Whilst out driving with Doug Sadler today we found two Great Gray Owls. The first was north of Bobcaygeon, on Anderson Line just east of Cosh's Rd. Anderson goes west from County Rd 49 about 2km north of the town. The other owl was on County Rd 36 between Bobcaygeon and Buckhorn, 200m west of the junction with Nichols Cove Rd. Three small flocks of Pine Grosbeaks were seen in the area around Bobcaygeon, two of the flocks feeding in crab-apple trees. We also watched an adult Bald Eagle adding sticks to its nest of last year on Lake Katchawanooka north of Lakefield. The nest can be seen from Young's Point Road west of the lake. Another adult Bald Eagle was observed from River Road, feeding on a dead carp on the shore of the Otonabee River, between Lakefield and Peterborugh. Tony Bigg From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thu Mar 2 19:48:35 2006 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from heracles.kos.net (heracles.kos.net [64.201.45.10]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 6B00D63D7E for <[email protected]>; Thu, 2 Mar 2006 19:48:11 -0500 (EST) Received: (qmail 27272 invoked from network); 3 Mar 2006 00:48:07 -0000 X-Mail-Scanner: Scanned by qSheff 1.0-r5 (http://www.enderunix.org/qsheff/) Received: from unknown (HELO D3ZD7M31) (64.201.46.173) by heracles.kos.net with SMTP; 3 Mar 2006 00:48:05 -0000 Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: "Terry Sprague" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Ontbirds" <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2006 19:46:27 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180 Subject: [Ontbirds]Quinte Area Bird Report for week ending March 02, 2006 X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2006 00:48:35 -0000
WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR THE WEEK ENDING Thursday, March 02, 2006 An EASTERN BLUEBIRD reported by a reader in Salem, west of Brighton, on February 24th, would appear to be a good omen and an indication that the warbler migration can't be that far in the distance! However, now that the entire Quinte area has finally been blanketed by at least a few centimetres of snow during the past week, accompanied by a frosty drop in temperature, we may have to wait awhile yet for those harbingers of spring to delight us with their songs. Reminders that winter is still here were sightings of 100 SNOW BUNTINGS on Bongard's Crossroad today and another flock of 30 not far east of there, at The Rock on Tuesday. PINE SISKINS continue to populate the area along Glenora Road, with four seen near the Lake-on-the-Mountain Road on the 26th, and good numbers still coming to the feeder at 11787 Highway 33 (Glenora Road) where similar numbers of COMMON REDPOLLS continue to join the menagerie of 40 HOUSE FINCHES, 20 BLUE JAYS, 25 DARK-EYED JUNCOS and 2 RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS. COMMON REDPOLLS and PINE SISKINS were also reported at feeders along Adolphus Reach. PINE SISKINS appeared at feeders at Belleville, as well as Thomasburg. AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES continue to increase at many feeding stations. About 60 are coming to a feeder at Thomasburg, and 30 or more continue to swarm a feeder at 23 Sprague Road on Big Island in Prince Edward County. But in among all these typically winter birds, are those who can't be convinced that spring is on its way. There is a pair of ROCK PIGEONS nesting in a cavity between a house roof and overhang on Village Drive in Belleville. A WHITE-THROATED SPARROW appeared at a feeder this week east of Waupoos at The Rock, and another was seen today at a feeder in Allisonville. Twenty AMERICAN ROBINS were seen near Glenora Ferry on the 26th along with 50 CEDAR WAXWINGS. A Black River feeder has several RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS. It is beginning to look as though there may be three pairs of COMMON RAVENS in Prince Edward County. One pair has been in the Elmbrook area since last year; but reports of a pair at The Rock that turned up today may be totally different birds than the pair that seem to reside and are reported almost daily in a small area at Black River. A report of a FOX SPARROW being at a feeder at Black River in January may be the same individual that appeared at a feeder at Smith's Bay in mid-December, a short distance away as the sparrow flies. Hawks and other birds of prey are everywhere it seems. A COOPER'S HAWK and a NORTHERN GOSHAWK were both reported from the Adolphus Reach area. RED-TAILED HAWKS showed up during the week near Scoharie Road, 4 at various locations along County Road 2 between Wellington and the Ameliasburgh sand dome, and one today along Loyalist/Wallbridge Road at Belleville near the new Quinte Christian High School. There was an AMERICAN KESTREL along County Road 2 today, a MERLIN was found on a telephone wire on Bridge Street West just east of Deseronto on the 28th, and BALD EAGLES during the week were seen at Prince Edward Point, Adolphus Reach and along the north shore of Prince Edward Bay. A SHARP-SHINNED HAWK was at a feeder in the South Bay area. WILD TURKEYS pop up unexpectedly here and there around the County and a flock of 60 or more in the Black River area represent the highest number seen during the week, with smaller numbers observed near the Rose House Museum east of Waupoos, Ridge Road, Sandbanks and near Closson Road (38). As the ice in lakes and bays tries to break up despite the cold, open waters here and there offer varied success at waterfowl watching. West Lake and Wellington Harbour today contained 10 species, including 30 MUTE SWANS, a TUNDRA SWAN and 10 REDHEADS. There were 150 COMMON GOLDENEYE counted at Cressy Lakeside along with 20 AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS, 50 MALLARDS and 3 MUTE SWANS. West of there, at The Rock, there were 50 COMMON GOLDENEYE seen. Prince Edward Point on the 26th had hundreds of LONG-TAILED DUCKS, 10 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, 5 REDHEADS, 100 GREATER SCAUP and 6 RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS. And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area. Our thanks to Alan Cullum, Bruce Ripley, Pamela Stagg, Monica Mills, Will Ogden, Jess Chambers, Beth McPherson, Dirk DeBoer, Trudy Kitchen, Silvia Botnick, Doris Lane, Bonnie McIntosh, Frank Artes & Carolyn Barnes, Brain Durell and Fred Chandler for their contributions to this week's report. This report will be updated on Thursday, March 9th. Bird sightings may be forwarded any time to [EMAIL PROTECTED] before the Thursday 6:00 p.m. deadline. This report also appears for a week on the NatureStuff website, under BIRDING, where this week's photo of PINE SISKINS at a Belleville feeder is by Dirk DeBoer. Terry Sprague Prince Edward County [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.naturestuff.net
