WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR THE
WEEK ENDING
Thursday, August 06, 2009
After a month's hiatus, the Quinte Area Bird Report is back in business in
recognition of the start of the autumn migration of birds in the Quinte
area. That is not to suggest that the last 30 days or so have been
uneventful. Highlighting the list of birds seen was a WHITE PELICAN on July
24th that hung around for all of a day in Picton Bay, just off from Chimney
Point. GREAT EGRETS, likely post breeding dispersal birds from the
Presqu'ile colony, have been turning up everywhere and up to 4 have been
present since July 13th in a flooded pasture field along County Road 14 near
Demorestville. This mini "Kaiser Crossroad" wetland has also harboured GREAT
BLUE HERON, MALLARDS, and BLACK TERNS over the course of the summer. A lone
SANDHILL CRANE continues to call sporadically west of 23 Sprague Road, and
more recently from a field along County Road 15. Two juvenile SANDHILL
CRANES were feeding in a field on Monday along County Road 10 near the
intersection with County Road 13. Numerous sightings of INDIGO BUNTINGS were
made during July and two continue to sing most mornings along Sprague Road.
A hatch year BALD EAGLE passed over the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory
on July 15th and what may have been the same individual was seen two days
later on County Road 10. Reminders of the warbler migration about to begin
in earnest was a BLACK-AND-WHITE- WARBLER at 2800 County Road 1, a
CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER along Fry Road, and numerous YELLOW WARBLERS at Point
Traverse on Sunday. Twenty-five of the latter were banded at the Prince
Edward Point Bird Observatory on Monday and Tuesday, although banding
doesn't officially get under way until August 15th, continuing until the end
of October, culminating with the banding of NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWLS.
One of the better birding areas in Prince Edward County, Beaver Meadow
Wildlife Management Area, has been made even more appealing this summer, at
least to shorebirds. This 220-acre wetland has undergone a "drawdown",
resulting in some mighty appealing mudflats which can be accessed from the
decks of two lookouts. The walk to each lookout is relatively short and can
be reached by taking either of the two hiking trails from the parking lot.
Both hiking trails were groomed yesterday, but please be advised that the
left trail is somewhat muddy in spots. Nothing too spectacular yet, although
there have been up to 50 KILLDEERS, and yesterday there were about a dozen
SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, at least 2 GREATER YELLOWLEGS, and a SHORT-BILLED
DOWITCHER appears occasionally. Beaver Meadow can be reached by turning at
the traffic lights at the Picton LCBO and following Lake Street south for 5
km, then right on County Road 11 for one kilometre to the conservation area
entrance.
A hatch year BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO was at Prince Edward Point this past week,
no doubt the result of a successful nesting there, and recently fledged
RED-BELLIED WOODECKERS have been at 2800 County Road 1. At Waupoos Island, a
COMMON MERGANSER leading a double-sized brood of 24 chicks was seen a couple
weeks ago, 11 WOOD DUCKS are present in a cove at Peat's Point near
Massassauga. A half dozen WOOD DUCKS swam nonchalantly under a perching
GREAT EGRET Tuesday where Highway 62 crosses Consecon Creek a short distance
south of Bengill Road (C.R. 4 junction). A SPOTTED SANDPIPER was at Meyer's
Pier in Belleville on the 3rd. and an UPLAND SANDPIPER was seen along
Babylon Road some weeks ago, along with another at Chuckery Hill Road. Park
naturalists at Sandbanks Provincial Park had a nice treat in July as they
watched a nestful of ORCHARD ORIOLES fledge. Everywhere it has been nesting
EASTERN KINGBIRDS, HOUSE WRENS, and AMERICAN KESTRELS. Young BLUE JAYS once
again made noisy appearances at our feeders and coupled with a nest box full
of extremely vocal AMERICAN KESTRELS, our backyard was deafening at times.
MOURNING DOVES, true to form, continue to "build" nests and will likely
continue to do so well into September. A ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK is
visiting a feeder on Barker Street in Picton.
And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area,.
Our thanks to Mike Burge & Kathy Felkar, Pamela Stagg, Joanne Dewey, Charles
Crowe, David Okines, Don Campbell, Helen Graham, Donna Fano, Frank Artes &
Carolyn Barnes, Henry Pasila, Garry Kirsch, David Bree, Kathleen Rankine,
Steve Bolton, , Janet Mooney, Nancy Fox and Wendy Sharpe for their
contributions to this week's report. This report will be updated on
Thursday, August 13th, but sightings can be e-mailed anytime before the
Wednesday night deadline. Featured photo on the Main Birding Page of the
NatureStuff website of a GREAT EGRET is by David Bree of Bloomfield. Photos
of a SPOTTED SANDPIPER and a COMMON MOORHEN in the online edition of the
Quinte Area Bird Report are by Garry Kirsch of Belleville.
Terry Sprague
Prince Edward County
[email protected]
www.naturestuff.net
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