FOR THE BIRDS

June 1995

By

Helen O'Shea

THE MIGRATORY BIRD COUNT ON MAY 13, 1995 WAS A HUGE SUCCESS.    Pearl Magee sighted at her feeders and walked the area at the end of town near the Shell Garage.  Gwen watched her feeders on Havenside Road.  Leeanne Reeves and Dougie Pearl, Park Wardens on duty, watched feeders in the Park Boundaries and along the roads and shore.  Bill and I watched our feeders, the Housing Area, the Government Wharf, Slattery's, the Royal Battery and the Havenside and Fortress Barachois. Roger Wilson sighted along the Terra Nova Road and at his feeders. All told we spent a total of 43 hours observing birds. 

We saw a total of 39 species of birds.  Not a bad result for 7 observers.  We saw a total of 692 individual birds.  Some of our more interesting sightings were the following:  Pearl Magee sighted a Merlin, 3 Yellow-Shafted Flickers, 4 Red-Breasted Nuthatch, 2 Chipping Sparrows, 5 White-throated Sparrows, 9 Purple Finch, 2 immature Bald Eagles.  Roger Wilson saw 2 Sharp-Shinned Hawks, 14 Red-Crowned Kinglets, 2 Golden-Crowned Kinglets, 12 Myrtle (Yellow-Rumped) Warblers, 2 Evening Grosbeaks.  Doug and Leeanne saw the male Ring-Necked Pheasant, 4 Yellow Rumped Warblers, 5 Ruffed Grouse.  Gwen saw 13 Juncoes and 9 American Goldfinch.  Bill and Helen O'Shea sighted 24 Double-Crested Cormorants, 2 Great Blue Heron, a male Green-Winged Teal, 2 American Black Duck, 5 Iceland Gulls, 138 Herring Gulls, 95 Great Black-Backed Gulls, 2 Belted Kingfisher, 18 Tree Swallows, 1 Palm Warbler, 6 Common Grackles,2 Savannah Sparrows, an American Tree Swallow. 

It was a great day for Tree Swallows and Yellow-Rumped Warblers. 

We saw many more birds than the Sydney count since it was sunny and a high of 14 degrees.  Only Louisbourg and Big Pond had Tree Swallows.  

Harry Kennedy reported a female and male Ring-Necked Pheasant near the Visitor Centre on May 11. 

I saw a female Spruce Grouse and a Ruffed Grouse near the Fortress Administration Building.

Jean Bagnell had a White-Crowned Sparrow at her feeder on Riverdale Street on May 20.   

Bill and I spotted an Osprey and an Eastern Kingbird at Main a Dieu on May 22.  The next day I saw a Red-Tailed Hawk on the Sydney-Louisbourg Highway. We saw approximately 300 Common Terns following schools of fish offshore near the Fishplant, Government Wharf, Slattery Head.  Almost 100 Terns were on the Breakwater east of the Government Wharf.  They have been there on several dates since then. 

On May 23 I saw a Red-Winged Blackbird and a male Yellow Warbler on May 24.  That day Gwen reported a Warbling Vireo in her yard and the first male Ruby-Throated Hummingbird.  Pearl Magee called to report a female Ruby-Throated Hummingbird in her yard on May 25. 

Gwen reported the duck in the Havenside Barachois led out 9 ducklings on May 24. 

Ernie Lahey's Ruby-Throated Hummingbird arrived May 23. 

Gwen sighted a female Blue Grosbeak on May 21 and a pair of Yellow-Rumped Warbler.   

May 26 Devon Fudge reported two Blue Jays nesting in a bird house beside his home.  Gwen sighted a Blackpoll Warbler the same day. 

Bill and I saw a Ring-Billed Gull and 150 Common Terns near the Government Wharf the morning of May 27.  When we went for a walk near Simon's Point we saw 6 Magnolia Warblers, 2 Yellow Warblers, 8 Yellow-Rumped Warblers, a mature Bald Eagle, more than a dozen Juncoes, and a male Blackburnian Warbler. 

Magnificent sunny weather and warm temperatures have made this month a bonanza for bird watchers. 

On May 28 there was a Northern Mockingbird on the stumps beside Ralph Parsons house.  It sat and posed for at least ten minutes. The same afternoon Bill and I watched the Cliff Swallows at the Fortress as well as the Barn Swallows. 

Pearl Magee reported a female Rose-Breasted Grosbeak at her feeder on May 31.  The day before she had a pair of Veery Thrush close to the woods on the grass.  She also had a Chestnut-Sided Warbler, a Common Yellowthroat, and Yellow-Rumped and Magnolia Warblers.  The previous weekend she was able to see hundreds of tree swallows over Margaree and a pair of Chipping Sparrows.  She also saw an American Redstart.

Black-Headed Grosbeak sighted 

Mona MacLeod shared an exciting sighting with me on May 3l.  She had a female Black-Headed Grosbeak at her feeder. The breast is washed with ochre-brown; streaks are much finer or nearly absent across the chest.  This bird is primarily of the western areas but often winters with and may even hybridize with Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks where it winters in the New England States where it frequents feeders.  As you notice, it arrived the same day as Pearl's Grosbeak.  I was lucky enough to see this Black-Headed Grosbeak in the MacLeod yard the same evening. 

Patterns of migration and common areas of feeding and breeding for some of these species appears to be changing. 

RARE BIRD! RARE BIRD! RARE BIRD!

On May 15, Sheila Fudge and Richard Cross called to report a new sighting on Havenside Road in the Barachois Pond.  The bird had yellow feet, black legs, was approximately two feet tall, had feathers at the back of the head and was white.  Judging by the initial description the best identification seemed to be the Snowy Egret.  Minnie MacLeod reported this bird as being there the weekend of the Count - May 13.  She called me at home when he was in the field behind Lena Ferguson's house and Bill and I were able to observe him for over an hour.  He seemed to have two long feathers from the back of his head. 

Donald Cross reported this bird as did Carol Corbin.  There was a "Big Day" Bird Count during which time several birders from Sydney area were to come out and add birds to their list.  I received a call from John MacKay on May 25 to ask what was in the area.  He and Dave MacCorquodale were out the next day. 

Imagine my surprise when they told me we did not have the bird we claimed to have. Instead of a Snowy Egret we have a LITTLE EGRET.

Jerry Lunn, Dave MacCorquodale, John MacKay, Cathy Murrant all were excited to observe a LITTLE EGRET that is a wanderer from the Old World.  According to Robie Tufts (p.62 Birds of Nova Scotia) it has appeared twice in Newfoundland and once in Quebec.  It has blue-grey rather than yellow at the base of the bill, never shows yellow up the back of the legs, and adults have two narrow head plumes instead of the shaggy mass of the Snowy Egret.   

RARE BIRD SIGHTERS CAN BE PROUD!  

Thank you Sheila, Richard and Donald Cross for notifying me of its presence.  Thank you Minnie, for calling me when he was visible for a prolonged period of time and allowing me to get my first long look. Thank you Carol, for telling me he was there on an occasion when we were able to observe him in flight.  Thank you Gwen, for the drawing of the Little Egret. 

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Remember to record your sightings.  Better yet, call me at 733-2873 and report.  That way we can share our sightings throughout the summer months and I can be preparing the September FOR THE BIRDS. 

Susann had a flock of 12 Cedar Waxwings on May 26 and a single one on June 2. 

Gwen called on June 2 to report a flock of 30 to 40 Cedar Waxwings in the berry tree beside her house.  Perhaps these birds were all on a migration route or were members from the same flock.  It is always interesting to speculate. 

The 28 May Susann had a Brown-Headed Cowbird at her feeders and it was the last day for her Chipping Sparrows.  On May 30 she saw a Black and White Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, and 3 Yellow-Rumped Warblers on the path by the water tower.  Her male and female Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds arrived May 31. 

Bill was taking a special group of visitors on an early morning Fortress tour June 6.  As he drove by the Havenside Barachois at 7 a.m. he saw a Great Blue Heron, the Little Egret and a Greater Yellowlegs.   

While speaking with Gwen she mentioned sighting an Empidonax Flycatcher in the bottom of her garden on June 2. If you look at the latest Peterson you will notice how difficult it is to tell with a glance which category this is now:  Least, Willow or Alder. Unfortunately these busy bugeaters don't co-operate by staying still while we look for the minute differences.  If one recognizes the bird call it is much easier to identify the bird. 

We have seen several Yellow-Shafted Flickers along the roadsides and sitting in the tops of trees.  The white flash at the base of the tail is a good identifier when the bird is in flight. 

Park Warden Gordon MacLean reported a Green Heron within the Park the week of June 5.  

Helen O'Shea

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

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