[Ontbirds] Quinte Area Bird Report for the week ending December 20, 2007

[Terry Sprague]

WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR THE 
WEEK ENDING  Thursday, December 20, 2007

High numbers and high quality were the two main components at most bird 
feeders across the region during the week. Incredibly, four reports of 
BARRED OWLS visiting feeder locations came in during the week. An Elmbrook 
area resident said it was business as usual at the feeders as a BARRED OWL 
there remained perched on a limb above the feeders, and one squirrel even 
kept sneaking up to within a metre of the bird. South of Picton, on 
Mitchells Crossroad, another BARRED OWL coasted in close to one house and 
snagged a cottontail rabbit. Another was in a backyard at a residence at the 
edge of Sandbanks Provincial Park on Tuesday. As one Trenton resident was 
emptying two pails of wood ashes in his backyard woodlot north of the city 
Tuesday night, he felt a presence, and shone his flashlight into the face of 
a BARRED OWL less than seven metres away. The observer tried an owl call, 
but in the end it basically ignored him, while likely attracting the 
attention though of several of his neighbours. Also eager to get into the 
owl excitement was a NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL, perched on a porch of a Tripp 
Road residence near Bloomfield. And GREAT HORNED OWLS - at least 2 - are 
happily hooting near Cape Vesey, and another three can be heard most 
mornings at 6:00 a.m. calling back and forth from Big Island to wooded areas 
along County Road 15 (Northport Road) .

It was a combination of quantity and quality at a feeder in Camden East when 
one observer noted no fewer than 40 WILD TURKEYS feeding beneath his feeder, 
and one actually perched atop one of the feeders itself. For pure quantity, 
one had to travel no further than Maitland Drive on the north side of 
Belleville where an amazing 500 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS settled in a backyard tree 
on the 19th, the highest number seen in the Quinte area to date. Other 
examples of high numbers at feeders included over 70 MOURNING DOVES at 23 
Sprague Road this morning, more than 100 SNOW BUNTINGS at a feeder location 
near the west end of Big Island along South Big Island Road, and increasing 
numbers of  COMMON REDPOLLS at most feeders in the county. SNOW BUNTINGS 
have also appeared at feeders at Cressy and in Thurlow north of Belleville. 
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCHES, no more than two in each case, are coming to 
several feeders across the region.

There was an unconfirmed report of a GREAT GRAY OWL on the west side of 
Belleville early in the week. Despite one observer checking out the report, 
and slogging around in deep snow for two hours  and driving local roads for 
another two hours, the bird could not be located. A MERLIN that has been 
present in the west end of Trenton, was perched on a wire Tuesday, just 
across from Walmart. BALD EAGLES continue to be observed, primarily in the 
southern parts of the county, a mixture of both adult and immature birds. A 
well marked GOLDEN EAGLE was seen circling above Glenora Marina, east of 
Picton, during the Prince Edward Point Christmas Bird Count on Saturday. 
Full results are not in yet, but some of the highlights in the 
Lake-on-the-Mountain to Smith's Bay area included 5 RUFFED GROUSE in a 
Glenora Road area woodlot, PILEATED and RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, SONG 
SPARROW, AMERICAN ROBIN (6) and a GREAT HORNED OWL being harassed by a 
murder of AMERICAN CROWS. Incredibly, the very, very late OSPREY continues 
to be seen infrequently along Adolphus Reach in the general area of 
Bongard's Crossroad, and was last seen hovering over the open waters near 
shore December 17th. A truly remarkable sighting.

A female RUDDY DUCK seen December 11th in the Weller's Bay Channel at 
Barcovan, was still present there five days later, where 3 AMERICAN COOT, 16 
TUNDRA SWANS and an immature BALD EAGLE were also ticked off on one 
observer's check list. Further west there was a pair of WOOD DUCKS, and the 
area also had a COOPER'S HAWK and a NORTHERN HARRIER. Scattered numbers of 
TUNDRA SWANS continue to seek out open waters east of South and Smith's Bay, 
their usual winter haunts, and can be seen in small groups all along the 
Prince Edward Bay shoreline, east to Prinyer's Cove, and have also worked 
their way around into Adolphus Reach. Nearby at Kaiser's Crossroad, an area 
that normally doesn't bear much attention until the fields become flooded in 
the spring, the harvested corn fields there on either side of the road have 
attracted thousands of MALLARDS and CANADA GEESE.

A few interesting sightings came from local bird feeders this past week. In 
addition to the growing numbers of COMMON REDPOLLS, there is evidence that 
at least a few PINE SISKINS may still be in the county. One was visiting a 
feeder along Glenora Road on Saturday, and 3 are at a feeder a short 
distance east of Lake-on-the-Mountain. At one South Bay feeder, a DARK-EYED 
JUNCO there seems to get around okay despite missing his entire tail save 
for a single white outer tail feather (if there are no tail feathers, is it 
still an "outer" tail feather?). HOUSE SPARROWS is a species we hear little 
about at feeders anymore but 16 are coming to a feeder near 
Lake-on-the-Mountain. At 23 Sprague Road, HOUSE SPARROWS have been absent 
from the guest list for several years, a location that once had little else 
but, historically. A feeder west of Caughey Road has four AMERICAN CROWS 
among its daily visitors. On the west end of Trenton, a PINE WARBLER 
continues to make occasional visits to a feeder there.

In other news around the area, 2 COMMON LOONS were seen diving in Adolphus 
Reach yesterday, a female PINE GROSBEAK  turned up with a flock of BLUE JAYS 
east of Lake-on-the-Mountain on the weekend, and a female PURPLE FINCH is 
patronizing a feeder at Cape Vesey. A RUFFED GROUSE was found early one 
morning close to a chimney on the roof of one house on Harmony Road, north 
of Belleville. The bird eventually flew to a flowering crab tree where it 
fed there for awhile before continuing on its way.

To all 140 private subscribers to this report, all 2000 Ontario Birds 
listserv subscribers, and to all those who catch the online versions of this 
report on both the NatureStuff website and Gord Gallant's Ontario Birding 
Home Page, a very merry Christmas and all the best in 2008 as we draw ever 
so much closer to a new birding year.

And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area. 
Our thanks to Doug McRae, Joanne Dewey, Jenny Goodall, Nick Quickert, Paul 
Wallace, Brian Shendon, Pamela Stagg, Donn Legate, Dave Bell, Frank Artes & 
Caroline Barnes, John & Janet Foster, Henri Garand, Marc Vermander, Doris 
Lane, Bill Hogg, Kathleen Rankine, John Charlton, Gordon Laurie, Cheryl 
Anderson, Cathy Anderson, Pamela Stagg, Judith Gray, John & Margaret Moore, 
and Fred Chandler for their contributions to this week's report. This report 
will be updated on Thursday, December 27th, but sightings can be e-mailed 
any time before the 6:00 p.m. Thursday deadline. Featured photos in the 
online edition of the Quinte Area Bird Report include the BARRED OWL at the 
Elmbrook feeder by Joanne Dewey, and one of the 500 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS in 
Belleville by Dave Bell. Dave Bell's photo of the flock landing in the 
backyard trees appears on the Main Birding Page of the NatureStuff website.

Terry Sprague
Prince Edward County
tsprague at kos.net
www.naturestuff.net