those broods would probably have fledged sometime near the end of July or the first week of August. The King Eiders had broods, but the number of young in the creches seemed to be fairly low. We saw a few flocks of Whimbrels but according to the crew who had been there, they were the first of the summer so they may have been post breeding." MAMMALS: Beluga, 2 adults on 13 August, Mike McMurtry took a tissue sample from dead young Beluga for DNA and toxicology analyses. A melanistic Red Fox on 11 August. Few small mammals are being seen, but sightings of Northern Harriers, Short-eared and Long-eared Owls, suggest that voles and/or shrews are present in sufficient numbers or they're also eating birds. Red Squirrel. BUTTERFLIES: New species since the last report are Orange Sulphur, Pink-edged Sulphur, Palaeno Sulphur, Bog Copper and Summer Azure. Don Sutherland reports that butterfly diversity is low this summer, which he attributes to variable and wet weather. DRAGONFLIES: A sample: Cherry-faced Meadowhawk, Black Meadowhawk, Canada Darner, Sedge Darner. Southern James Bay map shows location of Longridge Point www.jeaniron.ca/2010/longridgemap.jpg Next report will be about 10 days when Jean is home. The crew was to fly out to Moosonee on 15 August, but the helicopter was delayed in Ungava. They are now expected to be picked up on the 17th depending on the weather. The next day they take the 5 hour train ride from Moosonee to Cochrane where they will overnight. Then on the third day it's a 10 hour drive to Toronto and Peterborough. Their trip reminds me of the 1987 comedy movie "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" starring Steve Martin and John Candy. Ron Pittaway Minden, Ontario _______________________________________________ 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/
