WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR THE
WEEK ENDING Thursday, April 26, 2007
A week ago Monday, there was snow on the ground, and lots of it in some
areas. A week later, there were AMERICAN BITTERNS in the Big Island Marsh,
PURPLE MARTINS everywhere, and by the 24th, the Point Traverse Woods at
Prince Edward Point were seething with YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS and
RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS, and the air filled with the chirps from both
ROUGH-WINGED and CLIFF SWALLOWS. VESPER SPARROWS and a SAVANNAH SPARROW were
on the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory lawn on the 19th, and FOX
SPARROWS continued to move through during the week of April 13th to the
19th, with up to 20 being seen in a day. DARK-EYED JUNCOS on the 19th
tallied in at 150, marking the second movement of the spring, with mostly
females.
It was a busy week at the Observatory this past week with large numbers of
birds around all week. An AMERICAN BITTERN was flushed from the path near
the nets on the 23rd and flew out towards the end of the harbour, CANADA
GEESE (500) flew over heading north on the 22nd and 4 MUTE SWANS, a rarity
down here, were seen on the 24th. Duck numbers offshore were varying a lot
with WHITE-WINGED SCOTER numbering from 30 to 300 on any given day.
LONG-TAILED DUCKS have slightly increased and numbered 5000 on the 24th,
while a GADWALL was seen on the 26th, and a few RED-BREASTED and COMMON
MERGANSERS are starting to move as well. The NORTHERN HARRIERS are
displaying and the female COOPER'S HAWK is seen most days. A ROUGH-LEGGED
HAWK was seen hovering over the field on the 23rd and a SANDHILL CRANE flew
out over the lake on the 22nd.
SURF SCOTERS and RED-NECKED GREBES were also seen in the Prince Edward Point
area on the 25th
An AMERICAN WOODCOCK was seen on the 20th but has not been seen since even
though they normally breed here. BONAPARTE'S GULLS are moving through in
increasing numbers and 1500 were offshore on the 24th and the first LITTLE
GULL of the spring was mixed in with them. The 20th saw the first CASPIAN
TERN and strange calls from three ring-billed gulls on the 22nd alerted us
to a SHORT-EARED OWL flying past over the lake. The RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER
was seen twice this week and YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKERS appear to have
finished going through. TREE SWALLOWS have picked up to about 20 birds
around the Point, 30 NORTHERN-ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS were seen on the 24th
and the CLIFF SWALLOWS have returned to breed at the lighthouse with up to
45 seen there daily.
BROWN CREEPERS have just peaked with 110 seen on the 22nd and fewer than 20
being seen now. The first HOUSE WREN appeared on the 24th, kinglets are
moving through in good numbers with 100 GOLDEN-CROWNED'S seen on the 22nd
and 23rd while the first RUBY-CROWNED was seen on the 21st with a good
movement over the next few days peaking at 400 on the 23rd. An EASTERN
BLUEBIRD was seen on the 21st. HERMIT THRUSHES arrived on the 21st and up to
40 a day have been seen since. AMERICAN ROBINS continue to move with peaks
of 110 on the 21st and 140 on the 23rd.A NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD was seen at
the harbour on the 23rd and BROWN THRASHERS have returned. Fifteen CEDAR
WAXWINGS on the 23rd are the only ones seen so far this spring.
Warbler migration is starting with first dates of NASHVILLE on the 26th,
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER on the 20th, BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER on the 23rd,
PINE WARBLER on the 22nd, and BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER and both WESTERN PALM
and YELLOW PALM on the 25th, and a NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH was seen on the 23rd
and on the 25th. DARK-EYED JUNCOS continued moving with 120 to 150 a day
seen on the 20th to the 22nd. The only other highlight was 170 RUSTY
BLACKBIRDS on the 24th.
Elsewhere in the Quinte area, what would seem to be a strong passage during
the week of NORTHERN FLICKERS resulted in numerous reports of individuals
seen on lawns foraging for grubs and ants. YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKERS have
turned up at numerous locations including one industrious individual who
awakened the dead with its noisy hammering on a steel television tower at
5:30 one morning at the house across the road from us. In the Oak Hills area
south of Stirling, one sapsucker there has been routinely drilling into
every eavestrough downspout of one home, also beginning promptly at 5:30
a.m., gradually progressing completely around the house.
Lots of waterfowl still about. There were plenty of both COMMON and
RED-BREASTED MERGANSERS, WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS and LONG-TAILED DUCKS in
Prince Edward Bay on Tuesday. Even the smaller lakes and bays have had their
share of interesting populations. Some 30 LONG-TAILED DUCKS have been
present at Point Petre, and 8 species of waterfowl were present at Muscote
Bay during the week, including 40 LESSER SCAUP and 6 AMERICAN WIGEON. A pair
of AMERICAN WIGEON was seen in West Lake at the Dunes Beach Day Use Area of
Sandbanks on Tuesday. While some waterfowl species are still migrating,
others are nesting. Two families of HOODED MERGANSERS with 12 young were
seen at Vanderwater Conservation Area at Thomasburg and both CANADA GEESE
and MUTE SWANS have been observed on nests at Consecon Lake. Huyck's Bay,
located west of Wellington, a location from which we don't receive a lot of
sightings for this report, contained 2 WOOD DUCKS and about 80 RING-NECKED
DUCKS Friday evening.
The West Lake pannes at Sandbanks had FIELD SPARROWS singing on the 24th,
EASTERN BLUEBIRDS were seen the same day along Kelly Road, and EASTERN
TOWHEES, WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS and both species of kinglets were reported
across the region this past week. So revved up are some of the birds with
the more spring like temperatures, that some species are behaving like tree
swallows when a nest box is erected. One Stinson Block area resident
reported PURPLE MARTINS arriving out of the woodwork from absolutely
nowhere, as two martin houses were being erected! WOOD DUCKS along Ridge
Road were seen checking out a tree cavity there. OSPREYS have pretty much
claimed their nest sites for the year, and a pair at Zwick's Park near
Belleville has accepted a new structure there, and abandoned their former
site atop the high powered flood lights at the soccer field. Two MALLARD
nests were reported during the week, one placed under an euonymus bush right
beside the walkway to the front entrance of one house at Cressy. Another was
found on a cradle supporting a large boat at the Belleville Yacht Club, the
ducks oblivious to the noise of a crane lifting the neighbouring boats into
the water.
The NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD, mentioned in last week's report on Huyck's Point
Road appears to have moved on, but a HARRIS'S SPARROW that first appeared at
a County Road 1 feeder in mid-March was still coming to the feeder almost
daily as of yesterday. Other feeders across the county are also doing well,
despite the tendency of many species to want to move on and begin nesting. A
feeder on Glenora Road still has good numbers of AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES which,
of course, don't start nesting anyway until much later in the year, 4 PURPLE
FINCHES, 10 DARK-EYED JUNCOS, and 12 CHIPPING SPARROWS. RED-BELLIED
WOODPECKERS are still coming to feeders on Glenora Road and at Wilson Road.
One Thomasburg resident was sitting on her deck, watching her husband and
son photographing birds, when a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK flew out of the pine
trees, after a junco. The junco passed right between her legs and under the
deck, with the hawk veering away just short of a collision!
Other arrivals have been HOUSE WRENS, SAVANNAH SPARROWS, and CASPIAN TERNS.
The season's first UPLAND SANDPIPER turned up, not in Prince Edward County
where one would expect, but in the Madoc area. A COMMON RAVEN turned up at
Prince Edward Point on the 25th.
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
