WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR Sunday, April 25, 2004
Rain and even a little bit of freezing rain early this morning kept birders indoors for most of the day. However, the rest of the week provided birders with some half decent birding opportunities around the county and elsewhere. A YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER which first turned up at the Prince Edward Point National Wildlife Area on April 19th, was still being seen regularly until at least April 22nd. The bird alternated between the bird banding station, and across the harbour at the lighthouse. Other good sightings at Prince Edward Point this past week have included BLUE-HEADED VIREO, 20 YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKERS, WINTER WREN, GREATER YELLOWLEGS, 4 EVENING GROSBEAKS, and a RAVEN, the latter seen flying east along the north shore of Long Point on April 20th. Also on April 20th, observers at Prince Edward Point, noted a large passage of gulls and ducks, moving east offshore, with numbers alternately dropping and building again. Seen during this passage were 1,280 BONAPARTE GULLS (one in 50 being a first summer, all others in full breeding plumage, LITTLE GULL (3 adults and one 2nd summer, 4,675 LONG-TAILED DUCKS, and 1,295 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, A half dozen species of warblers have turned up so far at Prince Edward Point. New additions to the arrivals have been a yellow PALM WARBLER on April 18th, and NASHVILLE WARBLER on April 22nd. Other notable sightings down there have been VIRGINIA RAIL, NORTHERN SHOVELER, LINCOLN'S SPARROW, and both BROAD-WINGED and RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS. Throughout the county, both RUBY-CROWNED and GOLDEN CROWNED KINGLETS are now passing through. Two CASPIAN TERNS turned up near the Murray Canal on Tuesday (11 had been seen at Point Petre one day earlier) , and on the same day, there was a MERLIN and a GREEN HERON on Babylon Road. A VESPER SPARROW showed up on Army Reserve Road, and another observer found a flock of 10 during the week near Morganston. With Prince Edward County's sixth record of a BLACK VULTURE on April 19th in the space of less than a year, the species can almost be termed a regular occurrence now. The most recent sighting was made at Point Petre. It is entirely possible that the same individual is involved in the sprinkling of sightings that have occurred since September of last year, with one of those sightings occurring in December near Milford, and another well described individual at Prinyer's Cove January 17th. An observer at Gull Pond (off Army Reserve Road) yesterday had a field day when he tallied 2 OSPREYS on a nest, 3 NORTHERN HARRIERS, 5 RED-TAILED HAWKS, 1 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, 2 AMERICAN KESTRELS, 5 WILSON'S SNIPES, 2 AMERICAN WOODCOCKS, 2 MARSH WRENS (first sighting of the year), 3 BROWN THRASHERS, 2 SWAMP SPARROWS and a MALLARD on its nest with 9 eggs. A MALLARD in Belleville would have been more difficult to see on its nest, questionably placed in the crotch of a tree leaning against the side of a building, about 15 feet off the ground. More at home in a tree this week was a pair of WOOD DUCKS in the Barry Heights area of Trenton that have been nonchalantly strolling along the horizontal limb of an oak tree in a backyard. On Rose's Crossroad, in Prince Edward County, one dubiously happy female WOOD DUCK was being pursued by no fewer than 9 amorous males. Love is in the air. A few more new arrivals in the Quinte area during the week was a SORA on Hambly Road off River Road near Napanee, and PURPLE MARTINS, reported from a variety of locations during the week. RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS were noted at Prinyer's Cove, Picton, and Prince Edward Point. Other noteworthy sightings during the week included EASTERN TOWHEE at a feeder at The Rock (Cape Vesey), albino crow in Campbellford, BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER at Prince Edward Point (Apr. 19), BELTED KINGFISHER at Adolphustown and Big Island, PILEATED WOODPECKER at Sandbanks, adult BALD EAGLE on Adolphus Reach, and a HERMIT THRUSH on Rose's Crossroad. PURPLE FINCHES were reported from Prinyer's Cove, Prince Edward Point, Green Point Road, and Trenton. And the mystery of the week comes from Hambly Road near Napanee where a DOWNY WOODPECKER was repeatedly banging itself against a window - at 12:00 o'clock midnight! And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area. Our thanks to David Okines, Nick Quickert, Paul Mackenzie (Ontbirds), Anne Anthony (Ontbirds), Susan Withers, Ken Kingdon (Ontbirds), Bob Sachs, Fred Chandler, Doug McRae, Don Craighead, Bill Hogg, Evelyn Sloane, Lloyd Paul, Doris Lane, John Charlton, and Joe Victor for their contributions to this week's report. This report also appears on the Birding page at www.naturestuff.net, and will be updated by 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 03. Please note that next week's report will not be e-mailed or posted until Monday. Bird sightings must be in by 6:00 p.m. on Sunday evening to be included in the next report. Good spring birding. Terry Sprague Picton, Ontario [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.naturestuff.net
