WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR THE WEEK ENDING Thursday, July 24, 2008
Advocates of outdoor clothes lines, me included, continue to promote the cost saving advantages over using electric dryers. However, newcomers to the clothesline scene need to know that clothes should be brought in, once dry. It would seem that one pair of sweat pants had been hanging on the line too long, as a Tweed resident reported this week that a pair of HOUSE WRENS were now nesting in one of the legs! As the season winds down, backyards now in the Quinte area are filled with the sight of juvenile BALTIMORE ORIOLES visiting feeders. At Sheba's Island, a DOWNY WOODPECKER there swings back and forth between an oriole and a hummingbird feeder in its quest for nectar. ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS that nested locally continue to make use of feeders, and one over zealous juvenile in the Madoc area during the week collided with a window, but was soon on its way after a brief recovery. It is an interesting mixture with some birds still nesting and others going through the preliminaries of fall migration. COMMON GRACKLES numbering nearly 100 descended on one sundeck near Madoc during the week, and AMERICAN ROBINS have also been seen staging in the Harmony Road area of Thurlow. TREE SWALLOW numbers are increasing daily on utility wires, and a large number of CEDAR WAXWINGS comprising numerous juvenile birds were noted in the Cloyne area, and blackbirds are flocking in the Stirling area. A juvenile RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH dropped into a feeder during the week along Harmony Road and has been present most days. Closer to home, a BONAPARTE GULL was observed near Grave Island at the mouth of Sawguin Creek last week, along with MUTE SWAN, OSPREY, SPOTTED SANDPIPER and BELTED KINGFISHER. Monday night, 2 GREEN HERONS were present at the H.R.. Frink Centre's marsh boardwalk where other birds seen included MARSH WREN, SWAMP SPARROW, VIRGINIA RAIL and RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. A GREEN HERON has also been present this week in Thurlow, and others were seen in the last several days at Roblin Lake, Robinson Cove, and Sandbanks Provincial Park. At the latter location, a male INDIGO BUNTING continues to sing vociferously from poplars at the West Lake dune area, and poplars in west Trenton have attracted another singing male there. A partial albino COMMON GRACKLE has been frequenting a backyard on the west side of Belleville, and a GREAT BLUE HERON was looking optimistically at a family of carp in the Glenwood Cemetery Pond in Picton on the 16th. In the Trenton area, three MERLINs turned up yesterday, in the same location where a pair nested last year. As the autumn season approaches, the fall migration will soon be in full swing. Some species of shorebirds have been turning up in local areas for some weeks, and warblers are not far behind. The fall banding season at Prince Edward Point commences in mid-August, so stay tuned. And that's it from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area. Our thanks to Brock Burr, Wes Truak, Shirley Laundry, Steven Draper, Fiona King, Steve Bolton, Kathleen Rankin, Cathie Setwart, Ted Cullin, Pamela Stagg, Henri Garand, John & Margaret Moore, Janet Foster and Judith Gray for their contributions to this week's report. This report will be updated on Thursday, July 31st, but sightings can be e-mailed at any time during the week before the Wednesday night deadline. Feature photo on the Main Birding Page of the NatureStuff website is of a troublesome nuthatch as a photographer tries to take a photo, photo by Janet Foster. Feeder Photos in the online edition of the Quinte Area Bird Report include AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES and a ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK by Sidney Smith of Wellington. Terry Sprague Prince Edward County [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.naturestuff.net _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdssetup.php ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdsguide.php
