WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR THE
WEEK ENDING Thursday, November 02, 2006
Yet another wet and windy few days for banders and observers at the Prince
Edward Point Bird Observatory. On the calmer days a few birds were still
found, however. COMMON LOONS (18) were seen on the 27th, and on the 31st
the GREATER SCAUP flock of 2500 offshore contained 4 NORTHERN PINTAILS , 30
REDHEADS, 1 LESSER SCAUP, 350 WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, 7 BLACK SCOTERS, 13
BUFFLEHEAD and 7 COMMON GOLDENEYES.
A few raptors flew over in an all too brief a passage which only lasted
about an hour and a half with the following being noted; 2 NORTHERN
HARRIERS, 4 SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS and singles each of COOPER'S and NORTHERN
GOSHAWK. A dark phase ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK, 3 RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS shared the
sky with a GOLDEN EAGLE and they were soon followed by 9 more GOLDEN EAGLES
with five of them circling the point in one group. One other ROUGH-LEGGED
HAWK was seen on the 27th. A small passage of BONAPARTE'S GULLS was noted on
the 31st, with single birds heading south past the Point most of the
morning. Mixed in with them at 0800 was an immature BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE
which is new for the Observatory species list.
Owling was reasonable when we could do it, and 79 NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWLS
were trapped in the three nights that we could net, plus the fourth EASTERN
SCREECH OWL of the fall was banded on the 31st. This is the first fall
since the year 2000 that a Barred Owl has not been seen or banded here.
The last BLUE-HEADED VIREO of the fall was seen on the 27th. AMERICAN ROBINS
were moving all week and 500 were seen in the area on the 27th, with most
of them on the ground at the end of the harbour, other days had up to 225
flying over. A BROWN THRASHER was seen on the road near Point Traverse on
the 30th and CEDAR WAXWINGS had been accumulating all week and peaked at,
at least 1000 on the 31st, mostly feeding on the abundant cedar berries.
The last BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER was trapped on the 27th and
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS have decreased to about 20 in the area. A few
sparrows are still lingering and 7 AMERICAN TREE SPARROWS were found on the
30th, up to three FOX SPARROWS have been present but DARK-EYED JUNCOS have
been scarce with a peak of 30 seen on the 30th. Three more SNOW BUNTINGS
flew over on the 27th, and on the 31st 225 RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS and 210
COMMON GRACKLES flew over just after dawn. The Observatory closed for the
fall on Tuesday 31st October.
A suspected RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD was present at some hollyhocks in Belleville
on October 30th. A rather poor photo taken quickly through the window of the
house in the few seconds the bird was present is at
http://naturestuff.net/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=5&id=14&Itemid=29
Even more intriguing was a positive ID of a female RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD
in the same yard this morning just at daybreak.
There was a late immature BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON at Wellington Harbour
last Friday. Also noteworthy was the appearance of 18 BRANT off Northport
on the 28th, and a juvenile GOLDEN EAGLE flying over Picton on the 30th.
WINTER WRENS (5) were seen in the Stinson Block, west of Consecon on the
30th, and a bit on the unusual side was a WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH going up
and down the walls of a chimney in the same area.
"Wellington Harbour is starting to fill up," says one observer regarding the
wildlife there. Seen during the week were 12 DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS, 5
MUTE SWANS, 3 AMERICAN COOTS, 30 MALLARDS, 10 BUFFLEHEAD, 25 COMMON
GOLDENEYE, 6 AMERICAN WIGEON, 6 REDHEADS, 15 CANADA GEESE, 12 RING-BILLED
GULLS, 3 BONAPARTE'S GULLS, 1 GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL along with a number of
scaup.
At Point Petre, 3 late swallows, likely TREE SWALLOWS from the description,
appeared yesterday at Point Petre where there was also YELLOW-RUMPED
WARBLER, 1 SNOW BUNTING and 3 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS. On October 30th, a huge
stream of birds, consisting almost exclusively of RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS
(4,000) showed some sign of reverse migration, as they flew north across the
Point. Other birds present during the week in the Point Petre and Soup
Harbour area were GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS, 25 LESSER SCAUP, RED-TAILED
HAWKS, GREAT BLUE HERON and a BALD EAGLE. Three BLACK SCOTERS were seen
during the week at West Point.
Sandbanks Provincial Park birds during the week included 2 SNOW BUNTINGS at
West Point and a BELTED KINGFISHER at the Outlet River Bridge within the
Park. The RED-HEADED WOODPECKER that showed up in the Cherry Valley area
last Thursday, was seen again on Friday, before disappearing. Nearby, there
were 14 EASTERN BLUEBIRDS on King's Road, and other EASTERN BLUEBIRDS were
heard at Gray's Lane between Cherry Valley and Sandbanks. A dozen EASTERN
BLUEBIRDS continue to hang around a residence along Ridge Road, and two
others were spotted at Black River during the week.
TUNDRA SWANS are beginning their annual fall gather at South Bay where 8
were seen on October 30th. Up to 150 of this species commonly occurs here
until freeze-up. Sixteen MUTE SWANS were also present. At Prince Edward
Point the same day, 3 HORNED GREBES, REDHEADS, LONG-TAILED DUCKS,
WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, a SURF SCOTER, COMMON GOLDENEYE, BUFFLEHEAD and
COMMON MERGANSER were tallied, along with SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, RUFFED GROUSE,
BROWN CREEPER, 18 RUBY-CROWNED and 12 GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS, 4 HERMIT
THRUSHES (one taking a bath in a puddle on the road), 30 AMERICAN ROBINS,
and 40 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS. On the west side of Trenton, Temur Lake this
morning contained about 40 LESSER SCAUP and 25 HOODED MERGANSERS and one
RED-NECKED GREBE. Fox Pond across Wooler Road from Tremur Lake held 20
MALLARDS and two PIED-BILLED GREBES.
This is a condensed version of the Quinte Area Bird Report, containing only
the significant sightings for Prince Edward County and the Quinte area. The
full version can be found on the NatureStuff website, under BIRDING from
the Main Menu.
Terry Sprague
Prince Edward County
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.naturestuff.net
