Ontbirders,
Here is a fascinating post that Glenn Coady put on the Atlas listserv.
Glenn is not signed onto Ontbirds so with his permission we are posting it
to Ontbirds.
Ron Pittaway and Jean Iron
Hello fellow atlassers,
Here is a trip report summary of the northern atlas expedition done on the
coast of James Bay about 20 kilometres north of the Swan River (just south
of 54 degrees N) from June 9-19th this summer. We will be forwarding a more
detailed trip report (including photographs) for the atlas web page shortly,
but we thought many of you might be interested in a summary in the interim.
On June 8, 2003 our group of four atlassers (Mark Peck, Glenn Coady, Gerry
Binsfeld and Karl Konze) departed Toronto for the drive to Timmins to
prepare for a flight the following morning via Ontario Ministry of Natural
Resources plane (Twin Otter) to a suitable area for a gravel ridge landing
on the James Bay coast for 11 days of atlassing.
Our pilot, Frank Aquino, suggested landing at a gravel ridge area that they
regularly use as a coastal fuel cache site north of the Swan River with
which he was quite familiar (square 17MV26). It turned out to be an area
right on the James Bay coast that presented us with an interesting
combination of a succession of treed (white spruce/larch/willow/alder) beach
ridges that alternated with narrow string bogs and sedge fens that gave us
quite an exciting and convenient mix of boreal bird species as well as the
prairie affinity species for which the James Bay coast is famous.
We arrived at a time when seasonal change was very apparent at this site. On
June 9th we arrived in bright sunshine, near high tide, to a James Bay that
was nearly entirely still choked with several metre high blocks of broken up
ice, the sound of the large blocks of ice knocking against one another being
one of the early constant sounds of our trip. Our trip varied from daily
highs of 12C and nightly lows down to 2C on arrival, to a few days before
our departure where daily highs reached 22-24C and this portion of James Bay
was by that time clear of ice to the horizon. Weather could often change
quite quickly with one day offering up small hail, a light snowfall and
brilliant clear skies in rapid succession. Overall we had quite good weather
for atlassing with a minimum of rain and cool enough temperatures and enough
constant wind to keep mosquitoes and blackflies to a minimum and bird song
at a maximum.
The first few days of the trip it was quite evident that late north-bound
migration was still in progress with often large daily numbers of passage
Black-bellied Plovers (75+), Ruddy Turnstones (400+), Semipalmated
Sandpipers (90+), Red Knots (peak flock of 53 including one bird with an
orange-coloured leg flag indicating prior banding in Argentina), Brant (90+)
and smaller numbers of Semipalmated Plovers, American Golden-Plovers and
Red-necked Phalaropes and individual White-rumped Sandpiper, Lapland
Longspur and Snow Bunting. By the time we were about to leave, the first
Least Sandpipers (possibly failed breeders) were already arriving, likely
southbound.
In total we observed 99 species of birds and found breeding evidence for 75
species (29 confirmed, 20 probable, 26 possible - with an additional seven
species listed as "X"). Among those species confirmed we found more than 160
nests of 24 different species of birds (including over 60 nests of Savannah
Sparrow - breeding here in densities that we found quite impressive) for the
Ontario Nest Records Scheme.
The absolute high point of our trip came in a one hour period on June 12th
when we had the good fortune to find the first documented nests for Ontario
for both Pine Grosbeak (nest with 3 eggs) and Bohemian Waxwing (nest with 4
eggs) a mere 305 metres apart from one another!. Other trip highlights
included: Ontario's seventh reported Blackpoll Warbler nest (second of the
atlas so far); two nests of Le Conte's Sparrow (first for the atlas); a nest
of Sandhill Crane (as well as another pair of recently fledged young); two
Wilson's Snipe nests; nests of both Long-eared Owl with 5 eggs and
Short-eared Owl with 7 eggs (populations of three different vole species -
Meadow Vole, Gapper's Red-backed Vole and Heather Vole, I believe -
appeared to us to be quite high this year, likely boding well for owl
productivity) - the Short-eared Owl nest was only 2 metres away from a
Northern Pintail nest !!; two Merlin nests - incredibly only about 500
metres apart; two nests of Fox Sparrow (we noted how similar certain begging
calls of their young can be to Common Redpoll's flight notes); one nest each
for Lincoln's Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow and White-crowned Sparrow; nests of
several species of ducks (the place is a veritable duck factory!) including
Mallard, Green-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler and Lesser
Scaup (first confirmation for the atlas); collectively we had about a dozen
sightings of Yellow Rail and heard several dozen birds (though we found no
nests despite much search effort); finding several areas with singing
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrows which appeared to only just recently be
establishing territories (including one that would sing until midnight right
outside our tents at camp!!). We also saw sufficient numbers of White-winged
Scoters and Black Scoters at the coast to suggest that beyond simply moult
staging these birds might also be breeding in the area yet unfound thus far.
Other interesting moments included the following: while searching for an
American Crow nest, Gerry & Mark found the carcass of a dead Wolverine; Karl
discovered a Woodland Caribou with a young while doing point counts; Mark
saw two wolves passing by our cook tent early one morning; Karl discovered
an orange neck band (EA70) from a James Bay Canada Goose on a bed of moss
and lichen in the midst of a spruce forest; Mark found a similarly banded
live bird (orange neck band M5R2) incubating a nest; Karl found a jumping
mouse (presumably Meadow Jumping Mouse) and a Brown Elfin (our only
butterfly for the locality); Mark did a live-to-tape interview promoting the
atlas for CBC Radio 1's Fresh Air morning program (which aired Sunday, June
22 @0830 hrs) via our satellite telephone direct from our cook tent on the
shore of James Bay !! - in an area we have now dubbed "Bohemian Point".
We managed to do just in excess of 50 point counts and here is a synopsis of
our breeding evidence codes for the birds found during our stay:
Common Loon - H; American Bittern - D; Snow Goose - X; Canada Goose - NY;
Tundra Swan - X; Gadwall - H; American Wigeon - P; American Black Duck - P;
Mallard - NE; Northern Shoveler - NE; Northern Pintail - NE; American
Green-winged Teal - NE; Lesser Scaup - NE; Common Merganser - H;
Red-breasted Merganser - H; Bald Eagle - H; Northern Harrier - DD;
Red-tailed Hawk - A; Rough-legged Hawk - H; Merlin - NE; Peregrine Falcon -
X; Yellow Rail - T; Sora - T; Sandhill Crane - NE; Semipalmated Plover - X
(suspect they are excluded in suitable habitat here by Killdeer); Killdeer -
NY; Greater Yellowlegs - H; Lesser Yellowlegs - P; Whimbrel - X; Marbled
Godwit - D; Wilson's Snipe - NY; Wilson's Phalarope - P; Bonaparte's Gull -
P; Herring Gull - H; Arctic Tern - X; Long-eared Owl - NE; Short-eared Owl -
NE; Three-toed Woodpecker - H; Northern Flicker - S; Olive-sided Flycatcher
- S; Yellow-bellied Flycatcher - S; Alder Flycatcher - S; Eastern Kingbird -
H; Philadelphia Vireo - S; Gray Jay - FY; American Crow - NY; Common Raven -
P; Horned Lark - NY; Black-capped Chickadee - H; Boreal Chickadee - P; Brown
Creeper - S; Winter Wren - S; Ruby-crowned Kinglet - N; Swainson's Thrush -
T; Hermit Thrush - S; American Robin - CF; Brown Thrasher - S; American
Pipit - X; Bohemian Waxwing - NE; Cedar Waxwing - H; Orange-crowned Warbler
- N; Yellow Warbler - NU; Cape May Warbler - H; Yellow-rumped Warbler - NE;
Blackpoll Warbler - NE; Northern Waterthrush - S; Wilson's Warbler - P;
American Tree Sparrow - T; Savannah Sparrow - NY; Le Conte's Sparrow - NE;
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow - S; Fox Sparrow - NY; Lincoln's Sparrow - NE;
Swamp Sparrow - NE; White-throated Sparrow - A; White-crowned Sparrow - NE;
Dark-eyed Junco - S; Red-winged Blackbird - S; Rusty Blackbird - CF; Pine
Grosbeak - NE; White-winged Crossbill - P; Common Redpoll - P
By the time we were gathering up to leave, we all agreed this was one of our
most cherished Ontario birding trips ever. We would like to thank Mike
Cadman and Nicole Kopysh for logistical support for this atlas trip. Special
thanks go to the Ministry of Natural Resources, in particular Ken Abraham
and Lyle Walton, who arranged for our flight transportation to and from the
James Bay coast from Timmins as well as to our MNR pilots, Frank Aquino and
Mike Coyne, for their kind assistance and thorough professionalism.
For those of you that have been tempted to try far northern atlassing but
haven't applied as yet, I hope you will give it serious consideration - it
is very rewarding indeed.
Have a great 2003 atlas season,
Glenn Coady 13802
Regional Coordinator - Atlas Region 12 (Toronto)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Jean Iron
9 Lichen Place
Toronto ON M3A 1X3
416-445-9297
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Jean Iron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Visit http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm for information on leaving
and joining the list. As well as general information and content
guidelines.
