WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR THE WEEK ENDING Thursday, July 31, 2008
The sighting of both BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER and BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER at Madoc's O'Hara Mill Conservation Area on Sunday, is a reminder that the warbler migration soon will be underway. Fall bird banding commences at the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory in just two weeks, and we look forward once more to contributions from the Observatory's head bander, David Okines. If it seems like only last week when the spring warblers were passing through, so it seems reasonable to assume that it will seem just as short of time before we will be experiencing the spring migration once again. In the meantime though, we wait with anticipation to see what the fall migration brings us this year. BALTIMORE ORIOLES, mainly juvenile birds, continue to visit nectar feeders across the region, and seed feeders are beginning to see the return of chickadees, nuthatches and woodpeckers. Along Glenora Road, one feeder there has a RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER and two juveniles joining the regular clientel, which includes up to 20 ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS. A feeder in Allisonville has BROWN THRASHER and ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK as regulars, and another feeder in Trenton has an embarrassed bald BLUE JAY, a phenomenon that frequently occurs in cardinals and jays when either unreachable mites or abnormal moults causes the bird to lose all its feathers about the head and neck - one of the featured photos in the online edition of this report. INDIGO BUNTINGS can still be seen and heard singing at Stirling, Sandbanks Provincial Park and on the west side of Trenton. COMMON MOOREHENS, BLUE-WINGED TEALS, AMERICAN BITTERNS and both HERMIT THRUSH and WOOD THRUSH were reported from the Stirling area. GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER and WOOD-PEWEE were among the finds along a hiking trail at Madoc last weekend, and MALLARDS, GREAT BLUE HERONS and OSPREY were found during a hike Monday evening along the Moira River at Belleville's West Riverside Park. Something becoming increasingly rare in Prince Edward County in recent years is the UPLAND SANDPIPER, but one lucky birder found two in one day - one on Jericho Road and the other along Fish Lake Road, both seen perched on telephone lines. A BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO was seen at Gardenville. Two TRUMPETER SWANS from the 2006 release in Prince Edward County, Numbers 861 and 044, turned up in a swampy area along Closson Road, northwest of Wellington on the 28th. One of them, #044, had spent the first winter in New York and Connectiticut, while #861 hung around the Sandbanks area. However, both are males, dashing our hopes of a first breeding in the county. And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area. Our thanks to Wendy Dawes, David Bree, Sydney Smith, Kathy Willis, Fred Chandler, Cheryl Anderson, John & Margaret Moore, Janet Mooney, Kathleen Rankine, Margie Cameron, Silvia Botnick, Brian dURELL Cathie Stewart for their contributions to this week's report. This report will be updated on Thursday, August 7th, but sightings can be e-mailed any time before the Wednesday night deadline. Feature photo on the Main Birding Page of the NatureStuff website is by Donna Fano of an AMERICAN GOLDFINCH on a sunflower. Photos in the online edition of the Quinte Area Bird Report include the balding BLUE JAY by Kathleeen Rankine of Trenton, and the two Closson Road TRUMPETER SWANS by Wendy Dawes. Terry Sprague Prince Edward County [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.naturestuff.net _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdssetup.php ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdsguide.php
