FOR THE BIRDS

JUNE  2002

By

Helen O'Shea

• Ian Harte watched a mature Bald Eagle carrying an eel. A fishing line was wrapped around its claws. He thinks it’s the same eagle that is on Havenside although he saw it near Lorraine.
    
• Theresa and Fabian Boone of Bateston reported an Indigo Bunting on June 4.
    
• Ray Johnson saw a Yellow-rumped Warbler struck by a car as he was driving from Sydney on May 24. He has also been watching an American Robin prepare a nest in his shed. Juncos are also nesting on his property.
    
• Juanita Paige encouraged her mother Dora Fudge to put out the Hummingbird feeders after hearing that Victor Anderson’s Ruby-throated Hummingbirds had arrived in mid-May.
    
• Gary and Elaine Carter had their first Ruby-throated Hummingbird arrive on May 19 at 8 p.m. It checked their feeder but didn’t stay to eat. It has returned since then.
    
• Donald and Margie Cameron had a pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, a pair of Hummingbirds, a Red-breasted Nuthatch and Juncos in their yard the last week of May as well as a Northern Flicker in their backyard on May 29.
    
• Peter Chiasson and Sandy Anthony had a Yellow-rumped Warbler and a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak in their yard the last week of May.
    
• Margie and Marmon Smith have been watching the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds come to their feeders.
    
• Pearl Magee reported that before count day she had a White-crowed Sparrow for a week. She also watched a Solitary Vireo catching flies near the drain in the driveway. She had a Palm Warbler and a Common Redpoll. She also was at the Fortress Causeway with Winston on May 10 when they watched a Rough-legged Hawk coursing for game. They also saw a pair of Green-winged Teal. She watched a Sharp-shinned Hawk catching a Blue Jay down in her yard at dawn. Its wings were spread out to full span over the prey.
    
• Sheila Fudge reported a Northern Waterthrush between the road and the home of Linda Fudge in late afternoon on May 18. We went over to see this bird but only observed 3 Spotted Sandpipers in front of the home of David and Karen Skinner on the grass by the shore.
    
• Minnie and Brian MacLeod had a pair of Tree Swallows on May 11.
    
• Carter Stevens has 25 Blue Jays at his feeders in Big Lorraine in early June.
    
• Suzanne Kelly watched a Grouse eating the buds off her azalea the second week of May.
    
• Ruby and Morrison Powell had a pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks in their yard off Trout Brook Road.
    
• Phillip Burke reported a Northern Wheatear at the Fortress on June 3.
    
• Joan Shepard called on May 25 to say that the injured gull behind the apartment that she had been feeding bread crumbs had vanished. Unfortunately the weak sometimes become part of the food chain.
    
• Pat and Bob Holland have a pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.
    
• Claude and Ruth O’Hara have a pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks.
    
• Cathy and Donald MacLeod have a pair of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. 

Along Route 22

The last week and a half of May there were 6 Ring-necked Ducks in the pond at Albert Bridge on the right side of Route 22 as you head to Sydney. There were a pair of Red-winged Blackbirds there and at least a dozen Cormorants on the utility lines at the bridge. 

Around the Town

May 21 there were three Tree Swallows flying through the yard of Gladys and Joe Fiander.

Around the Harbour

The Barn Swallows were back at the Fortress site on May 30. June 6 there were about 8 of them hawking for flies along the waterfront of the Fortress site. Bill O’Shea watched two Cliff Swallows about the Administration Compound (park service road) on May 22 and there are now about 8. A Great Blue Heron was flying parallel with our car as we were on the outskirts of Louisbourg the evening of June 6. It landed near Havenside Barachois.

At my Feeders

White-crowned Sparrows are still in the yard. A female Red-winged Blackbird has come in to dine as well as a Northern Flicker that prefers the top of a utility pole as a look-out. He then lands in the yard to hunt for insects. The biggest discovery was the bird I missed. Bill watched a thrush that moved too quickly to identify. It was either a Swainson’s or Grey-cheeked Thrush seen on May 26.

North American Migratory Bird Count

May 11 was foggy early in the morning but the fog was gone by 8:15 a.m. We were lucky enough to see the following birds: 26 Juncos, 8 White-throated Sparrows, 3 Mourning Doves, 4 Crows, 3 Black-capped Chickadees, 8 Purple Finch, a Black and White Warbler, 8 American Goldfinch, a Yellow-rumped Warbler, 6 Pine Siskins, a Yellow-shafted Flicker, Sharp-shinned Hawk, 2 Starlings, 2 Blue Jays, a pair of Brown-headed Cowbirds, a Savannah Sparrow, a Song Sparrow, 4 Common Grackles, a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak, a Chipping Sparrow, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, 2 Boreal Chickadees and a Baltimore Oriole eating pieces of pear. The pear was left out for the Northern Mockingbird that never made an appearance that day or since, though it was here all winter. Pearl Magee had a Chipping Sparrow, 9 White-throated Sparrows, 2 Savannah Sparrows, a Tree Sparrow, a Song Sparrow and 4 Tree Swallows. She also alerted me to the Ruby-throated Hummingbird so I could rush my feeder out. Carter Stevens had 3 Tree Swallows.

Cowbirds – the birds that take advantage

The male Cowbird is black with a brown head and the female is all gray-brown. What sets Cowbirds aside from other birds we see locally is that the female Cowbird lays her eggs in the nests of other birds. The most commonly used species are Warblers, Vireos, Flycatchers, and Finches. Once a Cowbird lays an egg in another bird’s nest, it’s parental duties are done since the other bird incubates the egg and raises the young. Usually the Cowbird egg hatches slightly ahead of those of the host, giving it a head start on feeding and growing. Female Cowbirds lay an average of 40 eggs per year, but only two to three survive to adulthood. (Stokes Nature Guides—A Guide to Bird Behaviour, Volume II, pp. 213-223)

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER AND KEEP YOUR BINOCULARS NEARBY.

Helen O’Shea

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

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