jmorrison@neocom.ca
I arrived at the marsh at 7:30am. South of the observation deck, 5 Black-crowned night herons and 4 Great Blue herons. Also, as usual, tons of cormorants, terns, gulls and geese. North of the observation deck, a green heron and an american bittern. A black tern was buzzing around as well. A seldom seen phoebe was observed hopping about in a tree.
Some maybees...yellow bellied flycatcher and Western Kingbird.
Into the woods...mosquitos everywhere...but managed to observe yellow warblers, black and white warblers, prothonotary warblers and another maybe...mourning warbler.
Startled what looked like a piping plover...but can't be sure. A red tailed hawk and a marsh hawk were also present.
After second marsh, stopped by lynde shores. I was pretty disappointed by the bird feeder trail....the feeders are all empty and consequently, there are no birds...save for some resident chickadees.
Futher down the road toward cranberry marsh...a low flying osprey. At the marsh...a green heron, great blue heron and a couple of snowy egrets.
Jay Morrison
jmorrison@neocom.ca
The news this week comes from Sandbanks Provincial Park. While the beaches here can have upwards of 15,000 sun worshippers per day on a nice sunny weekend, apparently there is room for shorebirds too. Shorebirds that turned up this week at Sandbanks included SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, LEAST SANDPIPERS, BAIRD'S SANDPIPER, SOLITARY SANDPIPERS, and both GREATER and LESSER YELLOWLEGS.
LITTLE GULLS which turn up every autumn near the mouth of the Outlet River and at adjacent East Lake, made their first appearance on August 12th. Although only one was seen, numbers will increase as the fall season advances. As many as a dozen have been observed at one time, most generally in November and December. The best place to find them is at either the mouth of the Outlet River, or in East Lake from the Group Camping Area, off County Road 18 (east of Log Cabin Point).
A GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER showed up at the park on August 19th, and a late report just received - the park's very first CLAY-COLOURED SPARROW turned up on July 12th.
While Sandbanks isn't as ideally situated to produce migrants as other points of land in Prince Edward County, it does have a certain funnelling effect. With more increased interest now in the park, and more observers in the field than in past years, we are just now learning about really goes on at Sandbanks, not only during migration, but also during the summer season. RED-HEADED WOODPECKERS, RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS, ORCHARD ORIOLES, and BLUE-GREY GNATCATCHERS have all nested there this summer. And it was once an important breeding station of the PIPING PLOVER.
Those wishing to explore Sandbanks Provincial Park sometime, might try birding any of the beaches at both the East and West Lake Sectors of the park, West Point, the pannes in the West Lake Sector, Cedar Sands Nature Trail, Group Camping Area, any of the regular campgrounds, or the cattail marsh at East Lake. All these locations have produced in the past. Who knows - you just might be camping there like Jim Richards of Oshawa was in 1976 and find that a nest of RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETS is right above your campsite!
If you have been birding in the Prince Edward County, Belleville, Trenton, Presqu'ile areas this past week, let us know what you observed.
This report will be updated Sunday, September 1st. Please e-mail tsprague@limestone.kosone.com
Be sure to visit Prince Edward County's brand, spanking new WEB site at:
http://www.pec.on.ca
Terry Sprague
limestone.kosone.com!tsprague
While dribblings of shorebirds may be found here and there in Prince Edward County these days - a few turnstones at Sandbanks, a yellowlegs or two at North Beach - Presqu'ile Provincial Park is where one goes to see shorebirds en masse.
Today, there were 16 species of shorebirds with KILLDEER and SPOTTED SANDPIPERS being the hardest to find. Dominating the beach were SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPERS, LEAST SANDPIPERS, SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS, BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS, both GREATER and LESSER YELLOWLEGS, and SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS. Also present were WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER, BAIRD'S SANDPIPER, PECTORAL SANDPIPER, RUDDY TURNSTONES and SANDERLINGS. A SOLITARY SANDPIPER was seen on the 15th.
The best finds today were STILT SANDPIPER (2) and WILLET (2). The STILT SANDPIPER is an uncommon fall migrant at Presqu'ile while the latter species is documented by only a few more than a dozen sightings in the park.
Elsewhere in the park there have been other signs of the autumn migration. Scott Connop saw an OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER near Beach 4 yesterday. Warblers have been passing through too including CANADA WARBLER, YELLOW WARBLERS, NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH, NORTHERN PARULA WARBLER and a singing BLACKPOLL WARBLER. The latter species was recorded yesterday, but was also heard singing today by Terry Sprague and Dan Korchuk near Beach 4.
An early RED-NECKED GREBE was reported to have been seen somewhere off Owen's Point, also today. Late September is usually when this species is encountered during the fall migration at Presqu'ile.
If you have been birding in Prince Edward County/Belleville/Trenton/Presqu'ile area this past week, let us know what you observed.
This report will be updated Sunday, August 25th. Please e-mail tsprague@limestone.kosone.com
Terry Sprague
limestone.kosone.com!tsprague
When I first took a serious interest in bird study over 30 years ago, the book recommended to me was "Peterson's Field Guide To the Birds." It contained 230 pages, was hard cover, and set me back $4.95. Although I have replaced it several times over at five times the original price, I still have the first book. It is always with me in the car, and is as much a part of the car as the first aid kit, jumper cables and tools.
Every birder dreamed of meeting its author, the legendary Roger Tory Peterson, whose compact, pocket-sized field guide revolutionized the art of bird identity in the field. Similar field guides by other authors have been penned since, and I have them all, but I always go back to my trusty Peterson's when in doubt. Peterson was delivering a lecture in London, Ontario, in 1982, and although I failed in my attempt to obtain tickets soon enough to hear the great man (they were sold out in a matter of hours!), I did have an opportunity to chat with him briefly during an autograph session in the foyer following his presentation.
Roger Tory Peterson died late last month at the age of 87. Like so many others have expressed, Roger Tory Peterson will always continue to be with me. He introduced me and millions of other people to the subtle beauties of nature, and despite his passing, will continue to do so. Someone wrote in BirdChat a while back, "In a world where real heroes become harder and harder to find, does one need go further?"
Birding continues to be slow in the Quinte area, but signs of autumn continue to appear with reports of shorebirds and increasing numbers of swallows. Dan Korchuk, birding in the East Bayshore area of Belleville came across a fully grown immature BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD being fed by a YELLOW WARBLER. The struggling warbler was watched for several minutes as it hovered like a hummingbird in an effort to feed the oversized bird. Earlier this summer, a Demorestville area couple reported a female BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD banging itself repeatedly for several days against a window, while an unconcerned male bird looked on. While this is a frequently encountered habit with other birds, especially robins and cardinals, has anyone ever seen a cowbird display this behaviour?
At least one OSPREY chick is still in the nest atop a hydro pole on Massassauga Road, south of Belleville. OSPREYS have also been seen this past week along the Moira River (Belleville), Frankford, and Trenton. Earlier this summer there was a rumour circulating that a reluctant Ontario Hydro employee was "ordered" to remove a hydro pole despite it having an OSPREY nest containing young, somewhere in the vicinity of Campbellford. I would be interested in hearing what the outcome was of his incident.
If you have been birding in Prince Edward County/Belleville/Trenton/Presqu'ile area this past week, let us know what you observed.
This report will be updated Sunday, August 18th. Please e-mail tsprague@limestone.kosone.com
Terry Sprague
limestone.kosone.com!tsprague
My name is Murray Lord and I'm a birder from Tasmania, Australia. I will be in Toronto on August 23 - 25, and I'm hoping to fit in some birding. I was wondering if someone could let me know of any field outings that may be on that weekend, or whether anyone is planning some birding then and would mind me tagging along?
Murray Lord
a.ritz@ic.ac.uk
I will be coming over from the UK this Saturday (10th August) and am hoping to fit in some birding in the Toronto area in between work. I am staying in Oakville but will have a car so can travel a bit. Can you recommend some good sites to visit. I would like to get some shorebirds but I expect the southbound migration may be beginning so if you know of any good migrant 'traps' then I would also be interested in that.
Trevor Dutton
trevor.dutton@arup.com
While Prince Edward County, due to its location in eastern Lake Ontario, is a natural catch-all during the migration, it has always lagged behind Presqu'ile Provincial Park when it comes to shorebirds. Prince Edward County does have some excellent areas for shorebirds, but they tend to be widely scattered making it difficult to obtain an accurate synopsis of the fall migration.
Presqu'ile has already had a fairly significant number of shorebird sightings this fall, while in Prince Edward County about the only thing we can seem to focus on with the spotting scope with any certainty are increasing numbers of SPOTTED SANDPIPERS. Sandbanks Provincial Park Naturalist Yvette Bree saw a PECTORAL SANDPIPER in the park on Friday, and Terry Sprague found a WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER at West Point (Sandbanks) on Saturday - a rather early fall arrival date for this species in the county, but by no means the earliest recorded date in our records.
West Point also contained large numbers of BONAPARTE'S GULLS, CASPIAN TERNS, COMMON TERNS, and RING-BILLED GULLS.
Although a considerable distance out of the reporting area, GRASSHOPPER SPARROW and WINTER WREN were heard early last week at Red Cloud Cemetery, north of Castleton.
Around our home, this has probably been the best summer ever for nesting birds on our two acre lot. Recorded nesting were 16 pairs of TREE SWALLOWS, 2 pairs of HOUSE FINCHES, 2 pairs of EASTERN PHOEBES, 6 pairs of AMERICAN ROBIN, 12 pairs of PURPLE MARTINS, and one pair each of BARN SWALLOWS, HOUSE WRENS, MOURNING DOVES, YELLOW WARBLERS, SONG SPARROWS, KILLDEER, CHIPPING SPARROWS, and EUROPEAN STARLING.
Since record keeping began in 1976 when we first severed the lot from our former farm we have recorded a total of 85 species of birds that have touched down on our property. We are purists in this respect and the bird actually has to make contact with our property before it is recorded - the recorded species a reflection on what we have done in the past 20 years to make our property appealing to birdlife. This means that CANADA GEESE which fly over regularly each year, and the 15 or so WHIMBRELS which also passed over one year do not count.
And that also goes for this year's HENSLOW'S SPARROWS which spent a month in the hay field this summer just a stone's throw from our fence! They go on another list, but that's another story.
If you have been birding in Prince Edward County this past week, let us know what you observed.
This report will be updated Sunday, August 11th. Please e-mail tsprague@limestone.kosone.com
Terry Sprague
tsprague@limestone.kosone.com