WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM THE QUINTE AREA for Sunday March 16, 2003 It was as if someone had opened the floodgates on the spring migration. RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS arrived in Prince Edward County overnight with an unexpected 53 at our feeding station this morning, accompanied by 4 COMMON GRACKLES. Similar numbers of the same two species were also reported from elsewhere in the county as well as in the Tweed area. In addition to phenomenal numbers of AMERICAN ROBINS, COMMON CROWS and HORNED LARKS present this weekend, an optimistic TREE SWALLOW turned up this morning on Bakker Road, near Pleasant Bay. KILLDEER also staged a weekend arrival with individuals being reported from various parts of the county today, with five being seen at Prince Edward Point, and three yesterday on Gilead Road.
Warmer weather also made waterfowl watching a bit more comfortable with good numbers being seen in the few places where open water has appeared. West Lake at Wellington over the last three days contained 26 swans with the majority being MUTE SWANS, along with at least 4 TRUMPETER SWANS. Ten TUNDRA SWANS had also been present earlier. Also present at this location were CANADA GEESE, MALLARD, REDHEAD, RING-NECKED DUCKS, GREATER SCAUP, BUFFLEHEAD, COMMON GOLDENEYE, COMMON MERGANSER and HORNED GREBE. Other observers at Point Petre yesterday found LONG-TAILED DUCKS, COMMON GOLDENEYE, BUFFLEHEAD, RED-BREASTED MERGANSER, and GREATER SCAUP . The Outlet River offered HORNED GREBE, NORTHERN PINTAIL, REDHEAD, GREATER SCAUP, COMMON MERGANSER, and CANADA GEESE. Meanwhile at Prince Edward Point, everything was pretty much frozen over and lifeless, according to one observer on Friday. Another observer down that way today had much better results with 3,000 LONG-TAILED DUCKS, 8 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS and 25 GREATER SCAUP. Also seen along the peninsula were 300 AMERICAN ROBINS, 150 RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS, 1 GREAT BLUE HERON and 2 SONG SPARROWS (1 singing). Two blue-phase SNOW GEESE were in Wellington on Tuesday, and another 6 SNOW GEESE were seen in flight along Royal Road. Returning to the winter scene, at least one of the two VARIED THRUSHES at Prinyer's Cove continues to make regular visits to the feeder at 383 Prinyer's Cove Crescent, where a NORTHERN FLICKER and two RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS are also sampling the menu. A SHARP-SHINNED HAWK made a visit to a feeder in Bloomfield during the week, and another east of Lake-on-the-Mountain. At Tweed, a NORTHERN GOSHAWK was observed chasing a mourning dove across a nearby field. SNOW BUNTINGS were seen during the week at Point Petre (1), Big Island (2), Sandbanks Provincial Park (12), and 250 in a freshly manured field on County Road 18 near Fairfield's Resort. WILD TURKEY reports included 35 at the Sidney Street location north of Belleville, 1 at South Bay, 5 at Milford, 7 at Lake-on-the-Mountain, 2 at Long Point, 18 on County Road 11 near Sandbanks, 4 crossing the highway near Warkworth, and two strolling nonchalantly down a driveway in Carrying Place. Another stroller was a RING-NECKED PHEASANT hiking along the road in Warkworth. And still another casual afternoon walker was a RUFFED GROUSE which took all of five minutes to cross in front of one motorist on Brewer's Road. Other good sightings during the week were SONG SPARROW and WHITE-THROATED SPARROW at Lake-on-the-Mountain on Tuesday and another white-throat on Bongard's Crossroad, NORTHERN FLICKER near the corner of Scoharie Road and County Road 2, EASTERN BLUEBIRD on Point Petre Road, 500 AMERICAN ROBINS in the Point Petre area, BALD EAGLE at Glenora, RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER at Wellington, PILEATED WOODPECKER on County Road 23 and another on Valley Road, and still another reported from Tweed, and 2 RED-TAILED HAWKS at Consecon. One observer doing owl surveys for the Breeding Bird Atlas in the Ameliasburgh area made 18 stops and recorded 8 EASTERN SCREECH OWLS from seven stops and 4 GREAT HORNED OWLS from two stops. Observations on Amherst Island on March 11th were SNOWY OWL (1), 5 dark morph ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, 14 SNOW BUNTINGS and a NORTHERN FLICKER. And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area. Our thanks to Lloyd Paul, Richard Koppens, Colin Bradshaw, Glenn Tooze, Owen Weir, Liz Churcher and George Thomson, Donald McClure, James Leaney, Angela Mantle, Walter Frey, Evelyn & Doug Sloane, Don Craighead, Bob Sachs, Fred Helleiner, Joe Victor, and David Bree. This report will be updated by 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 23rd. Bird sightings must be in by 6:00 p.m. on Sunday evening to be included in the next report. Good birding ! Terry Sprague Picton, Ontario [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.naturestuff.net "Terry Sprague" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
