WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR THE
WEEK ENDING Thursday, December 20, 2007
High numbers and high quality were the two main components at most bird
feeders across the region during the week. Incredibly, four reports of
BARRED OWLS visiting feeder locations came in during the week. An Elmbrook
area resident said it was business as usual at the feeders as a BARRED OWL
there remained perched on a limb above the feeders, and one squirrel even
kept sneaking up to within a metre of the bird. South of Picton, on
Mitchells Crossroad, another BARRED OWL coasted in close to one house and
snagged a cottontail rabbit. Another was in a backyard at a residence at the
edge of Sandbanks Provincial Park on Tuesday. As one Trenton resident was
emptying two pails of wood ashes in his backyard woodlot north of the city
Tuesday night, he felt a presence, and shone his flashlight into the face of
a BARRED OWL less than seven metres away. The observer tried an owl call,
but in the end it basically ignored him, while likely attracting the
attention though of several of his neighbours. Also eager to get into the
owl excitement was a NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL, perched on a porch of a Tripp
Road residence near Bloomfield. And GREAT HORNED OWLS - at least 2 - are
happily hooting near Cape Vesey, and another three can be heard most
mornings at 6:00 a.m. calling back and forth from Big Island to wooded areas
along County Road 15 (Northport Road) .
It was a combination of quantity and quality at a feeder in Camden East when
one observer noted no fewer than 40 WILD TURKEYS feeding beneath his feeder,
and one actually perched atop one of the feeders itself. For pure quantity,
one had to travel no further than Maitland Drive on the north side of
Belleville where an amazing 500 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS settled in a backyard tree
on the 19th, the highest number seen in the Quinte area to date. Other
examples of high numbers at feeders included over 70 MOURNING DOVES at 23
Sprague Road this morning, more than 100 SNOW BUNTINGS at a feeder location
near the west end of Big Island along South Big Island Road, and increasing
numbers of COMMON REDPOLLS at most feeders in the county. SNOW BUNTINGS
have also appeared at feeders at Cressy and in Thurlow north of Belleville.
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, no more than two in each case, are coming to
several feeders across the region.
There was an unconfirmed report of a GREAT GRAY OWL on the west side of
Belleville early in the week. Despite one observer checking out the report,
and slogging around in deep snow for two hours and driving local roads for
another two hours, the bird could not be located. A MERLIN that has been
present in the west end of Trenton, was perched on a wire Tuesday, just
across from Walmart. BALD EAGLES continue to be observed, primarily in the
southern parts of the county, a mixture of both adult and immature birds. A
well marked GOLDEN EAGLE was seen circling above Glenora Marina, east of
Picton, during the Prince Edward Point Christmas Bird Count on Saturday.
Full results are not in yet, but some of the highlights in the
Lake-on-the-Mountain to Smith's Bay area included 5 RUFFED GROUSE in a
Glenora Road area woodlot, PILEATED and RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, SONG
SPARROW, AMERICAN ROBIN (6) and a GREAT HORNED OWL being harassed by a
murder of AMERICAN CROWS. Incredibly, the very, very late OSPREY continues
to be seen infrequently along Adolphus Reach in the general area of
Bongard's Crossroad, and was last seen hovering over the open waters near
shore December 17th. A truly remarkable sighting.
A female RUDDY DUCK seen December 11th in the Weller's Bay Channel at
Barcovan, was still present there five days later, where 3 AMERICAN COOT, 16
TUNDRA SWANS and an immature BALD EAGLE were also ticked off on one
observer's check list. Further west there was a pair of WOOD DUCKS, and the
area also had a COOPER'S HAWK and a NORTHERN HARRIER. Scattered numbers of
TUNDRA SWANS continue to seek out open waters east of South and Smith's Bay,
their usual winter haunts, and can be seen in small groups all along the
Prince Edward Bay shoreline, east to Prinyer's Cove, and have also worked
their way around into Adolphus Reach. Nearby at Kaiser's Crossroad, an area
that normally doesn't bear much attention until the fields become flooded in
the spring, the harvested corn fields there on either side of the road have
attracted thousands of MALLARDS and CANADA GEESE.
A few interesting sightings came from local bird feeders this past week. In
addition to the growing numbers of COMMON REDPOLLS, there is evidence that
at least a few PINE SISKINS may still be in the county. One was visiting a
feeder along Glenora Road on Saturday, and 3 are at a feeder a short
distance east of Lake-on-the-Mountain. At one South Bay feeder, a DARK-EYED
JUNCO there seems to get around okay despite missing his entire tail save
for a single white outer tail feather (if there are no tail feathers, is it
still an "outer" tail feather?). HOUSE SPARROWS is a species we hear little
about at feeders anymore but 16 are coming to a feeder near
Lake-on-the-Mountain. At 23 Sprague Road, HOUSE SPARROWS have been absent
from the guest list for several years, a location that once had little else
but, historically. A feeder west of Caughey Road has four AMERICAN CROWS
among its daily visitors. On the west end of Trenton, a PINE WARBLER
continues to make occasional visits to a feeder there.
In other news around the area, 2 COMMON LOONS were seen diving in Adolphus
Reach yesterday, a female PINE GROSBEAK turned up with a flock of BLUE JAYS
east of Lake-on-the-Mountain on the weekend, and a female PURPLE FINCH is
patronizing a feeder at Cape Vesey. A RUFFED GROUSE was found early one
morning close to a chimney on the roof of one house on Harmony Road, north
of Belleville. The bird eventually flew to a flowering crab tree where it
fed there for awhile before continuing on its way.
To all 140 private subscribers to this report, all 2000 Ontario Birds
listserv subscribers, and to all those who catch the online versions of this
report on both the NatureStuff website and Gord Gallant's Ontario Birding
Home Page, a very merry Christmas and all the best in 2008 as we draw ever
so much closer to a new birding year.
And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area.
Our thanks to Doug McRae, Joanne Dewey, Jenny Goodall, Nick Quickert, Paul
Wallace, Brian Shendon, Pamela Stagg, Donn Legate, Dave Bell, Frank Artes &
Caroline Barnes, John & Janet Foster, Henri Garand, Marc Vermander, Doris
Lane, Bill Hogg, Kathleen Rankine, John Charlton, Gordon Laurie, Cheryl
Anderson, Cathy Anderson, Pamela Stagg, Judith Gray, John & Margaret Moore,
and Fred Chandler for their contributions to this week's report. This report
will be updated on Thursday, December 27th, but sightings can be e-mailed
any time before the 6:00 p.m. Thursday deadline. Featured photos in the
online edition of the Quinte Area Bird Report include the BARRED OWL at the
Elmbrook feeder by Joanne Dewey, and one of the 500 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS in
Belleville by Dave Bell. Dave Bell's photo of the flock landing in the
backyard trees appears on the Main Birding Page of the NatureStuff website.
Terry Sprague
Prince Edward County
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.naturestuff.net
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