tsprague@limestone.kosone.com
All the news this week comes from Sandbanks Provincial Park, location for our guided hike and other activities on Saturday. Despite the constant rain, 8 hardy souls in raincoats showed up for a two-hour hike on the dunes of the park.
BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES and GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS accompanied us throughout the walk in the vegetated areas of the dunes. An AMERICAN WOODCOCK was flushed by the group just north of the main parking lot and pannes of the West Lake Sector of the park. DARK-EYED JUNCO, WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, SONG SPARROW, GREAT BLUE HERON, BLUE JAY and DOWNY WOODPECKER were also found on the hike.
Lake Ontario off West Point contained several COMMON LOONS, DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT, COMMON MERGANSER and GREATER SCAUP.
At the four-way stop near the entrance to the West Lake Sector of the park, 22 WILD TURKEYS sauntered nonchalantly across the intersection and disappeared into the woods nearby. This is the same location where a SANDHILL CRANE was seen last week. There has been no sign of the crane since.
The mouth of the Outlet River contained more than a dozen GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS and at least 35 BONAPARTE'S GULLS. DUNLIN and SANDERLINGS were also seen along the beach there. There was no sign of LITTLE GULLS which normally congregate here, as well as in East Lake, just off the group camping area in the park.
And I'm afraid that's it for this week in the Quinte area.
This report will be updated Sunday, October 27th. Please e-mail tsprague@limestone.kosone.com
"FALL FESTIVAL OF NATURE"
Two months of nature activities sponsored by the Quinte Conservation
Services Alliance
Saturday, October 27 "The Last To Go"
Join us at Macaulay Mountain Conservation Area for a 2-hour hike.
Meet at the conservation area parking lot at 10:00 a.m.
tsprague@limestone.kosone.com or 613-968-3434 for more info.
Terry Sprague
tsprague@limestone.kosone.com
Greetings. I would like to change the format of this page to allow for direct postings. Have a look at the fishing reports page to see what I have in mind. The new format should make for more timely postings and remove me from the assembly line of posting your reports. Please let me know if you think this is a good idea.
Andy Rubaszek
andy@zoo.utoronto.ca
At West Humber Bay park, spotted a male RUDDY DUCK in the second small eastern bay to the south of the park entrance. Other birds around the park included a handful of GADWALL, NORTHERN SHOVELER, LESSER SCAUP, and the usual large groups of RING-BILLED GULLS, MALLARD, AMERICAN BLACK DUCK, CANADA GEESE, and DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS.
Deanna Toews
deanna@codestorm.com
Sandbanks Provincial Park is not as famous for its birds as nearby Presqu'ile Park, but Sandbanks often does have some interesting numbers and species. The vegetated dune area of the park on Tuesday contained no fewer than 100 EASTERN PHOEBES. Also present in the treed areas consisting of Scott's Pine, Black Locust and Poplar were HERMIT THRUSH, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE, BLUE JAY, DARK-EYED JUNCO, SONG SPARROW, YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER and HOUSE FINCH. Close to a dozen TURKEY VULTURES circled above the dunes during the hour I was out there.
A total of 47 species of birds were recorded by the Quinte Field Naturalists on Saturday's annual field trip to Point Petre to look for hawks. Wind and rain kept movement to a minimum, but the poor success was more than made up by an adult GOLDEN EAGLE.
Other birds of prey recorded were OSPREY, SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, RED-TAILED HAWK, AMERICAN KESTREL, as well as TURKEY VULTURE.
Ten LITTLE GULLS were found in East Lake, just off the shore from the group camping site at Sandbanks Provincial Park. Other gulls present included RING-BILLED GULL, HERRING GULL, and GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL.
COMMON LOON, PIED-BILLED GREBE, HORNED GREBE, CANADA GOOSE, MALLARD, GADWALL, REDHEAD, COMMON MERGANSER and WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, were observed during the day in the Point Petre to Sandbanks area Several hundred GREATER SCAUP were observed in Soup Harbour.
Other interesting birds recorded on the field trip were NORTHERN FLICKER, EASTERN PHOEBE, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET, HERMIT THRUSH, CEDAR WAXWING, EUROPEAN STARLING (in their thousands), YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER, PALM WARBLER, CHIPPING SPARROW, VESPER SPARROW (20 or more), SAVANNAH SPARROW, SONG SPARROW, WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, and WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW.
A SANDHILL CRANE was observed at Sandbanks Thursday, casually walking about near the four-way stop sign near the entrance to the West Lake Sector of the park. This is the first sighting of this species for Sandbanks.
The Harry Smith Conservation Area in the village of Ameliasburgh today contained a good variety of birds seen during a guided hike there before noon. Bushes and trees there were absolutely seething with YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS and GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS. Also present were several HERMIT THRUSH, BLUE JAY, and HOUSE FINCH.
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, October 20th. Please e-mail tsprague@limestone.kosone.com
FALL FESTIVAL OF NATURE
Two months of nature activities sponsored by the
Quinte Conservation Services Alliance.
Saturday, October 19
"Hiking the Dunes"
Join us at Sandbanks Provincial Park
for a 2-hr. hike over the dunes.
Meet at the new park
entrance parking lot at 9:30 a.m.
After the hike, plan on staying through the
day as we explore more of the park.
tsprague@limestone.kosone.com or
613-968-3434 for more information
Terry Sprague
limestone.kosone.com!tsprague
Visited West Humber Bay Park to look for waterfowl. The usual assortment of MALLARDS, CANADA GEESE and DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS were abundant along the eastern inlets. In addition, saw about six GADWALL, one male and three female HOODED MERGANSERS, a handful of AMERICAN BLACK DUCKS, and - this was a treat - six male and two dozen female NORTHERN SHOVELER, the latter evenly dispersed between the eastern and western inlets.
Deanna Toews
deanna@codestorm.com
The fall season is upon us and lots of stuff around to remind us of that. At the Quinte Conservation Area on both Wednesday and Friday there were plenty of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS and BLUE JAYS about. A late report that just came to my attention was that of a GOLDEN EAGLE last week flying above the conservation area along Wallbridge-Loyalist Road, Belleville, and a YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT seen at the Plainfield Conservation Area (The Frink Centre), located off Highway 37, just north of Belleville, on September 13th. Both of the latter species were observed by Don Hedger.
The Frink Centre today had lots of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES, BLUE JAYS and GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS. RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, BELTED KINGFISHER, and CEDAR WAXWING were also observed.
Hawks are also on the move now. One of the better areas is Point Petre, in Prince Edward County. On one of his visits to the county recently, Trenton area birder Al Boisvert chalked up 50+ SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS, 30+ AMERICAN KESTRELS, along with 3 COOPER'S HAWKS and 3 BALD EAGLES (1 adult, 2 immatures). The Quinte Field Naturalists have a field trip planned for Point Petre next Saturday to round up a few more migrating raptors.
John Blaney of Belleville, birding in the Sandbanks area on Saturday noted good numbers of BLUE JAYS and WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS along with with a sprinkling of TURKEY VULTURES. WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS, SANDERLINGS and COMMON MERGANSERS were present in reasonable numbers. No rarities so the best birds were probably an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER at West Point and four SURF SCOTERS near the end of the Salmon Point Road, just east of Sandbanks. There were also a few WATER PIPITS in a ploughed field two or three kilometres from the park.
John Blaney also brought to my attention that my statement in last week's Quinte report of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS lingering into November needs to be challenged. He is willing to bet that some member of the Blaney family (he left it to my imagination which one) will find a YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER on the Christmas Bird Count. The father and son team of John and Sean have consistently found this species on nearly every local Christmas bird count they have been on.
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, October 13th. Please e-mail tsprague@limestone.kosone.com
Terry Sprague