WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA
for the week ending Thursday, September 01, 2005
Once again, the Quinte Area Bird Report is back online with a synopsis of
not only the past week, but also the past summer, since the report went
offline in mid-June. Although new sightings tend to come and go, one
dependable arrival is a PEREGRINE FALCON that has adopted an air
conditioning unit on the 13th floor of the McNabb Towers in downtown
Belleville as its own personal abattoir. The bird has been there since the
first of August and routinely brings ROCK DOVES to this location to be
consumed. Residents in the building, particularly those living below the
13th floor, report an almost daily shower of feathers, bones and entrails
dropping to the ground below. McNabb Towers is located at the north end of
Front Street in downtown Belleville, beside the Moira River and is the only
apartment complex in that location. The bird cannot be seen from Front
Street, but can easily be seen if you approach the apartment complex at the
rear via the Parrott Riverside Trail from the north.
SANDHILL CRANES have shown up once again in the East Lake area, two of them
turning up sporadically anywhere along County Road 10 to Cherry Valley, and
have been seen as far south as Sandbanks along County Road 18. Two other
SANDHILL CRANES have been reported from along the Highway 7 corridor in the
Madoc area, and north to Queensboro, and were last seen August 19th. There
was a well described SNOWY EGRET on August 6th perched on a duck blind near
Bald Island at the Wellers Bay National Wildlife Area. A colony of at least
5 SEDGE WRENS turned up along the Millennium Trail near Smoke Point Road on
August 8th.
Unlike Amherst Island to the east of Prince Edward County, and Presqu'ile
Provincial Park to the west, shorebird watching in the County is hit and
miss, and a case of being in the right place at the right time, as was an
observer on August 18th, when he found a HUDSONIAN GODWIT at Sandbanks'
Outlet River mouth. LESSER YELLOWLEGS have been turning up in the almost dry
riverbed of the Moira in Belleville since the end of July.
Warblers, however, are a bit more dependable. While waiting in the car at
Sandbanks Provincial Park to conduct a guided hike one day last week, the
trees bordering the parking lot were alive with songbirds. In the space of
five minutes,. a large water puddle in the lot attracted, one after the
other, a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, a BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, a PINE WARBLER,
several YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, and a BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER. A PINE
WARBLER at Picton's Glenwood Cemetery on July 12th, a BLACK-THROATED GREEN
WARBLER at Macaulay Mountain Conservation Area on July 18th, and a NASHVILLE
WARBLER on Big Island through July probably represented resident birds.
Bringing things more up to date, 22 COMMON NIGHTHAWKS were seen along
Huyck's Point Road on the 29th and another 7 were seen flying over Prospect
Avenue in Picton yesterday.
The Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory was officially re-opened on August
16th for the fall season. A COMMON LOON was seen there on the 21st, and
the usual 5000+ DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS were present on the shoal
offshore. A GREAT EGRET was found flying over on the 16th and is the first
record for the Observatory. MALLARD numbers soon built up from just 2 to 75
within the first two weeks and a few WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS and AMERICAN BLACK
DUCKS have been seen offshore. NORTHERN HARRIERS and COOPER'S HAWKS were
seen almost daily and the occasional SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS have been seen.
From the 22nd, small numbers of BROAD-WINGED HAWKS have been recorded with a
peak of 12 seen today, Thursday. A MERLIN has been seen twice and today a
few AMERICAN KESTRELS moved through.
Very few shorebirds have been seen on the beach so far but 6 species have
been recorded. BLACK-BILLED CUCKOOS have been seen on 6 dates and a
YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO was seen on the 23rd. COMMON NIGHTHAWKS are being
seen regularly in the late evening flying about just as darkness arrives.
Twenty RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS were noted on the 21st but numbers are
starting to drop off. An OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER was seen in the area on the
23rd and there have been reasonable numbers of the more common flycatchers
about, among them, between 10 and 16 EASTERN KINGBIRDS noted daily between
the 23rd and 30th.
A BLUE-HEADED VIREO was seen on the 16th and up to 30 RED-EYED VIREOS have
been present. The only bird of note when Hurricane Katrina went past was a
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. Good numbers of hirundines went over after the
wind and rain died down with up to 150 each of TREE, BARN and BANK SWALLOWS.
A few RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES are present but only one WHITE-BREASTED
NUTHATCH has been seen so far. An early BROWN CREEPER was found on the 17th
and an EASTERN BLUEBIRD was seen on the 20th. Reasonable numbers of
SWAINSON'S THRUSHES have been seen and also two early HERMIT THRUSHES.
Large numbers of yellow-rumped warblers (for August) have been seen with a
peak of 50 on the 25th and contain both moulting
adults and young ones still in juvenile plumage, dare we say it, its almost
like an October day out here sometimes. Twenty-one species of warblers have
been recorded so far including 2 CAPE MAY WARBLERS and 2 CONNECTICUT
WARBLERS (both trapped), and good numbers of TENNESSEE and WILSON'S are also
present. The first 2 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS appeared on the 29th. And
finally, two very early EVENING GROSBEAKS sat in the tree above the
Observatory for a while calling to each other on the 17th, making it seem
even more like October.
Even bird feeders are humming right now, with ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS at one
feeder in Picton, and the usual October/November type clientel, many with
young of the year. Having missed the big rain events that Toronto received
during the summer, it was a treat to see 60+ mm of rain, and considerably
more in some parts the county, arrive on the heels of Hurricane Katrina.
With the formerly parched conditions taking on a more refreshed look, we can
hope that this has a positive effect in some way on the tempo of the autumn
migration in the weeks to come.
And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area.
Our thanks to David Okines (Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory), Charles
Crowe, Roger Jones, John and Margaret Moore, Geroge West, Barry Pinsky, Ross
Saunders, Doug Howell, and Cheryl Anderson for their contributions to this
week's report. This report will be updated on Thursday, September 8th. Bird
sightings may be forwarded to [EMAIL PROTECTED] anytime before the Thursday
6:00 p.m. deadline. This report also appears on the NatureStuff website
under BIRDING where this week's featured photo is a zoomed in photo of
Belleville's PEREGRINE FALCON, taken by the author on August 29th.
Terry Sprague
Prince Edward County
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.naturestuff.net
