FOR THE BIRDS ~ FEBRUARY 1998

A Brown Creeper has been visiting the trees in my yard since January 3. He comes before 7:30 a.m. or after 4:30 p.m. He is a shy, secretive bird that is easily spooked. The Chipping Sparrow feeds here throughout the day. He is intimidated by the large number of ground feeders and prefers to sit in the tray of my feeder eating millet. On January 18, I saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk fly through my yard and driveway. January 23, brought a female Hairy Woodpecker who returned the next week. There was an Orange-crowned Warbler, a Common Redpoll, 16 American Goldfinch and all "the regulars" at my feeders. By early February, my 3 Pine Warblers had diminished to 2 Pine Warblers. February 1, we looked out to see beige feathers in a tree branch near the feeders. Later, Bill found several tail feathers on the ground. The mystery was solved when we noticed a Mourning Dove without a tail eating with several others. I expect it was the work of the Sharp-shinned Hawk. The tail feathers will grow back on the Mourning Dove. A pair of Red Crossbills have come to my feeder daily.

Pearl Magee called January 17 to report an American Tree Sparrow, numerous Boreal and Black-capped Chickadees, 20 Evening Grosbeaks, and 20 Juncoes. The day before, she observed a Bald Eagle eating its prey on the ice at Mira. The week before that, near Port Hawkesbury, a Snowy Owl swoop across the highway in front of Winston Magee’s truck.

January 18 was a fine day for reports. Junior and Geraldine Metcalfe saw 2 or 3 Harlequin Ducks off Lighthouse Point when they were birding. Off the Government Wharf I saw 2 dozen Oldsquaw and 2 dozen Black Guillemots and, as a highlight, a Common Murre.

During the snowstorm of January 21, Carol Corbin reported a Snow Bunting on the ground under her feeder.

The next day Ernie Wiesner, from Hornes Road, reported that his son-in-law found a Dovekie in the field behind the New Waterford Hospital. I explained that it may have landed on ice (thinking it was water) or been blown inland during the storm. They planned to release it back into the harbour.

Gary Peck saw approximately 100 American Black Duck below Gerrat’s Brook. They were back one day in early February engaged in a "feeding frenzy". Several Bufflehead also dined in the same location.

On January 30, we birded around the harbour with our spotting scope. A Bald Eagle flew across the ice below Marconi and perched in a tree. We also saw 7 Loons, 6 Mergansers, 6 Goldeneye, 2 dozen Oldsquaw, 3 Bufflehead, 9 Black Guillemots, 2 dozen American Black Duck, a White-winged Scoter and a King Eider below Kennelly’s.

Susann Myers saw a Northern Harrier off the Lighthouse and later the same week at the Fortress. She also saw a flock of Snow Buntings at the Fortress and reported that there is a Dovekie off Havenside Road on the harbour side that has been there since mid-January.

Sheila Fudge saw a dozen Snow Buntings on February 3 in Stacey’s field off Main Street. Pearl Magee reported the reappearance of her flock of 20 Evening Grosbeaks later that week. She also had a flock of a dozen Common Redpoll. Walking at noon hour February 3 we found the motherlode of Common Redpoll. There were 2 flocks of four dozen. One flock was on the wires beside Bill Bussey’s house. The other flock was on the east side of Pepperrell Street below Huntington Avenue. They were eating seeds from the alders. There was a flock of 60 Mourning Doves in nearby trees and a flock of 100 Starlings.

On January 31, at noon we were walking along Main Street past Ian Harte’s house. Jerry Lalonde was walking with his children and pointed out a strange bird on the wire along the old railway track that runs behind Stevens’ Store. At the same time Ian came out of his back door and said the bird had been there for about an hour. It was all by itself and was white with dark slate-coloured markings on the tail and wings. Bill had his binoculars in his pocket and Shane had a pair. We took turns observing from a distance, then moved right up to the track under the bird. It had pink feet and seemed to be a pigeon, but we could not see the head. Bill clapped his hands a couple of times and finally the bird raise its head very slowly to see what was going on. It was a pigeon. What made this sighting unusual was having a lone pigeon sitting for such a prolonged length of time and not moving even when we got near it. It must have been sick. Dougie Stevens said the bird had been sitting there for over 2 hours. Ian says the flock of pigeons in that part of town numbers approximately 15.

On February 7, Bill and I were walking along Havenside Road shortly after 3 p.m. We were watching the harbour, but happened to look up and saw about 10 crows circling and diving high in the air. As we watched, these crows were joined by others flying in from all around the harbour and from behind Louisbourg. Soon there were between 40 and 50 in a tight group moving back and forth in the sky over Havenside. After about 10 minutes of this crow ballet, they began to fly lower and lower and finally disappeared in the trees behind Cyneth and Gordon Hutt’s house. As we watched several late comers flew in to join the group. Although we were there for another 15 minutes the crows never came back up.

Perhaps you remember one of my earlier articles when I referred to a murder of crows. Here are some more colloquial "group names" from the Birder’s Dictionary ( Randal T. Cox and affiliates, Falcon Press, 1996). You may recognize some of the following: a bouquet of pheasants, a chattering of starlings, a congregation of plovers, a convocation of eagles, a covey of quail or partridges, a deceit of lapwings, a descent of woodpeckers, an exaltation of larks, a fall of woodcocks, a flight of swallows, a gaggle of geese, a host of sparrows, a murmuration of starlings, a mustering of storks, an ostentation of peacocks, a paddling of ducks, a parliament of owls, a peep of chickens, a pitying of turtle doves, a rafter of turkeys, a siege of herons, a spring of teal, tidings of magpies, an unkindness of ravens, a walk of snipe, a watch of nightingales.

In answer to a question from Gary Peck - The wing span of a Bald Eagle is from 71 to 89 inches. The eagle’s body is approximately 31 inches long. Eagles nest usually in a very tall tree that stands above the surrounding forest. The nest is a mound of sticks lined with finer material. It may be used and added to for years, becoming huge. Both sexes co-operate in building the nest.