A flock of Horned Larks was spotted by us at about 3pm on Barnsdale Road about 2km north of highway 416.
Beth Wigle [EMAIL PROTECTED] From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Mar 3 21:23:47 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from helios.kos.net (helios.kos.net [64.201.45.11]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 8510663D1C for <[email protected]>; Thu, 3 Mar 2005 21:23:47 -0500 (EST) Received: (qmail 9406 invoked from network); 4 Mar 2005 02:27:54 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO D3ZD7M31) (64.201.46.28) by helios.kos.net with SMTP; 4 Mar 2005 02:27:54 -0000 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Terry Sprague" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Ontbirds" <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 21:27:48 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180 Subject: [Ontbirds] Quinte Area Bird Report for week ending Thursday, March 03, 2005 X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 04 Mar 2005 02:23:47 -0000 WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR Thursday, March 03, 2005 Calm waters on Lake Ontario today, made for poor waterfowl viewing at two of the traditionally productive areas in the Quinte area. At Barcovan, there were only about 70 MUTE SWANS present, along with about as many CANADA GEESE, and a scattering of GREATER SCAUP. Farther west along the lakeshore road from Barcovan, the calm lake however was covered with small rafts of GREATER SCAUP, COMMON GOLENEYES, and BUFFLEHEADS, and a number of MUTE SWANS. Wellington Harbour was even less productive with only a sprinkling of MUTE SWANS, BUFFLEHEADS, MALLARDS, and two or three COMMON MERGANSERS. Those unfamiliar with the waterfowl that can be seen at Wellington will be interested to know that I have produced a colour waterfowl guide for people dining at the Harbour Restaurant. If the guide is not out on display, just ask owners Bill and Sue Bailas, or Manager Steven Bailas. Inland, things were 'more better', as we say in Prince Edward County. Lingering winter weather this past week, with more snow on Tuesday and Wednesday, produced a flurry of SNOW BUNTING reports with some 40 seen on Saturday at Highway 62 and Victoria Road (present in the area for much of the winter), 50 on Wednesday on County Road 5 near the community of Yerexville, and lesser numbers at Consecon, Huff's Island, Big Island and Lake-on-the-Mountain. PINE GROSBEAKS were seen again during the week near Crookston Road at Tweed. In Prince Edward County, bird feeders are abuzz with birds with a few interesting guests thrown in for variety. A feeder at Smith's Bay has 20 BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, 30 DARK-EYED JUNCOS, 20 AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES, 25 BLUE JAYS, 30 COMMON REDPOLLS and 10 PINE SISKINS. On Glenora Road near Picton, 30 AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES and 80 COMMON REDPOLLS are still regulars at a feeder there along with 2 RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS. A Low Street feeder in Picton continues to host a RING-NECKED PHEASANT, while another feeder in Picton has a CAROLINA WREN feeding on suet, and another feeder at Morrison's Point has 2 CAROLINA WRENS nibbling away on peanuts. A feeder near the Black River Cheese Factory has a BROWN CREEPER, and a productive feeder on Lahey Road near Madoc has 3 RUFFED GROUSE and 2 COMMON RAVENS sampling the menu there. At Massassauga, a PURPLE FINCH and a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW are both guests at a feeder there. A feeder near the community of Elmbrook, north of Picton, located in a wooded area, enjoys phenomenal numbers of birds, all of which appear to be slow learners. A bird bander there opened her nets only to catch pretty much her entire flock of AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES that had been banded earlier, along with 30 retraped BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES! Of course, with the abundance of birds at most feeders in the county this year, comes the presence of hawks who like to do a little birdwatching of their own. A feeder at 23 Sprague Road has a NORTHERN SHRIKE, A COOPER'S HAWK and a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. A Smith's Bay feeder also has a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK and one was also seen near the Quinte Skyway Bridge, while a feeder on Ridge Road had two at a feeder. A COOPER'S HAWK was observed on February 28th at McMahon's Bluff, where an adult BALD EAGLE was also seen the same day. There was a NORTHERN GOSHAWK at Davis Road at Elmbrook Wednesday, and another at Cherry Valley on the 27th. RED-TAILED HAWKS were seen during the week on Ridge Road, South Big Island Road, Smith's Bay, and Consecon Lake. A NORTHERN HARRIER turned up at Smith's Bay during the week. GREAT GRAY OWLS? Of course! Two different individuals were seen at the west end of Ridge Road near County Road 12, bringing the cumulative County total to 13, although the same individual may have been involved in some of the sightings this winter. New sightings to come in during the week from outside the County include 2 on River Valley Road at Stirling, one on Colebrook Road near Harrowsmith, 1 in Enterprise and another north of Trenton. One each was seen also on Croydon Road, North Beaver Lake Road, Marlbank Road, Erinsville and Tamworth, all north of Napanee, with another sighting near Moscow. A few other owls also joined the party too, with a suspected LONG-EARED OWL at Smith's Bay, a red phase EASTERN SCREECH OWL in a wood duck nesting box at Morrison's Point, and a grey phase sunning itself on a backyard fence in Belleville. The grey phase EASTERN SCREECH OWL on Highway 33 just west of the Waring House is still in the area. But there have also been a few subtle signs of spring. AMERICAN ROBINS have been turning up with increasing frequency in the county and elsewhere, HORNED LARKS flush from nearly every roadside now, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS (perhaps wintering individuals) have been seen in the Belleville area and at feeders on Big Island (3), and Cherry Valley (6), and 23 AMERICAN CROWS were observed north of Allisonville in a owl-pursuit mode. And about 100 AMERICAN CROWS were milling about in a field on the north side of County Road 5 at Yerexville on Wednesday. Other interesting sightings during the week included 10 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS on Shannon Road near Bloomfield on February 27th, a PILEATED WOODPECKER trying to compute the natural hum of a hydro pole at Tweed, a COMMON RAVEN at Elmbrook, and a KING EIDER at Prince Edward Point on February 13th that had been accidentally omitted from a previous Quinte Area Bird Report. And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area. Our thanks to Donald McClure, Thomas Rymes, George Kratz, Bill Anderson, Sandra Dowds, Norm Ducette, Brent Seaton, David Bree, Judith Gray, Wilbur Miller, Jim Ives, Mia Lane, Helen Graham, Shirley Howard, Susan MacKay, Sheila Ritter, Lloyd Paul, George Underhill, Cathy Anderson, John & Donn Legate, Doris Lane, Carol Perlberg, Cheryl Anderson, Silvia Botnick, Evelyn Sloane, Joanne Dewey, Joel Ellis, Don Chisholm and Peter Marshall for their contributions to this week's report. This report will be updated on Thursday, March 10th. Bird sightings may be forwarded to [EMAIL PROTECTED] any time before the Thursday 6:00 p.m. deadline. This report also appears on the NatureStuff website at www.naturestuff.net under BIRDING, where a RED-TAILED HAWK is this week's photo, taken by Russ Kitchen of Thomasburg. Terry Sprague Picton, Ontario [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.naturestuff.net
