Clear DayWEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA for Sunday, September 12, 2004
Welcome to the resumption of the Quinte Area Bird Report. Provided that enough reports and observations are received, this report will continue on a weekly basis, and will be available by 8:00 p.m. every Sunday evening. To date, nothing out of the ordinary has appeared in Prince Edward County on the heels of Hurricane Frances. Over 130 mm fell on most parts of the Quinte area and arrived just as 11 kayakers had reached Smith's Falls during an eight-day kayak trip up the Rideau Canal, from Kingston to Ottawa. Birds along the entire route in great abundance were OSPREYS, GREAT BLUE HERONS and COMMON LOONS. At Murphy's Point Provincial Park, at least three BARRED OWLS called throughout the night. Closer to home, a SANDHILL CRANE turned up at East Lake near Beaver Meadow on August 18th, and there were two in the same location on September 9th. Birders in the Albury area, south across the Bay of Quinte from Trenton, have seen MAGNOLIA, CHESTNUT-SIDED, CANADA, BLACKBURNIAN, BLACK-THROATED GREEN, NASHVILLE and BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLERS, signalling the start of the southward migration of warblers. However, at Prince Edward Point, where banding operations got under way officially on August 16th, warbler numbers there are still slow, but the variety is increasing. The first YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER there was seen on September 3rd, along with a BLACKPOLL WARBLER. The previous week, BAY-BREASTED WARBLER, BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER, MAGNOLIA WARBLER and OVENBIRD were added to the list of warblers observed so far. DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS were still in good supply when the Prince Edward Point Observatory opened for the fall season with about 5,000 seen daily offshore. A CAROLINA WREN was banded at the Point a few days before the Observatory was opened, and other individuals were seen on August 5th at 23 Sprague Road and another in Bloomfield on August 13th. Four early WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS were seen on August 21st and OSPREYS were seen in the harbour during the same time period. A RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER on the 20th was the first one ever banded in the fall, and a BROAD-WINGED HAWK was trapped on the 21st. An early WHITE-THROATED SPARROW was banded on August 20th and a NORTHERN PARULA was seen a day earlier. Due to the absence of algae on the beach, shorebirds have been scarce, although a fly by of shorebirds on September 8th revealed 2 BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPERS, 1 BAIRD'S SANDPIPER, and a WHIMBREL. Other highlights during the opening were 10 FIELD SPARROWS and 15 CLAY-COLORED SPARROWS of which 6 were trapped and banded. Two MUTE SWANS showed up on South Bay on August 25th and one was seen two days later offshore at Prince Edward Point, the latter being only the second ever recorded at the Observatory. Predominantly southerly winds during the last week of August resulted in few raptors being seen, but a NORTHERN GOSHAWK turned up near Point Traverse on the 28th and a MERLIN was seen on the 23rd. RED-EYED VIREOS (15) were seen at the Point on the 24th, along with the first MOURNING WARBLER. A small arrival on the 29th contained the first of the thrushes, one each of VEERY and SWAINSON'S THRUSH. Approaching closer to the normal reporting period, a RING-NECKED DUCK was seen in the harbour at Prince Edward Point with the MALLARDS on August 30th. BALD EAGLES were seen during the week with singles of an adult, a hatch year bird and a second year bird. Another NORTHERN GOSHAWK was seen at Point Traverse on September 4th and 5th. Raptors moving through during that period included 15 each of SHARP-SHINNED and BROAD-WINGED HAWKS, and 6 COOPER'S HAWKS. A PECTORAL SANDPIPER was found on the beach on the 2nd, but shorebirds continue to be scarce. The only COMMON NIGHTHAWK of the fall season flew over on the evening of September 2nd. Nectar feeders hanging at the Observatory continue to attract RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS with up to 9 birds being seen daily. . RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES have been appearing in good numbers with peaks of 15 on August 31st and 12 on September 1st. An AMERICAN PIPIT was on the beach September 4th. Ospreys in Prince Edward County fared very well this year. There was a juvenile Friday perched on a black willow at South Bay, an example of several successful nestings in the area. A new location this year was atop one of the light standards in the playground/ball park at Athol Central School in Cherry Valley. Still another new location was an artificial platform erected by Quinte Conservation along the Bay of Quinte off Dundas Street West, just on the west side of Belleville. A platform on the Bay of Quinte at Point Anne also appeared to be successful, as were close to a dozen other locations in the Quinte area. And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area. Our thanks to David Okines (P.E. Pt. Bird Observatory), Bruce DiLabio, Rae O'Brien, Carol Ireland, Sandra Dowds and Chris Keen for their contributions to this report. This report will be updated by 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, September 19th. Bird sightings must be in by 6:00 p.m. on Sunday evening to be included in the next report. This report is also posted in the Birding section of the NatureStuff website at www.naturestuff.net . Good fall birding! Terry Sprague Picton, Ontario [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.naturestuff.net
