WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR THE
WEEK ENDING Thursday, October 06, 2005
Once again, we start out the Quinte Area Bird Report with a synopsis of the
migration and banding activity at Prince Edward Point. Four HORNED GREBES
were seen sitting offshore on the 2nd along with 55 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS and
150 scaup. A REDHEAD was found in the harbour on the 1st and had increased
to 2 on the 3rd and 4th. The harbour also held the first two HOODED
MERGANSERS on the 4th.
Four BROAD-WINGED HAWKS were seen to fly over on the 1st as did the fall's
first PEREGRINE FALCON. A GREATER YELLOWLEGS found in the harbour on the 5th
was still present today (6th) Another frequent visitor to the harbour has
been a SOLITARY SANDPIPER which has been seen most days. An EASTERN SCREECH
OWL was trapped on the night of the 1st/2nd, but NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWLS
have been few and far between with just 22 trapped this month. A
RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER was trapped on the 6th, and an EASTERN WOOD PEWEE was
banded on the 2nd. BLUE-HEADED VIREOS continue to be seen with 30 present on
the 2nd. Most of the RED-EYED VIREOS are gone now but singles are seen most
days. BLUE JAY migration is slowing down and around 500 are seen daily,
well down from the 4000 a day of last week. BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES seem to
be moving as 120 were seen on the 5th, and several flocks flew through
today. Even with the southerly winds kinglets continue to arrive and on the
3rd there were 110 GOLDEN-CROWNED and 135 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS present. An
AMERICAN PIPIT was on the beach on the 2nd, and today 2 AMERICAN GOLDEN
PLOVERS flew over. Two late TENNESSEE WARBLERS were trapped on the 2nd, and
the 4th saw two NORTHERN PARULAS in the nets. YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS
continue to move as well and up to 125 a day are being seen. Two western
PALM WARBLERS were trapped on the 5th, but most warblers appear to have
already gone, although a WILSON'S WARBLER visits the nets every few days. As
soon as the winds turn to the north we should see a resumption of the
sparrow migration but a few are still trickling through. The first RUSTY
BLACKBIRDS of the fall appeared on the 3rd, 15 birds, and a few more were
seen today.
Elsewhere in the county, a few other stragglers in the warbler family
continue to turn up. Of course, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS are everywhere right
now, and given the excellent crop of red juniper berries this fall, we
should expect to see a few of these hardy birds winter over. Sandbanks
Provincial Park over the last four days produced TENNESSEE WARBLER,
BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER, and BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER for campers
staying in the Woodlands Campground area of the Park. Today, BLACK-THROATED
BLUE WARBLER and a single WILSON'S WARBLER showed up just south of Cherry
Valley, and a NORTHERN PARULA turned up at the same location on the 4th. A
PEREGRINE FALCON was seen at Cherry Valley today, circling with a number of
TURKEY VULTURES; another was seen at Soup Harbour Wednesday afternoon, and
the famous air-conditioning unit on the 11th floor of the McNabb Towers in
Belleville saw the arrival yesterday of what was described as a different
PEREGRINE FALCON from the individual that had spent much of August at this
location. The observer who lives at that address observed that instead of
the usual pigeon feathers on her air conditioning unit, there was the head
of a duck with no body attached there this week.
Two families of birding campers, set up at different ends of the Woodlands
Campground at Sandbanks this week, both noted a very noisy PILEATED
WOODPECKER that constantly flew back and forth from one section of the
campground to the other. Also noted was an EASTERN SCREECH OWL heard calling
almost every night this week, EASTERN TOWHEE, RED-SHOULDERED HAWK,
BLUE-HEADED VIREO, AMERICAN PIPIT, AMERICAN WOODCOCK, WHITE-WINGED SCOTER,
COMMON LOON, and HORNED GREBE. Some of the observations were made at the
Park's West Point area. Two of the campers at the Park, also spent some of
the week walking portions of the Millennium Trail in Bloomfield where huge
numbers of WHITE-THROATED and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS, as well as
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS were found foraging in the heavy undergrowth along
the trail. SONG SPARROWS and VESPER SPARROWS were also noted along the
trail, as were EASTERN TOWHEE, NORTHERN HARRIER, and BLUE JAYS.
The fine weather this week has kept RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS lingering for
a few more days. Several individuals were reported during the weekend, with
the latest to date being an individual at a blooming weigela at 1472 County
Road 7. As many as 7 GREAT EGRETS were seen during the week along the Bay of
Quinte near Rednersville. A GREAT HORNED OWL has been present along Ridge
Road southwest of Picton, and a group of 17 WILD TURKEYS was seen a few days
ago at Sandbanks near Athol Bay. A RED-NECKED GREBE was seen off Point Petre
Wednesday afternoon.
At the bird feeders, both HOUSE and PURPLE FINCHES are visiting feeders
along County Road 1, and numerous observers have WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS
feeding on the ground beneath their feeders as the species continues to
migrate through. DARK-EYED JUNCOS are at a feeder near Thomasburg where a
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK has already commenced its patrols. And EASTERN BLUEBIRDS
have been at a bird bath along Vanderwater Road, east of Thomasburg for most
of the week.
And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area.
Our thanks to David Okines (Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory), Bob
Maurer, Nancy Fox, John Blaney, Bob Dinsmore, Donn Legate, Trudy Kitchen,
Donald McClure, John & Margaret Moore, Helen Graham, Peter Marshall, Suzanne
Pierson, and Kay Clarke for their contributions to this week's report. This
report will be updated on Thursday, October 13th. Bird sightings may be
forwarded to [EMAIL PROTECTED] any time before the Thursday 6:00 p.m.
deadline. This report also appears for a period of seven days on the
NatureStuff website under BIRDING where this week's featured photo is a
PURPLE FINCH, taken by Russ Kitchen of Thomasburg.
Terry Sprague
Prince Edward County
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.naturestuff.net
