Clear DayWEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA
FOR WEEK ENDING
Thursday, December 15, 2005
The approaching snow storm tonight in the Quinte area is apt to give some of
those foolish species who decided for reasons best known to themselves to
hang around this late, something to think about. The BALTIMORE ORIOLE
surviving on suet at a feeder at 2617 County Road 13 at South Bay, was seen
again December 14th, and hopes are that it will show up on Saturday for the
Prince Edward Point Christmas Bird Count. There are still some TUNDRA SWANS
making use of what open water remains in the county. There were at least two
mixed in with the over 50 MUTE SWANS in the Wellington Harbour area on
Wednesday, and there were 5 on Monday on the ice at Smith's Bay where up to
100 or more had been present earlier this fall. Most swans these days are
MUTE SWANS as they slowly make their way to the open waters of Presqu'ile
Bay where 230 had settled in earlier this week. There were 4 male EASTERN
BLUEBIRDS at the four-way stop along County Road 12 and Lakeshore Lodge Road
at Sandbanks Provincial Park this morning, an EASTERN MEADOWLARK at Point
Petre this past week, along with a RUSTY BLACKBIRD. At the Stinson Block
west of Consecon, a GREAT BLUE HERON can be seen daily flying back and forth
from the mainland to Nicholson Island, and another, albeit injured, was seen
today at Horse Point in the Massassauga area. A WHITE-THROATED SPARROW
appeared for two days on the weekend at 23 Sprague Road, and there was a
WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW west of there along South Big Island Road on the 13th.
A FOX SPARROW was at a Smith's Bay feeder on Wednesday, and there was a
HERMIT THRUSH seen at Thomasburg on December 10th.
Elsewhere, it has been business as usual with more of the regulars turning
up. SNOW BUNTINGS continue to turn up in average sized flocks, with a flock
of 60 at Big Island's Sprague Road being the largest group seen this week.
NORTHERN SHRIKES were seen during the week along the Millennium Trail behind
Picton's No Frills, another near Waupoos, one at Cherry Valley, and one seen
at Empey Hill north of Deseronto. A BALD EAGLE turned up at Northport on the
9th, and NORTHERN HARRIERS were seen during the week at South Big Island
Road on the 10th, Cherry Valley on the 9th and 10th, and one this afternoon
along Johnson Street north of Picton. RED-TAILED HAWKS at County Road 6,
Cherry Valley and at South Bay showed up during the week, as well as
COOPER'S HAWK at a feeder at Point Petre and another chasing a MOURNING DOVE
in Bloomfield. One over zealous SHARP-SHINNED HAWK on the 12th found its way
into a building at Big Island where it collided with a window, recovered,
exited the building and found a perch in a tree whereupon it promptly
expired from the ordeal and fell to the ground. There was a ROUGH-LEGGED
HAWK seen this week at Point Petre.
One feeder going through a lot of suet this week is located in the Barry
Heights area of Trenton where guests there included 2 NORTHERN FLICKERS, a
YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER and a female PILEATED WOODPECKER, and we assume the
usual complement of DOWNY and HAIRY WOODPECKERS. RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS are
at feeders at 2800 County Road 1, and at 11787 Loyalist Parkway (Glenora
Road), 642 Elmbrook Road, and one is visiting a feeder at 627 Melville Road
in the Consecon Lake area. Everyone it seems this winter, has DARK-EYED
JUNCOS, some feeders with up to 45 sampling the menu on a daily basis. A
feeder in Thomasburg had PINE SISKINS early in the week, a feeder on Glenora
Road hosted 25 and another feeder near Cherry Valley had almost daily totals
ranging from 7 to 15, and a few were also seen at Point Petre. A single
redpoll, possibly a HOARY REDPOLL but unconfirmed at this point, turned up
at a feeder along County Road 1, and a dead PINE GROSBEAK was found at
Tweed. COMMON GRACKLES are at feeders at South Bay and Waupoos.
WILD TURKEYS hit a high of 109 along Ridge Road this week, with smaller
numbers along Glenora Road (35), Morrison Point Road (10), and 54 were
counted in their usual stomping grounds along Belleville's Sidney Street
just north of Maitland Drive. CANADA GEESE have been noticeably active this
past week as they alternate between open bodies of water and unhavested
fields of corn, with anywhere from a handful to close to 1,000 at Wellington
and 200 at Smith's Bay.
Other interesting sightings during the past week included a RED-NECKED GREBE
on Wednesday at Wellington Harbour, a nice flock of 60 CEDAR WAXWINGS along
County Road 7, a continued appearance of a white phase SNOW GOOSE at
Trenton's Tremur Lake, and the County's first LAPLAND LONGSPURS (16) at
Point Petre.
And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area.
Our thanks to Bob Maurer, John Blaney, John Charlton, Suzanne Pierson, Nancy
Fox, David Bree, Ted Cullin, Dave Stuckey, Wynne Thomas, Don Chisholm, John
& Margaret Moore, Janet Chandler, Doug Johnson, Russell & John Wager, Pamela
Martin, Chris Keen, Trudy Kitchen, Fiona King, Joanne Dewey, Tom & Chesea
Livingston, Cathy Anderson, Frank Artes & Carolyn Barnes, Will & Gretta
Ogden, Laura Pierce, Margaret Haylock-Capon, Marilyn Holland-Foster, Eileen
Robbins, Silvia Botnick, Doug & Evelyn Sloane, Wynne Thomas, Henri Garand
and Glen Helm for their contributions to this week's report. This report
will be updated on Thursday, December 22nd. 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 of a FOX SPARROW at a
Smith's Bay feeder is by Don Chisholm.
Terry Sprague
Prince Edward County
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.naturestuff.net
