WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR THE WEEK ENDING Thursday, May 21, 2009
The month of May is winding down, but there is still lots of action to keep the binocular brigade happy for some time to come. A pair of RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS is nesting again in the Dunes Beach Day Use Area at Sandbanks, and others were seen during the week at Prince Edward Point, Point Traverse and along County Road 1, near Bloomfield. GREEN HERONS appeared at the Group Campground at Sandbanks on the 19th, and another was seen along Potter Creek on the west side of Belleville last night. A SANDHILL CRANE continues to bugle most mornings along Sprague Road and South Big Island Road. ORCHARD ORIOLES appeared during the week along Pulver Road and Rednersville Road and a FRANKLIN'S GULL continues to be seen sporadically in fields near the west end of Bethel Road. There was a NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD near the corner of Babylon and Long Point Roads on the 17th. On down the road at Prince Edward Point, the double-crested cormorants are still increasing offshore and numbered 1000 by the 19th. American bitterns are still being seen almost daily as they fly around the Point. Offshore, up to 40 white-winged scoters can be seen along with up to 10000 long-tailed ducks when the lake is calm enough to get a good count. The 18th saw 165 red-breasted mergansers fly past. An osprey went over on the 19th and occasional sharp-shinned and cooper's hawks have been seen. A merlin also has been seen around the Point. The two pairs of killdeer can still be found but both pairs have lost their first broods. Other shorebirds seen during the week include spotted sandpiper on the 15th, wilsons snipe on the 20th and occasional American woodcocks. The bonaparte's gulls have mostly gone and less than 40 were seen on three dates. A rock pigeon was seen on the 20th and is the only to be seen so far this year at Prince Edward Point. An early black-billed cuckoo was seen on the 15th and two more singles were seen on the 18th and 20th. Up to 10 RUBY-THROATED hummingbirds are being seen daily and a red-headed woodpecker is being seen occasionally around the point. Red-bellied woodpeckers are still here and NORTHERN flickers reappeared on the 20th when 5 were present. A pileated woodpecker was seen on the 17th. Now that it's late May, more flycatchers are appearing and eastern wood pewees numbered 7 on the 20th, the first yellow-bellied flycatcher arrived on the 18th and the first traill's flycatcher arrived on the 20th, up to 20 least flycatchers are being seen daily and 10 great-crested flycatchers were found on the 20th. One to 3 blue-headed vireos are still being seen and warbling, Philadelphia and red-eyed are common now, the latter numbering 25 on the 20th. Up to 50 blue jays are being seen daily and 100+ were seen on the 21st. A late golden-crowned kinglet was banded on the 21st and ruby-crownED KINGLETS have dropped to about 5 a day now. Six eastern bluebirds were seen on the 17th and three were seen around the Observatory on the 21st. GrAy-cheeked thrushes are beginning to be seen more frequently and swainson's thrushes peaked at 25 on the 20th. GrAy catbirds have become common and up to 40 a day are being seen and heard in the bushes. Two Northern mockingbirds were seen on the 15th and one was seen on the 19th and 20th. The numbers of cedar waxwings around the Point is amazing, over 500 have been seen on most days this week and over 450 have now been banded so far this year. Twenty-six species of warblers were seen this week, a large arrival occurred on the 20th with the following highlights - single Orange-crowned, 45 chestnut-sided, 120 yellow, 140 magnolias, 12 black-throated blues, 20 black-throated greens, 12 bay-breasted, 50 american redstarts, and 25 each of wilson's and common yellowthroats. Good warblers trapped during the week included two different female hooded warblers and a female yellow-breasted chat. Fifteen scarlet tanagers were present in Point Traverse on the 15th. Lincoln's sparrows have been seen all week in good numbers, the numbers of white-throated and white-crowned sparrows have dropped as their season comes to an end. A female DARK-EYED junco has been seen daily all week and two northern cardinals, the first this month, were seen on the 20th. Indigo buntings are being seen daily as are 15-20 Baltimore orioles. Two house finches appeared on the 17th and single purple finches were seen on the 18th and 19th. Pine siskins have dropped to around 3 a day being seen. Elsewhere across the region, five BLACK TERNS were spotted feeding in East Lake at the Sandbanks Group Camping area early in the week. Between 2 and 3 SURF SCOTERS have been noted by several observers at Prince Edward Point. Now that the nesting season is well under way, there have been numerous reports of nesting EASTERN BLUEBIRDS and BALTIMORE ORIOLES. Meanwhile, it is uncertain what the remaining PINE SISKINS are planning to do as many feeders in the County still have at least a few putting on pounds at niger feeders. About 50 AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES are regulars at a 2800 County Road 1 feeder. INDIGO BUNTINGS and ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS were regulars this week at several feeders in the area. At Kaiser Crossroad, the large numbers of waterfowl may be but a memory, but the site is still worth visiting at this time of the year. This week there were highs of 80 SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, 30 LEAST SANDPIPERS, 10 DUNLIN, 28 SEMIPALMATED PLOVER, and a LESSER YELLOWLEGS. An optimistic DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT is still in the shallows, and GREEN HERON, GREAT BLUE HERON, CASPIAN TERN, NORTHERN HARRIER, along with a few remaining ducks including AMERICAN WIGEON (16), MALLARDS, GADWALL and RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. Numbers of waterfowl on Muscote Bay have declined, with 60 LESSER SCAUP being the only highlight there this week. COMMON LOONS have been offshore near Massassauga all week. If we tend to think of warblers being found only at focal points such as Presqu'ile or Prince Edward Point, a Stirling resident tallied 8 species this week along one trail there. An ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER was found near the Prince Edward Point lighthouse on the 20th and a 150 YELLOW WARBLERS were estimated to be present in the area on the 17th when members of the Kingston Field Naturalists conducted their annual spring round-up. Also seen during the count were 2 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS, PEREGRINE FALCON, BROAD-WINGED HAWK, 400 CEDAR WAXWINGS, 4 late BUFFLEHEAD, SOLITARY SANDPIPER, and a total of 22 warbler species including one CERULEAN WARBLER. And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte Area. Our thanks to David Okines, Ron Weir, Bruce Ripley, Caroline Draper, John Blaney, Doris Lane, Charles Crowe, Kathy Willis, Jess Chambers, Tom Higginbottom, John Vernon, Henry Pasila, Nancy Smits, Donn Legate, David Bree, Pamela Stagg, Borys Holowacz, Heather Heron, Nancy Fox and Mike Runtz for their contributions to this week's report. This report will be updated on Thursday, May 28th, but sightings can be e-mailed any time before the Wednesday night deadline. Featured photo of a surprise visitor at Prince Edward Point last week on the Main Birding Page of the NatureStuff website is by Cathie Stewart of Stirling. Photos of an egg stealing RED SQUIRREL, and a PALM WARBLER, in the online edition of the Quinte Area Bird Report are by Henri Garand and Terry Sprague, respectively. 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 information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
