WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR THE
WEEK ENDING Thursday, September 22, 2005
As might be expected, the bulk of the activity this week was at famed Prince
Edward Point where everything has been quite literally "hopping." Here at
this southeastern most tip of Prince Edward County, the numbers of birds
continue to grow as the fall season starts in earnest, in fact on Sunday
(18th) banders had their biggest ever one day fall banding total, an
amazing 689 birds of 42 species were banded. Species seen that day
included - 7 BALD EAGLES, a NORTHERN GOSHAWK, 130 BLUE-HEADED VIREOS, 25
RED-EYED VIREOS, 1500 BLUE JAYS, 75 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS, 85 GRAY-CHEEKED
THRUSHES, 60 SWAINSON'S THRUSHES, 100 NASHVILLE WARBLERS, 8 CHESTNUT-SIDED
WARBLERS, 125 MAGNOLIA WARBLERS, 22 BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLERS, 800
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, 32 BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLERS, 12 BLACKBURNIAN
WARBLERS, 15 western PALM WARBLERS, 100 BLACKPOLL WARBLERS, 8 AMERICAN
REDSTARTS, 4 OVENBIRDS, 8 SCARLET TANAGERS, 40 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS and
20 DARK-EYED JUNCOS.
Other birds seen during the week included the first 2 RED-BREASTED
MERGANSERS on the 22nd, a KILLDEER has been seen on two days and the
SOLITARY SANDPIPER is still to be seen in the harbour. A lost racing pigeon
has been present near the banding station for ten days now and frequents the
cracked corn daily. Two WHIP-POOR-WILLS were trapped on the 18th and 19th
but no owls have been caught yet. The first YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER of the
fall appeared on the 17th and are starting to appear daily now. Flicker
numbers peaked this week at 10 on the 20th. Flycatchers are still being
seen but only in singles and are not reliable except for EASTERN PHOEBES
which are increasing in numbers. BLUE JAYS have been moving in earnest over
the last eight days and up to 4000 have been seen going over in a day. The
only swallows seen all week was two Tree Swallows on the 18th. 115 BROWN
CREEPERS arrived on the 19th as did 15 WINTER WRENS , and 18 were seen
today. An EASTERN BLUEBIRD flew over calling on the 18th and the last A
VEERY was seen on the 17th. Six HERMIT THRUSHES on the 21st are a small
taste of the numbers of this species to come, SWAINSON'S THRUSH numbers are
decreasing and GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSHES are increasing. A YELLOW WARBLER was
seen on the 17th and today (the 22nd) a Yellow PALM WARBLER was trapped.
SCARLET TANAGERS are still moving through in good numbers with 8 on the
18th, and 3 each on the 20th and 22nd, nearly three times as many of them
have been seen this year as compared to last year. As is usual at this
time of year sparrow numbers are increasing and we have had peak count of
20 Junco's and 40 WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS on the 18th and 15 WHITE-CROWNED
SPARROWS on the 21st and the first adult of these was seen today.
A sign of things to come as we enter the autumn season was September 18th,
when an incredible 20 BALD EAGLES, 3 MERLINS, a NORTHERN GOSHAWK, 1 COOPER'S
HAWK, 1 RED-SHOULDERED HAWK and 6 BROAD-WINGED HAWKS were tallied at Prince
Edward Point by a large group of Kingston Field Naturalists members. Other
birds of note seen that same day were ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER and 3
PHILADELPHIA VIREOS.
Shorebird variety is traditionally difficult to come by in Prince Edward
County; however, 3 GREATER YELLOWLEGS turned up at a storm water management
pond at Rednersville on the 21st, and Sandbanks on the 14th had 4 BAIRD'S
SANDPIPERS, 8 SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, 2 SANDERLINGS and 12 KILLDEER.
RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS are still enjoying the fine weather, and continue
to come to feeders across the county, with three being the highest total, at
Waupoos. These feeders are also hosting other nectar craved birds, including
a number of DOWNY WOODPECKERS on Glenora Road, and several BLACK-CAPPED
CHICKADEES at a nectar feeder at Thomasburg. EASTERN BLUEBIRDS (2) turned up
this week at a bird bath on Lahey Road, south of Madoc, and a backyard on
Ridge Road south of Picton has 4 making daily visits there. Occasional
ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS were reported from the Smith's Bay area.
Meanwhile, at the community of Albury, across the Bay of Quinte from
Trenton, this week's tally of birds continues to rival past accounts in this
weekly report. Two COMMON NIGHTHAWKS appeared on September 15th, and there
was a GREAT EGRET, not far from there, at 12 O'clock Point, on the 17th.
Birds turning up regularly on this homeowner's property have included 5
BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLERS, a BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER, AMERICAN REDSTART,
NORTHERN PARULA, BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLERS, BAY-BREASTED WARBLERS,
NASHVILLE WARBLERS, GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHERS, and YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER.
The birding is even good at remote areas. On the Cataraqui Trail near
Newburgh, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS, SCARLET TANAGERS, EASTERN PHOEBES, CEDAR
WAXWINGS and a YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER, just to name a few of the more
notable species, were recorded by one party on September 18th.
A few other species of interest seen over the last little while include a
MOURNING WARBLER in Cherry Valley on the 16th, and a GREAT EGRET struggling
against the wind over Athol Bay at Sandbanks on the same day. A PEREGRINE
FALCON turned up near Cherry Valley on the 17th. The four RED-BELLIED
WOODPECKERS continue to visit a feeder on Highway 33 east of Picton, where
there has also been a RED-EYED VIREO and up to 5 NORTHERN FLICKERS. Last
week's GREAT HORNED OWL is still present at the far end of Easterbrook Road
at Point Petre. A BALD EAGLE was seen at the corner of Bethesda Road and Fry
Road this morning. A MERLIN collided with a window at Consecon on the 18th,
and died. In the Moira River's East Channel, just south of Stoco Lake,
there was a GREEN HERON seen by two canoeists on September 22nd.
And, if you like EUROPEAN STARLINGS, well, there are fully 2,000 of them
right now at one home, that alternate between overhead hydro wires and a
pasture field where they can be seen foraging daily.
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), Bob
Maurer, Mike Carmody, Eileen Robbins, Don Chisholm, John and Margaret Moore,
Peter Marshall, Jim McAllister, Laura Pierce, Judy Bell, Janet Mooney, Bruce
Ripley, Judith Gray, Donn and John Legate, Trudy Kitchen, Silvia Botnick,
Nancy Fox, Bill Hogg and Rae O'Brien for their contributions to this week's
report. This report will be updated on Thursday, September 29th. Bird
sightings may be forwarded to [EMAIL PROTECTED] any time before the Thursday
6:00 p.m. deadline. This report also appears for a period of seven days on
the NatureStuff website under BIRDING where this week's featured photo is a
GREAT HORNED OWL, taken by Elena Petrcich.
Terry Sprague
Prince Edward County
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.naturestuff.net
