WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA for Sunday, February 29, 2004
Today is the close of the winter season, as far as winter bird lists go, and birders this evening are likely compiling their totals for the season. In Prince Edward County, a total of 114 species was confirmed. Nothing too terribly spectacular during the season, although GLAUCOUS GULL, ICELAND GULL, BLACK VULTURE, HERMIT THRUSH, FOX SPARROW, TUFTED TITMOUSE, COMMON RAVEN, and what appears to be southeastern Ontario's only appearance of a GRAY JAY (near Bloomfield) were all nice additions to the season's final tally. Warmer weather during the past week reflected favourably on ice conditions around the county. Although limited open water can be found at Wellington Harbour (there were 4 MUTE SWANS there Saturday), conditions along the Lake Ontario shoreline are improving. The large ice banks are slowly dwindling along this shoreline and large numbers of waterfowl are vacating the south shore and slowly moving in toward Prince Edward Bay. Over 1,800 COMMON GOLDENEYE were counted between Kaiser Road and the end of Cressy Lakeside Road during the week, many of which were engaged in courtship. COMMON MERGANSERS, relatively absent all winter, started to reappear last week, but are still likely a week before their peak. A pair of NORTHERN PINTAIL turned up just west of Point Traverse on the weekend, and WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS and LONG-TAILED DUCKS were present at Prince Edward Point. During an aerial survey of the Lake Ontario shoreline on February 23rd, between Prince Edward Point and the Cressy area, and Nicholson's Island at Huyck's Point over 16,000 ducks were seen comprising 10 species. Among them were 8,408 LONG-TAILED DUCKS, 4,803 COMMON GOLDENEYE, 1,606 scaup, and 1,163 BUFFLEHEADS. Included in the totals for the day too were 51 REDHEADS, seen in the Soup Harbour and south shoreline area. But it wasn't just waterfowl that was seen during the week in the county, particularly in the Prince Edward Point National Wildlife Area. Birders down that way on Friday saw NORTHERN FLICKER, 2 PURPLE FINCHES and a BARRED OWL. Of particular interest was a flock of 450 waxwings, 250 of which turned out to be BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS. With the 9 seen almost two weeks ago at Massassauga Point, and recent reports of them on the OntarioBirds listserv, birders in the county should be watchful of any flocks of waxwings appearing in the area over the next little while. The North Marysburgh peninsula, including Waupoos, Cressy Lakeside, Prinyer's Cove and crossroads in between, and located directly across Prince Edward Bay from Prince Edward Point, has been drawing the interest of birders in recent years. Prinyer's Cove in recent years has hosted a varied thrush, Say's phoebe and Ross's goose, just to name a few of the specialties this area has produced. In addition, Kaiser Crossroad in the spring hosts thousands of ducks in the flooded fields there, and the lakeshore harbours large numbers of waterfowl as well. Understandably, birders are focusing on this area more and more now. Birders down there on Friday came up with 2 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS, NORTHERN FLICKER, RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS, and WILD TURKEYS. An accommodating NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL was found sitting on a fence under a cedar overhang, where it was seen again in the same spot some three hours later. On Friday, there was an adult BALD EAGLE in a tree near Waupoos, a MERLIN at the Milford Road turn-off, 2 NORTHERN FLICKERS, and a PILEATED WOODPECKER at South Bay, NORTHERN SHRIKE at Cressy, and 4 female PURPLE FINCHES at Massassauga Point. Also of interest was a backyard RED-TAILED HAWK in Bloomfield, EASTERN BLUEBIRDS at the Rutherford-Stevens Lookout above Smith's Bay, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER near Little Bluff Conservation Area, and 5 SCREECH OWLS north of Trenton. Feeder reports were few during the week, but of interest were RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, COMMON REDPOLLS and PINE SISKINS coming to a feeder on Glenora Road, just east of Picton, and a PINE SISKIN at a feeder along County Road 8 just west of The Rock. Whether or not it's a good omen, there was a KILLDEER calling vigorously along Dundas Street at the east end of Belleville on Tuesday. And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area. Our thanks to Silvia Botnick, Fred Chandler, Albert Boisvert, Lloyd Paul, Donald McClure, Bob Sachs and Michael Schummer for their contributions to this week's report. This report also appears weekly on the Birding page at www.naturestuff.net. This report will be updated by 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 29th. Bird sightings must be in by 6:00 p.m. Sunday evening to be included in the next report. Good winter birding. By the way, a new Nature Forum has just been introduced to the NatureStuff website. Join us if you can for lively discussions. Terry Sprague Picton, Ontario [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.naturestuff.net "Terry Sprague" <[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.
