Just returned from five days of cycling on Manitoulin Island. This is one of the best places in Ontario to observe Sandhill Cranes; we saw them every day as we rode different circuits of the island. The biggest group we encountered was a flock of about 80 birds, both adults and juveniles, in a field on the west side of Hwy. 6 between Little Current and Sheguiandah. We observed several raptor species including Red-tailed hawk, Broad-winged hawk, Northern Harrier, numerous American Kestrels and Turkey Vultures, Osprey, and one Merlin (the latter occuring on Lakeshore Road just south of Kagawong). A remarkably scenic ride around Mindemoya Lake took us past a lot of migrant passerines. As a courtesy to my riding mates I did not stop as often as I'd have liked, but during our breaks for water and map-checks I was able to observe ten warbler species including Nashville, Magnolia, American Redstart, Chestnut-sided, Cm. Yellowthroat and scores of Yellow-rumps. The latter species showed up in big numbers on many parts of the island including Sandfield, Gore Bay, Kagawong, and Sheguiandah. Other species that were evident in many places during our travels were Common Raven, Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Common Loon. There were numerous flycatchers - mainly Eastern Wood-Pewee and Kingbirds - but the only notable species from that group was an Olive-sided Flycatcher along Mud Creek Road on the northeast shoulder of Lake Kagawong (the full extent of which should never be attempted in a non-4X4 vehicle, as we soon discovered). I flushed a Snipe while stopping to look at a pair of Sandhill Cranes just south of the hamlet of Perivale and my only luck with Eastern Bluebird was at the corner of Elliot and Rockville Roads north of the town of Mindemoya. Interesting mammals included river otter, black bear and numerous white-tailed deer. 20th Sdrd. west of Tehkummah was excellent for butterflies. I did not see (despite desperately wanting) Sharp-tailed Grouse and suspect that, outside of the lek displays that occur near Gore Bay in the spring, they are hard to find. Ron Fleming, Newmarket Manitoulin Island is located at the north end of Lake Huron. For those who have not been there, It is a ruggedly beautiful island that is excellent for cycling, hiking and birding. From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Aug 25 11:41:12 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from smtp104.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com (smtp104.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com [206.190.36.82]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 3E94763DCC for <[email protected]>; Thu, 25 Aug 2005 11:41:12 -0400 (EDT) Received: (qmail 55340 invoked from network); 25 Aug 2005 15:44:01 -0000 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=rogers.com; h=Received:Message-ID:From:To:Subject:Date:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding:X-Priority:X-MSMail-Priority:X-Mailer:X-MimeOLE; b=d9viqxvbfdAk4HxMqpie5MEuh/2Kihvg9mgOQt5adI0OrevgkJVa0rRFtqPuNkk3Gd7SKWB11IlunU/t1aR4F9ylcjdFI43K5pjcy2RjxX62F7atCLPLuxDsheeYk3XCSLcbVdNf0vbgw48d6bdciC0KyRbJHRhShQguHpY/t3Y= ; Received: from unknown (HELO doug) ([EMAIL PROTECTED]@24.112.236.122 with login) by smtp104.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com with SMTP; 25 Aug 2005 15:44:01 -0000 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Doug Lockrey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "ontbirds" <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 11:45:34 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1409 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1409 Subject: [Ontbirds]Black-billed Cuckoo-Hall's Rd., Whitby-Aug.25 X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 15:41:12 -0000
A bright sunny, windless AM at the Cranberry Marsh Raptor Watch spelled "not much" hawk migration. Indeed, between 0730 and 10:00 EST we had only 1--an American Kestrel. Among the songbirds were 8 R-t Hummingbirds, Yellow Warblers, Red-eyed Vireos, Great Crested Flycatcher, Swamp Sparrows, E.Kingbirds, Catbird AND a BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO--identified and photographed by Rosemary Harris. These birds were spotted from Hall's Rd. along the south pathway. Hope to see some of you on Saturday and Sunday mornings at the hawk platform. >From the west--exit 404 off the 401, south along Salem Rd. to Bayly, east through Lakeridge Rd. to the first street-Hall's Rd.--south to the second roadside parking area. >From the east--exit 410 (Brock St. in Whitby), south to Victoria St., west across the causeway to Hall's Rd. Doug Lockrey, Whitby www.pickeringnaturalists.org
