WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA for Sunday, October 17, 2004
Where ever one looks these days, there are birds on the move as temperatures begin to drop and the urge to seek out more hospitable abodes takes priority in the minds of birds. Roadsides are alive now with DARK-EYED JUNCOS, WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS. One observer at The Rock Crossroad, east of Waupoos reported "a field of crows," comprising fully 200 COMMON CROWS. Things are moving too at Prince Edward Point. Kingston area birders reported seeing a fair number of raptors near South Bay on October 11th. Included in their count were 250 TURKEY VULTURES, 20 RED-TAILED HAWKS, 1 RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, 10 SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS, 1 COOPER'S HAWK and 1 NORTHERN GOSHAWK. There was a NORTHERN GOSHAWK today that passed over the wetland ecology boardwalk at the H.R. Frink Centre, north of Belleville. For the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory, it was another busy owling week with 248 NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWLS banded. On Monday and Tuesday nights alone, they banded 103 and 107 of them, the first time they had caught more than 100 owls in a night. The windy and rainy weather of the last three days had stopped any banding from being done but observations continued. On Friday and Saturday, BRANT were moving with day totals of 933 and 300. The GREATER SCAUP flock offshore has increased to about 2,000 and there have been up to 100 LESSER SCAUP mixed in with them. Other ducks offshore have included up to 45 COMMON MERGANSERS, 11 SURF SCOTER, 3 BLACK SCOTER and 150 WHITE-WINGED SCOTER. On the 12th, a few raptors moved through and by the end of the day the following had been tallied: 40 SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS, 5 COOPER'S HAWKS and 6 NORTHERN GOSHAWKS, 12 RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS and 160 RED-TAILED HAWKS. A ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK was seen the following day, and today the first GOLDEN EAGLE of the fall season was observed, along with a very large juvenile female PEREGRINE FALCON that was not of the Tundra race. Also at Prince Edward Point, a late EASTERN WOOD PEWEE was seen on the 13th, and other late birds during the week were a VEERY on the 12th, a GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH on the 13th and an OVENBIRD on the 12th. The bushes have been busy, mostly with GOLDEN-CROWNED and RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS which peaked at 180 and 225 respectively on the 12th. BROWN CREEPERS are still plentiful with 20 and 25 on the 12th and the 13th. The 12th also had this week's peak numbers of HERMIT THRUSH (50) and AMERICAN ROBIN (85). Warblers are becoming scarce and of the six species seen during the week, only YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS had more than 2 seen in a day, and as yet, there have been no big arrivals of this species. Two FOX SPARROWS were seen by the banders at Prince Edward Point on the 13th, and there was an increase in the other sparrows that day as well with 110 WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS and 300 DARK-EYED JUNCOS being noted. Blackbird numbers have started to be seen daily and increased to 250 COMMON GRACKLE and 100 RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS on the 16th. PINE SISKINS are starting to tickle through, but the peak so far has only been 15 birds on the 13th. And the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory reminds readers that the Fabulous Fall Bird Ball fund-raising dinner/auction/dance is scheduled for Saturday, October 30th, at the Waring House, west of Picton. E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] for information on tickets. Other observers at Prince Edward Point have come up with some additional species including 1 EASTERN SCREECH OWL, 10 BLUE-HEADED VIREOS, NASHVILLE and ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, along with 25 EASTERN PHOEBES, 10 TREE SWALLOWS and a SANDERLING, all on October 11th. Elsewhere in the county and area, a CAROLINA WREN has been present for two weeks at Northport, where there were also 2 GREATER YELLOWLEGS on October 11th. The two SANDHILL CRANES at Mowbray Road and County Road 10, just south of Picton, are still entertaining passersby with post breeding mating dances, and a GREAT EGRET was seen today struggling against high winds just north of Deseronto (the individuals at 12 O'Clock Point were still around as of October 14th). Other miscellaneous reports to come in this week were a PILEATED WOODPECKER at Sandbanks Provincial Park, NORTHERN FLICKER at Sheba's Island, and a GREAT BLUE HERON visiting a backyard water garden in Belleville. And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area. Our thanks to Bruce Ripley, Ken Edwards, Joanne Dewey, David Okines (Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory), Lyle Anderson, Ron Hancock, Carol Green, Doris Lane, John and Margaret Moore, Peter Sporring, and Donald McClure for their contributions to this week's report. This report is also posted in the BIRDING section of the NatureStuff website, and will be updated by 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 24th. Bird sightings must be in by 6:00 p.m. on Sunday evening to be included in the next report. Good fall birding! Terry Sprague Picton, Ontario [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.naturestuff.net
