I am reporting for Jean Iron who is surveying Red Knots and other shorebirds at the Mingan Archipelago (islands) on the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Quebec. Jean and Gerry Binsfeld are with Mark Peck of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). Mark is part of an international team researching Red Knots. Yves Aubry of the Canadian Wildlife Service (Quebec Region) is the project supervisor. The surveyors are living in Havre-Saint-Pierre, which is 150 km before the end of the road along Quebec's north shore. The Mingan Archipelago is about 870 km (540 mi) northeast of Quebec City. The archipelago consists of about 1000 coastal islands, some quite large where the knot surveyors are working. This is the region that John James Audubon called Labrador when he visited and collected birds in 1833. However, Audubon never visited the current Labrador, which is now the mainland portion of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, that became part of Canada in 1949. The Mingan Archipelago is a National Park Reserve administered by Parks Canada. The vegetation is boreal and subarctic. The shorebird habitat isn't the usual tidal mudflats. At low tide the flat limestone bedrock on the large islands is exposed creating many thousands of tidal pools full of invertebrates and sea life. This is where the Red Knots and shorebirds feed. RED KNOTS: 1500 knots seen yesterday, 24 July 2007. This is a major staging area. 1500 knots is about 7% of the population in eastern North America. All adults (presumably females) to date are in worn and faded alternate plumage. They are beginning to molt indicated by incoming pin feathers seen on birds in the hand. The breeding grounds of knots in the Canadian Arctic is known in the broad sense, but the exact origins of the Quebec migrants is not known. The adult males and growing juveniles are still on the breeding grounds. The surveyors are looking for leg flags indicating where the birds were banded. So far they've found birds banded in Chile (red) Argentina (orange), Brazil (blue), USA - Florida (lime green), Delaware Bay (dark green), and Canada (white). In the nets they had a knot banded in Argentina and another banded last spring on Delaware Bay, USA. So far they have spotted colour flagged knots from Brazil and one marked this spring at Delaware Bay. Other Shorebirds: Hudsonian Godwits, Whimbrel, Ruddy Turnstones, Black-bellied Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Greater Yellowlegs, Lesser Yellowlegs, White-rumped Sandpipers, Sanderlings, Short-billed Dowitchers (subspecies griseus that breeds in Quebec and Labrador). All migrant shorebirds are adults that recently departed the nesting grounds. They feed at the tide edge among the seaweed. There are no mudflats. When the tide goes out it exposes flat limestone (platiers in French) pools covered with seaweed and invertebrates. Other Bird Sightings: On Sunday their day off, Charles Kavanagh, Chief of Conservation, Parks Canada took the surveyors to the seabird nesting islands where they saw about 300 pairs Atlantic Puffins, about 100 Razorbills and a colony of Black-legged Kittiwakes. Other birds seen were Arctic Terns, Northern Gannets, Black Guillemots, Northern Fulmars, Parasitic Jaegers, Red-throated Loons nest on ponds in peat fens just outside Havre-Saint-Pierre, Gray Jay pair with dark juveniles (no bands Dan), Boreal Chickadee with young, Blackpoll Warblers, Fox Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, White-winged Crossbill, Pine Grosbeak, Pine Siskins. Boreal Owls and Saw-whet Owls nest boxes. Miscellaneous: There are no Red Squirrels on the islands. This is very important in preserving the original ecology of the islands. Red Squirrels are nest predators. The area is excellent for whale watching and seals. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: This is a cooperative project headed by Yves Aubry, Biologist, Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) and Alan Baker, Head of Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. It is funded by World Wildlife Fund, Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Canadian Wildlife Service. Parks Canada provides transportation to the islands and many services. Six Shorebird Surveyors are: Yves Aubry (CWS), Mark Peck (ROM), Christophe Buidin, President of Club d'ornithologie de la Cote-Nord (under contract to CWS), Yann Rochepault, Directeur of Club d'ornithologie de la Cote-Nord (under contract to CWS). Gerry Binsfeld*, volunteer from Ontario. Jean Iron*, volunteer from Ontario. *Note: Gerry and Jean speak French and they love shorebirds, which is why Mark Peck recruited them. People supporting the surveys are: Charles Kavanagh, Chief of Conservation, Parks Canada. Yann Boudreau, Park Warden, Parks Canada who assisted with the banding on four nights. Harold Rochaud, Capitaine of Le Cartier, Parks Canada boat. Jean reports the outstanding hospitality of the people along Quebec's North Shore. For more information [1]http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/qc/mingan/index_e.asp Ron Pittaway Minden and Toronto ON [EMAIL PROTECTED]
References 1. 3D"http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/qc/mingan/index_e.asp"; From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Jul 26 18:52:08 2007 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from extsmtp5.localnet.com (extsmtp5.localnet.com [207.251.201.57]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with SMTP id E6F87638A8 for <[email protected]>; Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:52:07 -0400 (EDT) Received: (qmail 29842 invoked by uid 1012); 26 Jul 2007 22:52:08 -0000 Received: from 10.30.201.12 by nolster (envelope-from <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, uid 1005) with qmail-scanner-2.01st (spamassassin: 3.1.7-deb. perlscan: 2.01st. Clear:RC:0(10.30.201.12):SA:0(0.6/4.0):. Processed in 0.447501 secs); 26 Jul 2007 22:52:08 -0000 X-Spam-Status: No, hits=0.6 required=4.0 Received: from unknown (HELO localnet.com) (10.30.201.12) by extsmtp5.localnet.com with SMTP; 26 Jul 2007 22:52:07 -0000 Received: from pool-71-251-168-247.bflony.east.verizon.net (pool-71-251-168-247.bflony.east.verizon.net [71.251.168.247]) by [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Horde MIME library) with HTTP; Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:52:07 -0400 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 18:52:07 -0400 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [email protected] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format="flowed" Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit User-Agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) H3 (4.1.3) Subject: [Ontbirds]WNY Dial-a-Bird 26 Jul 2007 X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 22:52:08 -0000 - RBA * New York * Buffalo * 07/26/2007 * NYBU0707.26 - Birds mentioned ---------------------------------------------------------- Please phone in any rare sightings so they may be shared via the DAB telephone update system, and submit email contributions directly to dfsuggs localnet com. Thank you, David ---------------------------------------------------------- GREAT EGRET D.-crest. Cormorant Great Blue Heron Bl.-cr. Night-Heron Wood Duck Osprey Bald Eagle American Kestrel Sanderling Semipalm. Sandpiper Least Sandpiper Caspian Tern Red-headed Wdpkr. Red-bellied Wdpkr. Yellow-b. Sapsucker Alder Flycatcher Willow Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Gr. Cr. Flycatcher Purple Martin Cliff Swallow Red-br. Nuthatch Brown Creeper Scarlet Tanager Indigo Bunting - Transcript Hotline: Dial-a-Bird at the Buffalo Museum of Science Date: 07/26/2007 Number: 716-896-1271 To Report: Same Compiler: David F. Suggs (dfsuggs at localnet com) Coverage: Western New York and adjacent Ontario Website: www.BOSBirding.org Thursday, July 26, 2007 Dial-a-Bird is a service provided by your Buffalo Museum of Science and this answering system was donated by the Buffalo Ornithological Society. Press (2) to leave a message, (3) for updates, meeting and field trip information and (4) for instructions on how to report sightings and use this system. To contact the Science Museum, call 896-5200. GREAT EGRETS were the highlight of reports received July 19 through July 26 from the Niagara Frontier Region. July 24 at the Tonawanda Wildlife Management Area, a record count of 170 GREAT EGRETS at the Route 77/Lewiston Road overlook. Two of the EGRETS were marked with red leg bands from the Motor Island heronry in the Niagara River. Also in the Tonawanda Area, 4 OSPREYS, 30 GREAT BLUE HERONS and 5 BL.-CR. NIGHT-HERONS. From Chautauqua County this week, small numbers of LEAST SANDPIPERS were reported at most locations on the Lake Erie shore. At Dunkirk Harbor, 18 LEAST SANDPIPERS, 3 SEMIPALM. SANDPIPERS, 2 SANDERLING, plus CASPIAN TERN. In Fort Erie, Ontario, at Windmill Point, 6 shorebird species also included a SANDERLING. Expect shorebird migration to increase as August approaches. July 23, 704 D.-CREST. CORMORANTS were counted on the structures at Buckhorn Island State Park, at the north end of Grand Island. Along the hiking trail, which runs close to the OSPREY nest, a pair of adults were feeding a recently fledged OSPREY. At the north Grand Island bridges, 20 CLIFF SWALLOWS were seen from the hiking trail, plus 2 WOOD DUCKS, BL.-CR. NIGHT-HERON, CASPIAN TERN and RED-BELLIED WDPKR. At Darien Lake State Park in Genesee County this week, 39 species included RED-BELLIED WDPKR., YELLOW-B. SAPSUCKER, ALDER FLYCATCHER, WILLOW FLYCATCHER, LEAST FLYCATCHER, GR. CR. FLYCATCHER, PURPLE MARTIN, RED-BR. NUTHATCH, BROWN CREEPER, SCARLET TANAGER and INDIGO BUNTING. YELLOW-B. SAPSUCKER was also reported southeast of Batavia in the Town of Bethany. Also this week, in northwest Cattaraugus County, 5 AMERICAN KESTRELS on Mackinaw Road in Perrysburg. up to four BALD EAGLES at Saint Columbans on Route 5 in Sheridan. And, RED- HEADED WDPKRS. at Windmill Point and the Village of Silver Creek. Dial-a-Bird will be updated Thursday evening, August 2. Please call in your sightings by noon Thursday. You may report sightings after the tone. Thank you for calling and reporting to Dial-a-Bird. - End Transcript
