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Info-Research Solutions (© 1996)
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Canada Unless Otherwise Designated
Researching the
Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site of Canada
Recherche sur la Forteresse-de-Louisbourg Lieu historique national du Canada
FOR THE BIRDS
MAY 2006
By
Helen O'Shea
Ø Pearl Magee saw 2 Tree Swallows at the Mira Road Fire Hall on April 7. On April 11 she had 5 Fox Sparrows, 3 Pine Siskins, Song Sparrows, a Blue Jay, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, and watched 2 Cormorants flying overhead. The day before she had 40 Juncos. On April 30 she and Winston saw 3 mature Bald Eagles at Albert Bridge. On May 1 a Pine Siskin arrived. A White-throated Sparrow arrived May 2 and on May 3 had 4 male and 3 female Purple Finch. She also has been hearing a Yellow-shafted Flicker. So far Pearl is delighted with the purchase of a new “squirrel proof” feeder. Time will tell.
Ø Margie and Donald Cameron have a pair of Goldfinch, 2 Blue Jays, a Junco and a Purple Finch at their feeders. This was reported on April 26. Not bad after a week of putting out seed by our “snowbirds”.
Ø Bill and Helen O’Shea watched a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak and a male Red-winged Blackbird fly across the Route 22 near Albert Bridge where the land is marshy on both sides of the highway.
Ø Louise Johnston was in Pondville and reported a female Pheasant at her brother’s bird feeder on April 21. She could hear the male Pheasant calling to it from the other side of the road.
Ø Beverly Maxwell of Albert Bridge met me on April 16. She told me that Grackles, Black Ducks, and Juncos are coming to her yard to be fed. She had a Vireo on her suet feeder most of the winter but it disappeared late in the season. On her way to the Easter Sunday Sunrise Service at the Lighthouse she watched a hawk nab a Junco.
Ø Frank Gill reported at least 40 American Robins in the yard of Donald MacMillan on Terra Nova Road the last week in April. Donald had also seen a male Ring-necked Pheasant.
Ø Ian and Darcy Harte watched a Great Blue Heron fly overhead on April 30. They also saw 3 Wilson’s Plovers at the Fortress Barachois, 2 Guillemots at Big Lorraine, a Sharp-shinned Hawk. Darcy saw a plump brown bird with a long orange and brownish beak in a tree at Clarke’s Road. Would this be an American Woodcock (otherwise known as a Timberdoodle)?
Ø Bill O’Shea saw 2 Ravens flying over the bog at the Fortress on May 1.
Ø Bruce and Rovie MacDonald of Mainadieu Road have had a pair of Downy Woodpeckers coming to their suet feeder since the third week of April. They managed to get photos of the male and female together on the feeder. They also have a large tray feeder on their deck and four large Crows or Ravens wait daily for their share of dog food to be poured in the tray.
Ø Ruth and Doug Stevens saw a pair of Canada Geese in Catalone Lake on April 28. They also have a pair of Flickers that run around a rock chasing each other—part of the mating ritual—as well as bumping their heads up and down as they face each other.
Ø Florence Miron reported a huge flock of Grackles.
Ø Sheila and Tom Fudge have been watching a pair of Buffleheads in the Havenside Barachois. She also watched a flock of Crows chase a mature Bald Eagle into a tree. He perched there for more than 15 minutes as they continued to harass it.
April 9 there were Robins in the treetops at Han Beck. April 22 a Turkey Vulture was soaring over Peck’s Store and disappeared over the woods behind the ball field. 2 Cormorants were at the Royal Battery and 3 Blue Jays were at the feeders of Millie Parsons. April 27 there was an American Robin on the lawn of Helen and Morley Lahey.
April 28 I had to stop the car and wait for a female Spruce Grouse to cross the road. I was driving to the Fortress Administration Building and she was working on the theory that if she stood still on the road, in my lane, I did not see her and therefore she was safe.
April 29 there was a Ruffed Grouse on the Administration Road off Route 22. Near the Kennington Cove Gate there was a pair of Spruce Grouse who continued chomping on grit and were not bothered when we turned the car to head back to town.
On a walk through town April 30 I watched a Herring Gull in the yard of Gerry and Chris Gartland. A pair of Robins were in the yard of Dennis and Florence Wadden. A Grackle was perched on the utility line in front of the house of Gladys Fiander. The mother lode of Grackles were in the trees and on the platform feeder at the home of Mary (Mrs. Warren) Bagnell. There were more than one hundred and twenty five. Later, walking along Huntington Avenue about 35 Grackles landed in the trees in the yard of Ashley Hill. There was a flock of more than 50 Starlings on the utility line in front of the home of Irma and Clayton Murray. A pair of Song Sparrows were flying through the bushes at the home of John and Olive Spawn. 12 Cormorants were flying from the harbour over Upper Warren Street.
May 1 a Raven landed in a tree behind the home of Isabelle and Donald Cross. It was chased away by four Crows toward the Louisbourg Motor Home Park. 6 Grackles are usually perched in the trees at the side of the home of Sandy Anthony on Station Hill. The male Goldfinch are again their bright yellow selves. You can understand why they are referred to as Wild Canaries.
April 9 I had 2 pair of Grackles, a Song Sparrow, Juncos, Black-capped Chickadees, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and Mourning Doves feeding on the ground and on the disselfinks. April 10 we had 16 White-winged Crossbills arrive. That meant frequent refilling of the feeder shelves. April 11 there were 3 Fox Sparrows, 5 Song Sparrows, a pair of Blue Jays, 4 Mourning Doves. One Fox Sparrow stayed through the heavy rain of April 17. 8 Grackles, Crows, a Raven, and Starlings arrived on a windy April 21. A male Goldfinch also visited the niger feeder. April 23 a Fox Sparrow was under the rose bush eating millet. The next day there were 5 Pine Siskins, 4 male Goldfinch, a pair of Purple Finch, a pair of Song Sparrows and a Red-breasted Nuthatch. The Juncos are still feisty.
April 11 there was a male Northern Harrier at the Royal Battery. April 15 we watched 12 Common Eiders and 6 Red-breasted Mergansers at Little Lorraine. April 16, at 6:15 a.m. there were Black Ducks at the Havenside Barachois and Red-breasted Mergansers. April 29, at the Havenside Barachois, we noticed the male Belted Kingfisher has returned for another season and a male Common Eider was floating in the surf off Lighthouse Point. Han Beck was busy on May 2 and there was a large flock of gulls in the Jerrat’s Brook Barachois.i
Evelyn Phillips says that gulls have been bringing crab shells to her roof daily since last year. They arrived in May last year, but this year I saw a Herring Gull land on her roof April 30 with a crab shell in its beak. It landed near the peak of the roof, worked at the contents of the shell and then abandoned it. After an absence of a few minutes it returned with another crab shell and repeated the activity. That accounted for several shells abandoned in various locations on Evelyn’s roof. She says she can fill trash bags with the shells littering the yard. She compares the noise to the prancing of Santa’s tiny reindeer on the roof.
Bill Baldwin asked me about the flight speed of Starlings after observing a flock zoom from one area to another. In 1942, timed under conditions of NO WIND, the Starlings were clocked at 55 mph. At other times in previous years they had been timed at 15, 28, and 35 mph. No doubt the later sophisticated timing devices and weather conditions accounted for the variation. (Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds)
The other day, my husband, Bill, showed me some letters with interesting birding information for Louisbourg dating from the 1940s. For the historical record, here are some extracts.
On February 1, 1941 Mayor Melvin S. Huntington wrote to R. W. Tufts who was the chief federal migratory bird officer of the Maritime Provinces, in the Department of the Interior, National Parks of Canada. Robie W. Tufts is the author of the much- used reference book, Birds of Nova Scotia first published in 1961 and now in its third printing.
Huntington writes that “almost every day, for the last two weeks, I have seen a flock of about ten Bronzed Grackles perched in the trees in various places in the Town of Louisbourg. While they do not display all the characteristics of the Grackles, when they visit us in the spring and summer months, they more closely resemble the Grackle than any other bird with which I am familiar. They are very quiet, no noise of chatter, heard by all listeners when they invade the back yards looking for food in the early spring. One sunny day last week, when the snow was melting from the steeple of a nearby church, the whole flock stood under the drip, and seemed to be greatly enjoying a bath in the snow water. . This is the first time I have seen Bronzed Grackles, in this part of the country, earlier than about the middle of April.”
Tufts replied from Wolfville, N.S. on February 25, 1931. “You speak of a flock of 10 Bronzed Grackles which you have been seeing of later. I am inclined to believe that this is a case of mistaken identity, for your birds are far more likely to be European Starlings. . . while grackles are occasionally seen throughout the winter, they are very rare, whereas starlings are now becoming very common but because they are relatively newcomers, many observers fail to recognize them in the field. Starlings were brought over from Europe in 1890 and liberated in New York State and for many years their increase and spread was slow. However, in the last decade of so they have traveled far and wide and are now common over the eastern part of the continent.”
In the same letter to Tufts, Huntington writes about a flock of 5 Pine Grosbeaks visiting his yard in January to eat the Mountain Ash or Dogwood berries. He says “ While, during some winters, the Pine Grosbeak is quite common in some parts of Cape Breton, this is the first time I have seen this bird within the boundaries of our town.”
Huntington also talks about a Robin visiting in January and eating the Mountain Ash berries that he had put in a grape basket which he hung in a tree. He also tried to lure the robin with “. . . Hamburg steak, with the idea of deceiving him into thinking it was a bunch of angle worms, But as far as I am aware he did not partake of this delicacy. . . Robins frequently spend their winters in Cape Breton. I have known of flocks of upwards of twenty being seen at one time in mid- winter on the outskirts of this town.”
Tufts was interested in the Grosbeaks and Robins. Of the Robins he mentions that he had also tried the hamburg steak route with no success. He said that the only thing to get them to eat was rotten apples. He mentions that the Robins were probably ones that nested farther north and migrated south to Nova Scotia.
Finally, there is a letter dated May 10, 1947 from Huntington to a relative in the west – referring to a cold and backward spring here after a “remarkable winter”. Huntington writes, “ Our usual quota of Spring birds arrived some time ago, and are every morning staging concerts in our back yard. For the last twenty-five (years) there has been a bird coming here, which was not a visitor to Cape Breton when you were at home. It is called the Fox Sparrow. They are the largest and the best singers of the sparrow family. They usually arrive here shortly after the first of April and remain with us for about two or three weeks after which they continue their migratory trip to the far North where they nest, and spend the summer months, before returning south to a more congenial clime, in the later Autumn. After their stay here, which this spring was a little longer than usual, owing to the cold and damp weather, they all disappear over night, as if by a given signal which they all seem to pick up at the same time and vanish at the same time. On a day near the time they are scheduled to leave there may be about three dozen in the yard at one time, and early the next morning there may not be a sight or a sound or a trace of them to be seen or heard in the whole place and we shall see no more of them until Spring returns again. They are very fond of rolled oats of which we feed them about ten pounds during their stay. But we consider ourselves amply paid for our trouble in listening to their songs, which they shower upon us while they are our guests. They are a little larger than the song sparrow, and of a reddish brown color. One of their characteristics is that when looking for food in the grass or on the lawn, they scratch with both feet, at the same time, which is different from any bird I ever say. Well that’s so much for weather and the birds.”
May you all have a wonderful summer being entertained by the birds. Don’t forget—it is time to put out the Hummingbird feeders. Once the weather becomes much warmer, the nectar should be changed every 3 to 4 days maximum.
Nectar for Hummingbirds: Mix 1 part sugar with four parts boiling water. If you make to much of the mixture it can be refrigerated for several days.
Helen
May all your problems be little ones.
Our son Patrick and his wife Carolyn, living in Cornwall, Ontario, are expecting a new addition to their family in mid-July. I’ll keep you posted. Kevin is still in Korea, in Busan, teaching English and playing drums in a band.
Helen O’Shea
Extracted from © The Seagull, Helen O'Shea, For the Birds