Forwarding from the Geneseebirds (NY) list. Willie [EMAIL PROTECTED] Earlier today, Bill Watson and I were able to see the Piping Plover at Rock Point Provincial Park. We found the Plover feeding in a fairly small patch of algae away from the large flocks of Shorebirds, keeping to itself, and defending the patch against Killdeer and Semipalmated Plovers. The Plover contained three bands on its legs, a silver and an orange band on the left leg, and a single red band on its right leg. In total there were about 300 Shorebirds of 13 species at Rock Point, also highlighted by 1 adult Red Knot and 11 juvenile Baird's Sandpipers. Other highlights included 3 breeding-plumaged Long-tailed Ducks on the rocky beach. We also stopped at the Canal Bank Sod Farms in Dunnville, along with Kraft Road and Jaeger Rocks in Fort Erie. At the Sod Farms the highlights were 54 Black-bellied Plovers; at Kraft Road, 6 Black-bellied Plovers, along with a Carolina Wren; and at Jaeger Rocks, 3 molting (mostly in winter plumage) Forster's Terns, and 2 Black-bellied Plovers. Jim Pawlicki [EMAIL PROTECTED] Williamsville, NY From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Aug 18 21:42:37 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from tomts10-srv.bellnexxia.net (tomts10.bellnexxia.net [209.226.175.54]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 88BDC638D8 for <[email protected]>; Thu, 18 Aug 2005 21:42:37 -0400 (EDT) Received: from trentu.ca ([216.208.194.157]) by tomts10-srv.bellnexxia.net (InterMail vM.5.01.06.10 201-253-122-130-110-20040306) with ESMTP id <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Thu, 18 Aug 2005 21:44:22 -0400 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 21:44:20 -0400 From: Fred Helleiner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: [email protected] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Antivirus: avast! (VPS 0533-3, 08/17/2005), Outbound message X-Antivirus-Status: Clean Subject: [Ontbirds] Presqu'ile Birding Report for Week Ending August 18, 2005. X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 01:42:37 -0000
At Presqu'ile Provincial Park, the comfortable temperatures and the influx of migrant birds have enticed more birders back to the Park, and most of them have not been disappointed. Five Common Loons have been seen in the past week in Presqu'ile Bay or flying over it. Four Great Egrets were visible at one time on August 15 by focussing a spotting scope on the north end of High Bluff Island. The most interesting duck of the week was a male scaup sleeping on the shore of Gull Island on August 18. It could not be identified as to species. Both of the preceding sightings were made from Lookout #3 on the Owen Point trail. Five Wood Ducks were in the marsh on August 14. An Osprey was flying over Presqu'ile Bay on August 15, and a Merlin was perched in a tree near the Park Store on the preceding day. With shorebird numbers gradually increasing, it will soon be time for Peregrine Falcons to arrive and begin patrolling the beach for sustenance. As usual for this time of year, shorebirds are the main attraction at Presqu'ile. Although many of them stay on Gull Island and the nearby offshore bars, which remain off limits for a few more weeks, there is a good deal of movement between there and the algae mats between beach 3 and Owen Point, which provide ample good habitat. From Owen Point one can usually obtain a reasonably good look at those birds that insist on frustrating attempts to identify them by remaining on the islands. A sampling of the fourteen species found recently includes a few Black-bellied Plovers almost every day, both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, up to a dozen or so Baird's Sandpipers, a Pectoral Sandpiper, three Stilt Sandpipers, and, best of all, a Buff-breasted Sandpiper on August 18, which is both a rather rare bird and a fairly early date. Although many of the Caspian Terns that were so abundant on Gull Island a week ago have moved on, there are still a few dozen there at any one time. A Common Tern was with them on August 15. A Yellow-bellied Flycatcher was at Owen Point on August 15, and various other flycatchers have been seen in the Park on most days. The next two weeks mark the short interval during which there is a chance of finding an Olive-sided Flycatcher. Among a large group of migrant passerines from various families of birds on August 17 there was one Philadelphia Vireo. Red-breasted Nuthatches and Brown Creepers both breed at Presqu'ile, but are now appearing in parts of the Park from which they have been absent since the spring. One observer found three of the latter on one day. Warblers have become quite plentiful this week, though often difficult to observe in dense foliage. Among the fourteen species seen this week are a Cape May Warbler on August 17, numerous Yellow-rumped Warblers, several Blackburnian Warblers, a very early Palm Warbler on August 12 and two subsequent days (perhaps the earliest record by two weeks), a Blackpoll Warbler on August 17, Wilson's Warblers (two on August 15 and one on August 17), and a few Canada Warblers from August 15 onward. To reach Presqu'ile Provincial Park, follow the signs from Brighton. Locations within the Park are shown on a map at the back of a tabloid that is available at the Park gate. Access to the offshore islands is restricted at this time of year to prevent disturbance to the colonial nesting birds there. Questions and comments about bird sightings at Presqu'ile may be directed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- -- Fred Helleiner 186 Bayshore Road, R.R. #4, Brighton, Ontario, Canada, K0K 1H0 VOICE: (613) 475 5309 If visiting, access via Presqu'ile Provincial Park.
