FOR THE BIRDS ~ NOVEMBER 1998

Sometimes you have to leave the area to increase the number of bird sightings. During a week-long visit to Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, in October, I managed to increase my life list by 10 birds.

The surprising sighting was a female Painted Bunting. The last time I saw one was at the feeder of Gordon and Cyneth Hutt during the Christmas Bird Count in 1996. It was a rarity for Louisbourg and, interestingly enough, not common in Virginia.

There were Black Vultures as well as Turkey Vultures soaring in the clear, sunny, 80 degree weather. The Black Vulture has a much shorter tail and the wing tips are light in colour. In a wooded area behind the College of William and Mary I saw my first Red-bellied Woodpecker. After the initial sighting, it was incredible that every wooded area had at least one or two of these birds. I was able to identify a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher and two Alder Flycatchers as they spent an hour catching bugs in the yard of a house in Williamsburg. There were several sightings of the Carolina Wren. The Tufted Titmouse was also a common occurrence. I was also fortunate enough to watch a small flock of seven Eastern Bluebirds in a wooded area along the James River.

One of the most productive areas was a parking lot in the Williamsburg Woodlands hotel. It was an hour between five and six in the afternoon when we watched a pair of female Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, a male and female Red-bellied Woodpecker, a Carolina Chickadee, and a Brown-headed Nuthatch. There were many White-breasted Nuthatches in the area and a mob of Robins eating Mountain Ash and Dogwood Berries. A major source of excitement was a White-tailed Kite being chased from the area by five American Crows. There was an incredible racket in the trees surrounding the motel complex. It was created by a huge flock of more than a thousand Grackles and Starlings. They were seen swarming over the historic site of Colonial Williamsburg the night before when we were walking along the street in that area.

And some things remain the same. Reminding us of home were flocks of Mourning Doves, flocks of Robins, a "vee" of 21 Canada Geese, Yellow-shafted Flickers, and a pair of Downy Woodpeckers.

The state bird of Virginia is the Cardinal. It is incredible how colourful these birds are. Yet they can camouflage themselves within bushes and leafy trees. Their call, a distinctive "peet" told us what bird to seek amid the undergrowth.

The state bird should really be the Northern Mockingbird. They were abundant to the point of being ridiculous, perched on the top of every second tree or hidden in shrubbery. Strangely enough, the week of our return home I saw a Northern Mockingbird in the rose bush in the backyard. According to the Atlas of Breeding Birds of the Maritime Provinces, (Anthony Erskine, 1992 ) there is at least one confirmed and several probable records of the Mockingbird nesting on Cape Breton.

It is incredible how many yards have Canada Jays (Gray Jay, Whiskey Jack) in town this fall as well as Blue Jays. We had a Canada Jay on the front lawn for several days. It was there along with a flock of Crows eating something that they found appetizing.

November 1, was an exciting day. I was able to watch a flock of three dozen American Robins eating Mountain Ash berries in the yard of Cliff Peck. Amid the flock was a female Baltimore Oriole. The Robins were a bit washed out in appearance and were very much like those I saw in Virginia.

That morning I was at Stevens’ Store talking with Dougie when a Yellow-breasted Chat flew into the front window of the store and fell back into the parking lot. Francis Kennedy righted the bird and when I drove away it was perched Charlie Herritt’s finger, shaking its head and wondering what had happened.

I spotted two Greater Yellowlegs in the little pond behind Garden Island near the Fortress barachois later in the afternoon. There were a number of Herring and Great Black Backed Gulls, a Cormorant and a Yellow-billed Loon. I was able to watch the loon as it swam close to the Island for about 15 minutes.

Driving down Lorway on October 31 I noticed a flock of 50 Rock Doves (Pigeons) in Greta and Everett Beaver’s yard. Later they were on the roof of Margie and Donald Cameron. This is the same flock that is seen on the roof of the Cranberry Cove Inn or swooping over Cliff Peck’s yard. It is getting larger year by year.

Driving out from Sydney on November 6, I saw two dozen American Robins eating mountain ash berries on the right side of the highway while a flock of about fifty Starlings were in the trees on the left side just before Catalone Hill.

The Robin, "Migrates in flocks, often by day. Although some robins winter as far north as Canada, they are in localized concentrations then. Flocks break up before the nesting season; a northerner’s ‘first robin of spring’ may be a bird that has wintered only a few miles away, not one that has just arrived from southern climates. " ( K. Kaufman, Lives of North American Birds, 1996). If you look at range maps in the back of the field guide you will see that the wintering area for the American Robin includes the east coast of Newfoundland, Cape Breton and mainland Nova Scotia.

Call me if you have any unusual sightings or require assistance with bird identification.