FOR THE BIRDS

FEBRUARY 2001

By

Helen O'Shea

• Harvey MacLeod of Catalone took a 12 foot spruce pole in which he drilled holes that he filled with suet. This pole has attracted a Downy Woodpecker which visits twice daily moving from the bottom to the top of the pole before flying off.
• Gary Peck had a Robin in his yard for 45 minutes on January 9^th. He has heard an owl in the trees beside Gerrat’s Brook but has been unable to line it up in the binoculars.
• Cyneth and Gordon Hutt called January 19^th to report more than 60 Snow Buntings, 4 Purple Finch, Goldfinch, Blue Jays, Black-capped Chickadees, 2 Song Sparrows, a Northern Shrike, a Sharp-Shinned Hawk, a Mourning Dove, a male Ring-necked Pheasant in their yard. They also watched a Bald Eagle eating a seal carcass on the ice in the cove below their property.
• Don and Margie Cameron reported an American Robin in the crab apple tree in their front yard accompanied by Starlings on January 20^th.
• Gwen Lunn had 2 Song Sparrows in her yard.
• Pearl Magee had 3 Starlings on her suet feeder. She had Purple Finch, Goldfinch, a White-throated Sparrow and 6 Black-capped Chickadees in her yard. January 24^th she had 2 Common Grackles.
• Bill Burke released an American Crow from a lobster trap behind the Coast Guard Station on two occasions. The persistent bird was after a dead crab in the trap.
• Susann Myers reported 2 Eastern Meadowlarks at Black Rock on January 23^rd.
• Sheila Fudge reported approximately 25 Black-capped Chickadees in her yard at suet feeders on January 25^th. She also had a pair of Blue Jays.
• Minnie MacLeod reported 6 Black-capped Chickadees, 2 pair of Purple Finch, 2 dozen Goldfinch and a male Ring-necked Pheasant in her yard. Brian frightened it the night before when putting seed in the feeders.
• Marjorie MacDonald reports seeing a Meadowlark on the clothes pole at Sheila Fudge’s before Christmas.
• Louise Johnston of Sydney watched a flock of Cedar Waxwings stripping berries from her bushes the morning of January 29^th.
• Warren Bagnell has approximately one hundred Mourning Doves at his feeder on a daily basis. He showed me a photo of a bird that was in his yard a month and a half ago. It matched the description of a female or immature Baltimore Oriole.
• Margie and Marmon Smith had a female Hairy Woodpecker in their honeysuckle tree on February 5.
• Bruce and Rovie MacDonald have had a dozen Snow Buntings at their feeder for the last week in January and first week in February.
• Darryl Peck saw a male Northern Harrier beside Gerratt’s Brook on February 5.
• Sheila Fudge and Charlene Martell saw the female Ring-necked Pheasant at the bottom of the Parks Canada Compound Road on Sunday, February 4.
• Cyneth Hutt reported a Fox Sparrow at her feeder on February 6.
• Gerry Gartland reports mostly Starlings and the occasional Blue Jay at his feeder.

At My Feeders

The two Pine Siskins have expanded to six Pine Siskins. The Northern Shrike is a marvel of manoeuvrability. On January 19^th I watched it chase Dark-eyed Juncos deep into the multiflora rosebush. A White-throated Sparrow has been visiting daily. The Evening Grosbeaks first arrived early in January and have arrived occasionally ranging in number from a couple to seven. The female Hairy Woodpecker makes several daily visits to eat suet from the pole hung in the maple tree. The suet is gone in less than a week and has to be replaced. A Red-breasted Nuthatch visits every now and then. Large numbers of Goldfinch, Purple Finch, Juncos, Mourning Doves and one or two Black-capped Chickadees are here for most of each day. Two Blue Jays fly in, screech at the top of their lungs to frighten away the birds, while two to three American Crows swoop in regularly to liven things up. Up to six Starlings sit on the feeder all day devouring seed as if they are starving.

Around the Harbour

Bill saw a female Ring-necked Pheasant at the bottom of the Administration Road at Route 22 almost daily for the past couple of weeks. January 13 there were a dozen Snow Buntings in the trees at Cyneth and Gordon Hutt’s house. By January 21^st we saw 100 Snow Buntings on the utility line in front of Bud Hutt’s. Two of them were on the roof of Jason Carter’s home. Later we saw the large flock on the roof of the house of Blair and Heather Cross. That same day there were 2 Song Sparrows in the alders in front of the home of Leo Carter Sr., and 3 American Crows in the yard near their feeders. An American Robin and two Blue Jays were in the trees in front of the home of Gwen Lunn. There was a pair of Bufflehead on Havenside and another pair by the Lobster Kettle Restaurant. Red-breasted Mergansers, Black Guillemots, and an occasional Long-tailed Duck are in the harbour as well as 5 or more Common Loons. The past month numerous seals, alive and dead, have been seen in various locations around the harbour. January 21^st we watched a mature Bald Eagle diving at a gull off Point of View. Despite a prolonged attack the gull finally managed to escape and the Bald Eagle flew to a treetop behind the home of Jessie and Harold Wilson where he sat in disgust at his bad luck. 4 Black Duck were eating algae from the rocks at Nag’s Head Rock. We watched a raft of 16 Common Eider fish just off Nag’s Head.

An Uncommon Visitor

Two Eastern Meadowlarks, near Black Rock, were reported by Susann Myers. Thanks to Gerry Lalonde for describing their location when I called him the morning of January 27^th. He told me that they had been seen the afternoon before by Phillip Burke. As Bill and I drove along the service road we saw two mature Bald Eagles at Black Rock. Then, in front of the car, there was movement in the field and along the roadside. One of the Eastern Meadowlarks was moving along the road eating seeds. The bird was not shy and we spent 25 minutes in frosty weather watching through binoculars and the spotting scope. The Eastern Meadowlark is uncommon but a regular winter visitor to Nova Scotia. It "… shows a marked preference for coastal, low-lying districts. Winters mainly in the southern United States, casually in southeastern Canada. Its summer food is mostly insects but in winter it normally eats seeds. Description Length: 23-28cm. Adult male: Narrow buff line through centre of crown, bordered by black lines on either side which in turn are bordered by a buff line over eye; yellow spot in front of eye; black line running from eye to neck; back, wings and tail mottled with black and browns; tail feathers yellow; black crescent-shaped patch on the upper breast; belly rich yellow; sides of breast and flanks grayish-white, streaked with black and dark brown." Robie Tufts, Birds of Eastern Nova Scotia. pp., 426-27.

That’s all for Feburary. Keep me posted on sightings. With all this snow we could get interesting and hungry birds at our feeders. 

Helen O’Shea

Extracted from © The Seagull, Helen O'Shea, For the Birds

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