This weekend David Szmyr, Josh Vandermuelen and myself headed up to the massive Timmins 9 burn (largest in NE ontario since 1960) to look primarily for American Three-toed Woodpeckers.
Highlights 5 hrs of surveying over two days covering less than 500 hectares around Cache lake road/Hwy 144 7 American Three-toed Woodpeckers: many within 50ft of us. and twice we had 2 Threes-toes in the same tree. 29 Black-backed Woodpeckers. This is the default woodpecker of the burn. In the silent winter days we could hear at least one Black-back tapping at all times. Other woodpeckers 6 Hairy and 2 Pileated Woodpeckers There probably hundreds to few thousand woodpeckers currently in the 70km long and 39,524 hectare size burn. WINTER FINCHES We encountered all expected species in small numbers. Only Purple Finches and American Goldfinches were visiting feeders and towns. All other species were in the forest/burn well away from civilization There is alot of food in the boreal forest and adjacent towns, thus no reason for these birds to move south. Purple Finches North Bay and Temagami area Pine Siskins Temagami, Timmins 9 burn area American Goldfinch North Bay and Temagami area Common Redpoll Elk Lake- Timmins 9 burn area Hoary Redpoll Hwy 560 west of Elk Lake White-winged Crossbill Timmins 9 Burn area Red Crossbill Temagami Pine Grosbeak Hwy 560 Gowganda- Timmins 9 Burn area Evening Grosbeak Timmins 9 Burn area. Other highlights include 1 Northern Hawk Owl at Ouellette road se of North Bay 1 Bald Eagle and 110+ Common Ravens at the Cartier dump (hwy 144 just north of Cartier) 4 Species of waterfowl at Sudbury's Kelly Lake, But no Gyrfalcon seen. Gray Jays Temagami, Timmins 9 Burn, and hwy 144 corridor Spruce Grouse Gogama Directions Timmins 9 burn runs from Gogama area north towards Timmins. It crossed Hwy 144 3 times just south of Timmins in the Cache Road area. with 3-4 feet of powdery snow, snowshoes are mandatory for travel off road. Tyler Hoar _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup
