WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA
for Thursday, May 19, 2005
How does one deal with bird reports at the peak of the bird migration when
birds are hanging off the trees? In the case of Prince Edward Point, eastern
Ontario's premiere birding location, it has been incredibly busy. The Prince
Edward County Birding Festival is in full swing this week, and birding tours
have been taking place every day, leaving Civic Address # 5535 where I am
stationed, every morning at 8:00 a.m. For almost two hours we explore the
trails in the Point Traverse Woods, then move over to the Prince Edward
Point Bird Observatory and banding station for more looks at the migration
highlights and to take in a daily banding demonstration by David Okines and
staff.
Sunday was the big day when at least 20 species of warblers were present,
and NORTHERN PARULAS were so numerous, few birders were paying much
attention to them after the first 30 minutes. At least 6 GOLDEN-WINGED
WARBLERS were found. An OFO trip to the Point that day resulted in 98
species of birds being tallied in just the Point Traverse and Prince Edward
Point areas alone. The migration has been steady, halted only by brief
periods of lower than usual morning temperatures on some days, but
accelerating once the weather turned warmer. On Wednesday, BAY-BREASTED
WARBLERS were the order of the day, with a few CAPE MAY WARBLERS being seen
as well. Today, BLACKPOLL WARBLERS arrived, accompanied by WOOD PEWEES. A
PHILADELPHIA VIREO was there today, and several TENNESSEE WARBLERS were
singing enthusiastically in one corner of the Point Traverse Woods where
birders today just found a comfortable seat, and let the migrants come to
them.
Many birders this week participated in the Baillie Birdathon, in an effort
to raise funds for the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory. The results of
this effort will be reported in greater detail in the next bird summary, as
results are finalized. Most groups managed well in excess of 100 species
during their 24-hour period, some reaching in the 140 mark. My group, "The
Kentucky Warblers", birded numerous areas including Prince Edward Point, the
Kaiser Crossroad Cornfields, Bloomfield Marsh, Beaver Meadow, Sandbanks, and
some of the questionable roads leading toward Lake Ontario which requires
one to measure water and mud depth before shifting into 4-wheel drive. On
one such road south of Helmer Road, my group found the second VESPER SPARROW
of the day, the first WILD TURKEY and a NORTHERN HARRIER. Beaver Meadow gave
us WOOD DUCK, 1 WHIMBREL, the 3rd RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER of the day, and a
COMMON MOORHEN. At Sandbanks, we were able to add BLACK TERN, SEMIPALMATED
SANDPIPER, PIED-BILLED GREBE, BANK SWALLOW, GREEN HERON and COMMON TERN to
the list. The famous Kaiser Crossroad cornfields, all dried up now except
for one low area still flooded, produced BLUE-WINGED TEAL, GREAT BLUE HERON,
MALLARD, CANADA GOOSE, LEAST SANDPIPER, PECTORAL SANDPIPER, SEMIPALMATED
PLOVER, SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS and both LESSER and GREATER YELLOWLEGS. All
in good fun, and in support of a very worthy cause.
The first GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH turned up yesterday in the Point Traverse
Woods, and SWAINSON'S, HERMIT, and WOOD THRUSHES, along with VEERY have been
present for most of the week. Other good finds that have turned up
periodically at Prince Edward Point have included HOODED WARBLER, COMMON
RAVEN, LINCOLN'S SPARROW and NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD. The colony of a half
dozen or so CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS is present again behind the banding
station, and a single CLAY-COLORED SPARROW has been found singing in a new
location, two fields west of the harbour, where it has been for the past
five days. LONG-TAILED DUCKS are still present between Point Traverse and
Timber Island, and yesterday, two WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS could be seen off
Timber Island, a species that has been strangely absent from the scene this
May.
A flock of 200 BRANT was seen on May 17th at Glenora Ferry, and a COMMON
RAVEN was seen near The Rock on May 12th. Big Island had an ICELAND GULL and
a DICKCISSEL on May 14th, the latter near the west end of the island. A
YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER was found at Point Petre the following day. Outside
the County, observers at Vanderwater Conservation Area, near Thomasburg, on
May 15th, were treated to GREEN HERON, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, SCARLET TANAGER
and several warblers including OVENBIRD. At the H.R. Frink Centre, VIRGINIA
RAILS were reported, and another YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER was found on a
utility pole on Arthur Street in Tweed on May 16th.
And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area.
Our thanks to David Okines, Eric Machel, John & Margaret Moore, Bruce
Ripley, Tim Bell, Eileen Robins, Helen Graham, Peter Marshall, Joanne Dewey,
Fred Chandler, and the 200 or so visiting birders to Prince Edward Point
this week who did their level best to ensure I had all their daily sightings
tucked away in my shirt pocket. This report will be updated on Thursday, May
26th. 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 where this week's featured photo of a YELLOW WARBLER in the Point
Traverse woods is by Russ Kitchen of Thomasburg. Good spring birding
everyone!
Terry Sprague
Picton, Ontario
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.naturestuff.net
