WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR THE
WEEK ENDING Thursday, April 13, 2006
Although cool temperatures continue, especially at night, the migration
moves ahead. The first FIELD SPARROW of the season was heard at Sprague Road
on the 10th, and an AMERICAN BITTERN turned up two days later in the Big
Island Marsh. FOX SPARROWS continue their spring migration through the
Quinte area and several were reported during the week, along with BROWN
CREEPERS, PURPLE MARTINS, and increasing numbers of COMMON LOONS, BELTED
KINGFISHERS, EASTERN BLUEBIRDS, CHIPPING SPARROWS, NORTHERN FLICKERS,
GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS and EASTERN PHOEBES.
The Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory opened for the spring on April
10th, after the nets were set up on the 9th. Once again, this report is
grateful to bander David Okines for submitting a summary of the bird banding
activities at the Observatory every Thursday afternoon, for the purpose of
this report. Although it has been a short week at the Observatory, a few
good sightings were made. Whilst the nets were being setup on Sunday, a
female HOUSE SPARROW, a rare species at Prince Edward Point, was seen
around the building and it was soon trapped and banded. Two HOUSE FINCHES,
two WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES and a BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD were seen on the
feeders within five minutes of them being erected.
A few COMMON LOONS are being seen flying over every day and a GREAT BLUE
HERON was seen in the harbour on the 11th. Also seen in the harbour were 2
AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS on the 11th, and 2 GREEN-WINGED TEALS on the 12th. Up
to 3000 LONG-TAILED DUCKS are offshore at the moment and up to 58
BUFFLEHEAD are frequenting the area around the lighthouse. An AMERICAN
KESTREL was present for two days around the harbour and the RUFFED GROUSE
are drumming almost continuously as are four WILSON'S SNIPES performing
their nuptials. Two LITTLE GULLS were present offshore among the 200+
BONAPARTE'S GULLS on the 13th. A BELTED KINGFISHER was present on the 10th.
Twelve YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKERS were seen on the 12th as were 120 NORTHERN
FLICKERS. EASTERN PHOEBES are singing away and up to 10 have been seen in a
day.
TREE SWALLOWS are increasing with 20 present now and a ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW
was seen on the 12th and two CLIFF SWALLOWS were seen approaching the nests
on the lighthouse on the 12th. The 13th saw the first BARN SWALLOW of the
season flying around the harbour. In the bushes, 60 BROWN CREEPERS were
seen on the 11th and 75 were seen the following day. GOLDEN-CROWNED
KINGLETS are numerous in the area and 90 have been counted in a day so far,
the first RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS were seen on the 11th, and a female EASTERN
BLUEBIRD was seen in the evening of the 9th. Seven HERMIT THRUSHES appeared
on the 11th and AMERICAN ROBINS are moving over in good numbers with up to
130 a day being counted. The first BROWN THRASHER appeared a week or so
early on the 12th and the EASTERN TOWHEES are back as well. A few AMERICAN
TREE SPARROWS are being seen and a FIELD SPARROW sings occasionally in the
area. One to three FOX SPARROWS are being seen and an arrival of 90 SONG
SPARROWS occurred on the 11th closely followed on the 12th by the first
WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS. COMMON GRACKLES and BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS are
present in reasonable numbers and the first RUSTY BLACKBIRDS showed up on
the 12th. A very early LINCOLN'S SPARROW was banded on the 11th, the first
one normally shows up around the 1st of May. A second year ICELAND GULL
(3rd only for the Observatory) flew west down the harbour early this
afternoon.
While some of the earlier warbler species have already arrived at Point
Pelee and the Oshawa area, nothing has appeared here yet, although a
reminder of winter came in the form of a late SNOWY OWL at Ameliasburgh on
April 9th. Finally, the barrage of boreal finches at the Glenora Road feeder
have seemingly disappeared, the tribe held together now by only RED-BELLIED
WOODPECKERS, PURPLE FINCHES, AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES, and DARK-EYED JUNCOS. Two
BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS appeared with a flock of 20 or so CEDAR WAXWINGS in a
Belleville backyard on the 7th. About 75 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS appeared at a
residence near Bayside the same day, dropping to 40 the following day, and
disappearing by late afternoon.
Over 30,000 LONG-TAILED DUCKS were present on South Bay on April 11th, and
scattered in amongst them were some 5,000 scaup, 2000 RED-BREASTED
MERGANSERS, 3000 BONAPARTE'S GULLS and a sprinkling of WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS,
COMMON LOONS and HORNED GREBES. Muscote Bay on the north side of the county
this week had a mixture of AMERICAN WIGEON, CANADA GEESE, scaup species and
a couple MUTE SWANS. Anyone wanting to try their luck at the Kaiser
Crossroad site will find the area largely deserted and dry earth where 400
NORTHERN PINTAILS and an assortment of other ducks used to roam. However,
birders would do well to try their luck at the Bloomfield Marsh along Wesley
Acres Road south of Bloomfield. Today, there were 3 NORTHERN SHOVELERS
there, and there had been close to a dozen a few days earlier. West Lake,
due to its size, is hit and miss, but on Saturday, there were REDHEADS,
GREATER SCAUP, BUFFLEHEAD and CANVASBACKS. Two BLUE-WINGED TEAL were found
by one party of observers at the H.R. Frink Centre north of Belleville on
the 8th.
Other noteworthy sightings during the week included two LOGGERHEAD SHRIKES
in the Newburg area on the 8th, a NORTHERN SHRIKE at Fish Lake Road and
County Road 5 on the 4th, and an adult BALD EAGLE at West Lake on April
10th. Two BLACK-NECKED STILTS which appeared during the week near Brighton,
were tantalizingly close to the Prince Edward County border, but failed to
take advantage of any prevailing westerly winds for induction into the
Prince Edward County checklist.
Things are gearing up for the Prince Edward County Birding Festival, May
13th to the 22nd. Details at www.thecounty.ca/birding/ .
And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area.
Our thanks to David Okines, Albert Boisvert, Pamela Stagg, Peter Kempenaar,
Peter Marshall, Will Ogden, Fiona King, Brian Durell, Judy Bell, Trudy
Kitchen, Mia Lane, Bill Leet, Silvia Botnick, Judith Gray, Lloyd Paul, Bill
Hogg, Henri Garand, Ken Kingdon, Donald McClure, Joanne Dewey, Doris Lane,
Fred Chandler for their contributions to this week's report. This report
will be updated on Thursday, April 20th. Bird sightings may be forwarded any
time to [EMAIL PROTECTED] before the Thursday 6:00 p.m. deadline. This report
also appears for a week on the NatureStuff website, under BIRDING, where
this week's photo of a TURKEY VULTURE at Ivanhoe is by Peter Sporring of
Belleville.
Terry Sprague
Prince Edward County
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.naturestuff.net
