This is Jean Irons second report via satellite phone for the period 20 - 26 July from North Point on the southwest coast of James Bay, Ontario. North Point is a vagrant trap - three examples are (1) the first Little Stint (adult male) for Ontario was collected there on 10 July 1979, (2) the only Ontario record of Common Poorwill was collected there on 4 June 1982 and (3) the only Ontario specimen of Western Wood-Pewee on 20 June 1984. This report includes limited information from Longridge Point. Surveys are a cooperative effort of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS), Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) and Moose Cree First Nation. The crew at North Point comprises Jean Iron, Doug McRae, Barbara Charlton and Kevin Hannah. The Longridge Point crew comprises Mark Peck, Roy John, Emily Rondel and Antonio Coral. SHOREBIRDS OBSERVATIONS: 21 species to date. Birds are adults unless noted otherwise. Counts done at high tide. Usually only the high count day for each species is given. Reports below are from North Point unless noted otherwise. Black-bellied Plover: 1 adult on 21st.
American Golden-Plover: 1 adult on 22nd. Semipalmated Plover: 31 on 22nd. Killdeer: 1 on 21st. Spotted Sandpiper: 1 juvenile on 22nd. Greater Yellowlegs: 315 on 21st. Some eating sticklebacks (tiny fish). 250 at Longridge. Lesser Yellowlegs: 682 on 26th. First juvenile on 26th. 400 at Longridge. Whimbrel: 61 on 24th. 47 at Longridge. Hudsonian Godwit: 345 molting adults on 26th. 130 at Longridge. Marbled Godwit: 4 on 21st. Territorial nesting bird chases Common Ravens. Ruddy Turnstone: 16 adults on 21st. 11 at Longridge. RED KNOT: Longridge - 1100 adults on 23rd fide Mark Peck. North Point - 160 on 22nd including 33 flagged birds from the United States, Chile and Argentina. An exciting find was seeing a Red Knot (TY on orange flag) on 26 July at North Point. TY spent 18 days at Longridge last summer 2010. It was first banded in March 2006 in Argentina and photographed in August 2008 in Trinidad. An aerial survey by CWS in 2009 found large numbers of knots about midway between North Point and Longridge. Beginning on 30 July a third field crew will spend two weeks in this area known as Little Piskwamish Point. Sanderling: 87 molting and fading adults on 21st. 2 flagged birds on 23rd from Delaware Bay in the United States. SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER: 14,147 adults on 21 July. This count was at high tide combined with a strong northeast wind, which concentrated the birds. Colour-marking in the 1970s by Guy Morrison (CWS) at North Point showed that most Semipalmated Sandpipers using southern James Bay departed southeast to the Atlantic Coast before heading over the ocean to South America. Semipalmated Sandpipers passing through James Bay include many from the central and western Arctic based on banding, colour-marking and measurements. Least Sandpiper: 37 on 21st. White-rumped Sandpiper: 1117 molting adults on 26 July. Pectoral Sandpiper: 102 adults on 26th. 500 at Longridge. Dunlin: 127 on 26th. Short-billed Dowitcher: 1 juvenile on 24th. 6 at Longridge fide Mark Peck. Wilson's Snipe: 2 on 22nd still winnowing. Red-necked Phalarope: 1 adult on 23rd. SHOREBIRD FOODS: Shorebirds in Hudson and James Bays feed on the abundant larvae of the bivalve Macoma balthica (clam), and in southern James Bay the gastropod Hydrobia minuta (snail), as well as a variety of crustaceans (shrimps/crabs and allies), worms and dipteran (fly) larvae (Ontario Shorebird Conservation Plan 2003). SHOREBIRD MIGRATION: Flocks of high flying migrating shorebirds, some in V formations, were observed moving south in early evening presumably heading for the Atlantic Coast. YELLOW RAIL: Canada has about 90% of the Yellow Rail's breeding range. The coastal brackish marshes of James Bay probably have the largest breeding population of Yellow Rails in North America. They breed in marshes dominated by Chaffy Sedge (Carex paleacea) fide Don Sutherland (OMNR). The big news this summer is that crews have found no Yellows Rails at both North Point and Longridge Point where they are usually common. In July Yellow Rails "tick" incessantly and are easily detected. Marshes are very dry this summer at both North Point and Longridge. Yellow Rails may have moved farther north along James Bay and Hudson Bay where coastal conditions are more normal this summer. Or possibly the rails shifted to large freshwater fens well inland from the coast in the Hudson Bay Lowland fide Don Sutherland (OMNR). Also, OMNR's Terrestrial Biodiversity crews found Yellow Rails this summer near Big Trout Lake in northwestern Ontario fide Ken Abraham (OMNR) and Don Sutherland. OTHER BIRDS: In rough checklist order: Canada Goose - none at North Point, however, Kevin Hannah on 26 July walked 7.5 km north along the coast and found 2620 flightless Canadas including one with a white neck collar 3X57. American White Pelican, 26 on 24th, it recently began breeding on islands in James Bay. Sandhill Crane, 68 on 20th, the subspecies rowani breeds in the boreal forest. Merlin, adult male on 21 July caught a Semipalmated Sandpiper. Northern Harrier, adult male on 20th is the only report reflecting very low vole abundance. Bonaparte's Gull, 62 on 22nd were mostly year old nonbreeders plus some adults, 2 juveniles on 26th. Black Tern at Longridge fide Mark Peck. Arctic Tern, 1 adult on 21st and 3 on 22nd. Olive-sided Flycatcher, 1 on 19th was omitted from the previous report. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, 1 on 23rd. Northern Shrike, a juvenile on 22 July regurgitated a pellet composed mainly of beetle and insect exoskeletons. Similarly, Loggerhead Shrikes on the Carden Alvar in southern Ontario eat many beetles and other insects which form the bulk of their food during the warmer months. Gray Jay, adult and juvenile around camp. Boreal Chickadee feeding young on 24 and 25th. Brown Thrasher still there on 22nd. Northern Waterthrush, 2 on 24th. Clay-colored Sparrow, 1 on 22nd. 2 Le Contes Sparrow, 12 on 25th including one observed by Doug McRae doing an aerial display. Nelsons Sparrow, 16 on 26th. Le Conte's and Nelson's Sparrows are singing and in the same general habitat. Both sparrows have moved more inland to moist pockets because coastal sedge marshes are very dry this summer. White-winged Crossbill: 20 on 24 July. MAMMALS: Single Black Bears at both North Point and Longridge camps. Solar powered electric fences surround food cabins at both sites. No Polar Bears - they are very rare south of Akimiski Island. Two Belugas (White Whales) at Longridge plus a dead one. An adult and 4 young Striped Skunks around North Point camp. BUTTERFLIES: Bronze Copper is new since last report. Correction to last report - change Pink-sided Sulphur (typo) to Pink-edged Sulphur thanks to Alan Wormington. He further said that "They might be Paleano Sulphurs, but it's hard to tell unless you know them well. Pelidne Sulphur should be there too, as well as Giant Sulphur - it's not large as the name implies." ODONATES: List from Kevin Hannah (CWS). In no particular order: Kennedys Emerald, Delicate Emerald, American Emerald , Four-spotted Skimmer, Emerald Spreadwing, White-faced Meadowhawk, Cherry-faced Meadowhawk, Sedge Darner, Subarctic Darner, Shadow Darner, Lake Darner, Canada Darner, Zigzag Darner, Variable Darner (nominate subspecies interrupta), Variable Darner (subspecies lineata). Kevin noted a large drop in numbers of odonates on 25-26 July which he attributed to the very dry conditions. Aerial photo showing location of North Point in red on southern James Bay. www.jeaniron.ca/2011/JamesBay2011/NorthPointmap.jpg Acknowledgements: I thank Ken Abraham and Don Sutherland of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources for information. LITERATURE CITED: Ontario Shorebird Conservation Plan. 2003. Ross, K., and K. Abraham, R. Clay, B. Collins, J. Iron, R. James, D. McLachlin, R. Weeber. 48 pages. Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment Canada. www.on.ec.gc.ca/wildlife/plans/pdf/plans-shorebird-e.pdf I'll post next update in a week. Ron Pittaway Minden, Ontario _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
