Thanks to Alfred Adamo's posting yesterday, I had great views of the adult male Black-backed Woodpecker in Sandbanks Provincial Park today, October 24. It was tapping away at the bark low on a Scots pine right beside the sandy trail, only about 250 metres from the parking lot. I walked the rest of the trail to the next paved road and saw the area behind the washrooms where the woodpeckers were found yesterday - plenty of evidence of their working on several of the trees there but I never did see the female bird. Downy and Hairy woodpeckers also heard and seen, as well as small flocks of Golden-crowned Kinglets, 2 Ruby-crowned, juncos etc. Huge swirling flocks of blackbirds in the fields surrounding the park - a large Northern Goshawk flew into one such cloud of blackbirds and emerged with a struggling bird in its talons, but dropped it as it flew on over the road, perhaps startled by the car, and the lucky bird dashed off.
Directions: Prince Edward County Road 12 starts at the western edge of Bloomfield, south and east of Belleville. Follow this road to the junction of Cty.Rds. 12 & 18 in the village of West Lake (not West Beach as previously posted). Do not turn here but proceed another 1.1km on Cty.Rd.12 with on the right a trailer park, then the yellow gates to the Dunes Day Use Area, to a small paved road only a few metres past the yellow gates to park in a gravelled area. The sandy cross-country ski trail, marked by dark blue markers on the trees, sets off from behind a rusty old fence near the carpark. There is no notice calling it a ski trail here though there is coming back from the other direction at the next paved road. A nice walk. Today, the Black-backed Woodpecker was working right beside the trail only about 250 metres from the carpark, at the only place where a few small dead pines have fallen across the trail. The plantation is not very large and fairly open, so worth searching if the birds are not near the trail. Margaret Bain Cobourg [EMAIL PROTECTED]
