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TheBlue BillQuarterly Journal of the Kingston Field
Naturalists
ISSN 0382-5655
Volume 66, No. 1 March 2019
Contents1 President’s Page / Anthony Kaduck 1
2 Kingston and Area Christmas Bird Counts / Kathy Webb 2
3 Mid-winter Waterfowl Inventory (2019) /Mark D. Read 8
4 Kingston Region Birds – Autumn 2018 (August 1st – November
30th) /Mark D. Read 12
5 Articles 185.1 Exercise Timbit Traveller III - The Great
Ontario Birding Tour 2018 / Anthony Kaduck . . . . . . 18
6 KFN Outings 266.1 Ramble to the Cataraqui Cemetery (January 8,
2019) / Anne Robertson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266.2 Ramble
to the Bu ernut Creek Trail (January 22, 2019) /Marlene Rothenbury
. . . . . . . . . . . 276.3 Ramble to the Cataraqui Trail at Perth
Road (February 5, 2019) / Nancy Spencer . . . . . . . . . 286.4
Teens Clean Out Wood Duck Nest Boxes (February 9, 2019) / Amelie
Robitaille . . . . . . . . . . 296.5 Ramble to the Bayview Bog
(February 19, 2019) /Maureen Martin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. 296.6 Amherst Island Outing (March 2, 2019) / Janet Sco . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306.7 Ramble to the Rogers
Side Road Trails (March 5, 2019) / Rosemary Bradley . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 32
7 Winter Bird Photos 34
8 Clipped Classics 36
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2018/2019 Executive
President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . Anthony Kaduck
Honorary President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . Ron Weir
Vice-President (Speakers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.Kenneth Edwards
Past President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . Alexandra Simmons
Treasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . Larry McCurdy
Recording Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . Janis Grant
Membership Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . John Critchley
Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . Peter McIntyre
Bird Records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Read
Bird Sightings/Ontbirds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . Mark Read
Book Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . Janet and Bruce Ellio
Conservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . .Chris Hargreaves
Editor of The Blue Bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . Peter Waycik
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . Shirley French
Facebook Coordinator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . Polly Aiken
Field Trips/Slideshow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . Gaye Beckwith
Junior Naturalists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . Anne Robertson
May Dinner Coordinator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . .Polly Aiken
Nature Reserves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . Erwin Batalla
Newsle er . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Janet Ellio
Ontario Nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . John Donihee
Publicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jackie Bartnik
Website . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lesley Rudy
To contact any member of the executive or for general
inquiriesabout the Kingston Field Naturalists, please send an email
[email protected].
The Blue Bill is the quarterlyjournal (published March,June,
September and De-cember) of the KingstonField Naturalists, P.O.
Box831, Kingston ON, K7L 4X6,Canada.
kingstonfieldnaturalists.org
Send submissions to the editorby the 5th of the month of
pub-lication (i.e. the 5th of March,June, September, or
December)to
[email protected]
Submissions may be in anyformat. Equations should be inLATEX.
Please provide captionsand credit information for pho-tos.
Canadian Publications MailProduct Sales Agreement#047128
https://kingstonfieldnaturalists.org
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 1
1 President’s Pageby Anthony Kaduck
Our new website is now up and running! We hadbudgeted up to
$4,000 to have it redesigned pro-fessionally but our Blue Bill
Editor, Peter Waycik,suggested that we could do the work in-house
atnext to no cost. Well the results of that effort arenow on
display and I think you will agree that thenew site is a
significant upgrade: be er organized,more informative, and more
pleasing to the eye.It is also mobile-friendly, so it is now much
easierto access the site from a smart phone or a tablet.There are
still a few fixes to make but we decidedto go ”live” now rather
than waiting until we hada perfect solution.
So how can you help get to the finish line? First, byusing the
website. If you find any problems, suchas a link that does not
connect to the right pageor missing information, contact Lesley
Rudy, thewebsite manager, and it will be sorted out. Youcan also
contribute your own photos, whether ofwildlife or of club
activities, to help us show in im-ages what the club is all
about.
Developing the new site endedup costing us a cou-ple of hundred
dollars instead of thousands, so Iwould be remiss if I failed to
recognize the manyhours of work that went into this project.
Theweb-site commi ee was chaired by Lesley, with PeterWaycik, Gaye
Beckwith, Chris Hargreaves andmeas members. The commi ee met
several times towork out how the site should be organized, but
thevast majority of the actual work of building it andtransferring
information was done by Lesley andPeter. This was a significant
effort–I would esti-mate they spent close to one hundred hours on
theproject, and we all owe them a debt of gratitude.So Lesley and
Peter: on behalf of all the membersof the KFN, Well Done!, and
thank you for takingthis on.
And now that I am on the subject of volunteer-ing... Our club
relies onmany people volunteeringtheir time to run our various
lines of effort–field
trips, rambles, the Teen and Junior programmes,the newsle er,
the Blue Bill, the May Dinner, ourFacebook and Flickr pages and the
website.
Less visible to the members but equally impor-tant are
bookkeeping and budgeting, collectingdues and issuing membership
cards, finding andbooking speakers, tabulating bird records,
draft-ing minutes, placing advertisements, managingour nature
reserves, representing the Club at On-tario Nature and of course
ensuring that our viewson the environment and conservation are
heard bymunicipal and provincial levels of government.
If you would be interested in helping out with anyof these
activities please contact me or the relevantcommi ee chair and
offer to pitch in. You don’thave to take on huge responsibilities,
but simplethings like helping to staff an information booth ata
public event would help lessen the load on ”theusual suspects.”
There are three places in particularwherewe coulduse some
additional help from members:
• If you enjoy taking part in the field tripsplease consider
running one yourself. It’snot a lot of work and your efforts will
be ap-preciated.
• We are always on the lookout for new con-tent for the Blue
Bill. Articles and observa-tions are welcome, as are photos.
• We need a volunteer to record sightings ofOdonates
(dragonflies and damselflies). Ide-ally this personwould be an
”odonatophile,”but experience is less important than interestand
the desire to learn.
If you think you could help out with any of theseprojects please
contact any member of the execu-tive and we will point you in the
right direction!
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2 March 2019
2 Kingston and Area Christmas Bird Countsby Kathy Webb
Christmas Bird Counts (CBCs) take place within afixed 24km
diameter circle and always take placeon a single day between the
dates of 14th Decem-ber and 5th January. The Kingston count
alwaysfalls on the first Sunday within that time frame:the recent
count took place on Sunday, December16, 2018 and the next count
will take place on Sun-day, December 15, 2019. Kingston’s first
Christ-mas Bird Count (CBC) was held in 1948. OtherCBCs established
within the KFN birding area in-clude: Moscow (1964), Westport
(1964), Napanee
(1965), Thousand Islands (1974), Prince EdwardPoint (1977),
Amherst Island (1990), Delta (2000),Gananoque (2014) and Frontenac
(2015). Moscowfell by the wayside in 1994, returned in 2016
and2017, but failed to take place in 2018 due to a lack
ofvolunteers; hopefully, sufficient volunteers can berecruited for
a return in 2019. As always, the con-tinued efforts of the
coordinators, compilers andparticipants of all local counts are
greatly appreci-ated.
Figure 1: One of the highlights of the Kingston
CBCwasaGreaterWhite-frontedGoose – the second record in thelast 20
years and the first since 1999. The goose was seenon RMC property
as part of the area 9 count. It stayedaround for a fewmore days
allowing other birders to seeand photograph it. (Sharon David)
Figure 2: The first Boreal Owl included as part of theKingston
CBC was seen and photographed by KristaFazackerley at the Li le
Cataraqui Conservation Areaduring count week on December 18, 2018.
(Krista Faza-ckerley)
Table 1: Overall statistics for the Kingston area, 2018
King Westp Nap 1000 Is PEPt Amherst Delta Gan Front16-Dec 14-Dec
23-Dec 20-Dec 15-Dec 04-Jan 19-Dec 27-Dec 15-Dec
Species 86 52 53 63 69 63 36 55 49
Birds 35869 4273 7286 5726 11324 4114 1245 8182 3362
Participants:field+feeder 57 + 75 18 + 11 19 + 0 23 + 15 26 + 1
60 + 5 11 + 0 19 + 2 53 + 9
Low (◦C) -2 -3 -3 -4 -4 5 -6 -15 2
High (◦C) 2 4 0 5 4 10 3 -7 4
Rain/Snow None Lightrain pm None None None None None None
None
Sun/Cloud Cloudy Cloudy PartlyCloudyPartlyCloudy
PartlyCloudy Cloudy
PartlyCloudy
PartlyCloudy
PartlyCloudy
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 3
Table 2: The number of species found over the last 15 years,
with average (*no count held)
’04 ’05 ’06 ’07 ’08 ’09 ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13 ’14 ’15 ’16 ’17 ’18
Avg.
Kingston 103 103 104 * 106 101 102 105 108 96 104 84 96 82 86
99
Westport * * 52 34 36 33 37 51 47 39 42 44 39 55 52 43
Napanee 58 50 56 51 57 60 59 59 58 51 66 66 59 60 53 58
1000Islands 57 60 64 60 55 50 63 54 55 55 55 59 64 63 63 58
PEPt 71 76 71 65 63 55 55 69 70 63 74 61 64 80 69 67
AmherstIs 36 64 54 54 57 56 57 69 61 54 74 51 50 53 63 57
Delta 43 38 48 40 42 42 40 38 44 41 41 46 44 41 36 42
Gananoque - - - - - - - - - - 56 63 74 51 55 60
Frontenac - - - - - - - - - - - 37 37 49 49 43
Moscow - - - - - - - - - - - - 36 40 * 38
Table 1 shows a selection of statistics for the ninecounts held
within our area. Participation washigh for the Kingston, Amherst
Island and Fron-tenac circles; a record number of backyard
feederwatchers also took part in the Kingston CBC. Tem-peratures
hovered around zero for most of the lo-cal counts with a general
lack of precipitation. Formost counts, there was very li le ice on
the mainlarge bodies of water. However, shallow and in-land bodies
of water were mostly frozen, therebyimpacting the diversity and
numbers seen in sev-eral counts.
Table 2 provides species counts and averages overthe last 15
years. On average across counts, thenumber of species seen this
year was similar to theaverage over the past 15 years. However, the
num-ber of species and the total number of birds seen inthe
Kingston count were significantly below the 20year averages of 102
and 49,920, respectively.
Table 3 contains a breakdown of species for eachcount as taken
from the Audubon website. Under-lined numbers indicate record high
counts. Theabbreviation ‘cw’ indicates a species seen during‘count
week’, consisting of the 3 days before andafter the actual count
day. An interesting statis-tic not included in the table is the
combined totalnumber of species across all counts. This year,
109species with an additional 4 count week specieswere seen, which
illustrates the great diversity ofspecies that can be found in this
area during thewinter months.
Highlights on count day included: a GreaterWhite-fronted Goose
(Kingston), 3 Tufted Tit-mice (Kingston, Delta, Thousand Islands),
1Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Kingston), 1 Black-backed Woodpecker
(Westport), 1 Marsh Wren(Kingston), 3 Carolina Wrens (Kingston,
West-port, PEPt), 1 Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Kingston),1 Savannah
Sparrow (Kingston), 1 Eastern Mead-owlark (Thousand Islands),
White-winged Cross-bills (2 Kingston, 1 Amherst Island), Eastern
Blue-birds (53 PEPt, 8 Napanee, 4 Thousand Islands),and a high of
20 Common Loons in the ThousandIsland count. Notable “count week”
species in-cluded a Boreal Owl (the first ever for the
Kingstoncount), a Long-eared Owl (Kingston), a Green-winged Teal
(Frontenac), and a Chipping Sparrow(Gananoque).
Notable high counts were found for Mute Swans,Blue Jays,
Northern Cardinals and Dark-eyed Jun-cos. The large number of
feeder watchers inKingston likely contributed to high counts
forsome of the birds that commonly a end feed-ers, i.e.,
woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees,cardinals, juncos and
goldfinches. This wasan irruption (flight) year for winter finches
inthe East since cone and birch seed crops arepoor in most of
Ontario and the Northeast;as such, it was forecasted that we should
ex-pect flights of winter finches into southern On-tario (h
p://jeaniron.ca/2018/wff18.htm). In accor-dance, record/high
numbers of Pine Siskins (a highof 78 in Kingston), Pine Grosbeaks
(25 in Na-panee, 19 in Gananoque, 16 in Kingston), Pur-
https://netapp.audubon.org/CBCObservation/CurrentYear/ResultsByCount.aspxhttp://jeaniron.ca/2018/wff18.htm
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4 March 2019
ple Finch and Common Redpolls were seen; afew Evening Grosbeaks
and Hoary Redpolls werealso seen. Another irruptive species is the
Red-breasted Nuthatch, which reached record highs inthe Kingston
count.
Notable low counts were seen for Snow Buntingsand notable misses
included the LaplandLongspur and the Horned Lark. Noticeable
lows
includedmany of the waterfowl. Low counts wereseen for some of
the dabblers (Gadwall, Ameri-can Wigeon, Mallard), while others
were missed(Northern Pintails, Northern Shovelers). Therealso
appeared to be low counts for some of thediving ducks: Bufflehead,
Common Mergansers,Greater and Lesser Scaup. Only 1 American Cootwas
seen in the area during the count.
Table 3: Kingston Area Christmas Bird Counts 2018
King Westp Nap 1000 PEPt Amher Delta Gan Front
Greater White-frontedGoose 1
Cackling Goose 1
Canada Goose 16442 440 2813 1432 1004 1676 125 2784 538
Mute Swan 232 40 187 421 18 325
Trumpeter Swan 18 4 17 12
Tundra Swan 573 83 4 54 8 35
Wood Duck 2
Gadwall 97 1 111
American Wigeon 12 5
American Black Duck 263 25 2 20 19 23 2 2 5
Mallard 1784 35 109 183 286 120 6 73 142
Green-winged Teal cw
Canvasback 4
Redhead 1758 2019 1
Ring-necked Duck 48 8
Greater Scaup 721 1 1
Lesser Scaup 7 21
Harlequin Duck 2
White-winged Scoter 356 1
Black Scoter 1
Long-tailed Duck 2478 1 9 2638 22
Bufflehead 116 1 10 29 106 7 1
Common Goldeneye 921 167 106 83 854 262 22 2
Hooded Merganser 72 29 3 4 4
Common Merganser 399 1268 52 169 30 33 1 591 57
Red-breasted Merganser 1785 8 12 122 43
Ruffed Grouse 2 3 8 7 1 3 28
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 5
King Westp Nap 1000 PEPt Amher Delta Gan Front
Ring-necked Pheasant 6
Wild Turkey 129 131 59 122 102 31 72 172
Common Loon 1 1 3 20 1 1 10
Horned Grebe 1
Red-necked Grebe 1 1
Double-crestedCormorant 1 2
Great Blue Heron 4 1 1 2 1 1
Turkey Vulture 5
Northern Harrier 20 3 90
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 3
Cooper� Hawk 2 1 4 2 1 3
Bald Eagle 19 19 9 16 28 28 17 15 15
Red-tailed Hawk 42 4 17 34 8 57 8 17 20
Rough-legged Hawk 13 1 3 59
American Coot 1
Ring-billed Gull 194 8 25 34 144 10 7 5 22
Herring Gull 186 56 686 159 78 41 48 128 80
Iceland Gull 1
Glaucous Gull 2
Great Black-backed Gull 8 1 42 19 7 3 4 9
Rock Pigeon (feralpigeon) 655 282 848 213 114 18 118 543 151
Mourning Dove 350 152 156 201 116 118 22 276 147
Eastern Screech Owl 6 2
Great Horned Owl 2 1 1 1
Snowy Owl 18 55
Barred Owl 10 5 3 1 1 2 4
Long-eared Owl cw
Short-eared Owl 1 10
Northern Saw-whet Owl 4
Boreal Owl cw
Belted Kingfisher 2 1 1 1 2
Red-belliedWoodpecker 15 3 1 10 16 10 3 11 8
Yellow-belliedSapsucker 1
Downy Woodpecker 125 48 20 38 40 24 17 62 37
Hairy Woodpecker 73 56 10 35 23 21 12 31 56
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6 March 2019
King Westp Nap 1000 PEPt Amher Delta Gan Front
Black-backedWoodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 2 cw 2 10 1 3
Pileated Woodpecker 21 7 cw 22 5 3 8 8 19
American Kestrel 4 4 1 2 5
Merlin 2 1 1 4 1 1
Peregrine Falcon 1 1 1 1 1 1
Northern Shrike 1 4 2 2 2 2 1 1
Blue Jay 310 220 121 277 373 91 116 252 244
American Crow 233 35 175 146 105 56 45 75 71
Common Raven 27 30 21 46 13 55 23 58 31
Black-capped Chickadee 1332 437 246 401 552 210 142 471 557
Tufted Titmouse 1 1 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch 33 11 4 5 3 5 19
White-breastedNuthatch 302 94 32 98 97 34 21 82 136
Brown Creeper 4 2 6 3 2 1 7
Winter Wren 1 cw 1
Marsh Wren 1
Carolina Wren 1 1 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 8 1 2 1 4
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Eastern Bluebird 8 4 53
American Robin 64 3 4 15 92 1 27 2
European Starling 2143 413 939 1056 475 374 98 516 245
Bohemian Waxwing 60 cw
Cedar Waxwing 42 12 45 15 145 75
Snow Bunting 100 1 15 113 212 4
Yellow-rumped Warbler 27
American Tree Sparrow 82 27 52 40 20 44 19 84 43
Chipping Sparrow cw
Field Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco 321 30 189 125 80 13 28 230 94
White-crowned Sparrow 2 1
White-throated Sparrow 16 2 3 1 3
Savannah Sparrow 1
Song Sparrow 18 1 3 1 4
Swamp Sparrow 2
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 7
King Westp Nap 1000 PEPt Amher Delta Gan Front
Northern Cardinal 125 10 15 19 17 12 6 38 12
Red-winged Blackbird 15 11 15
Eastern Meadowlark 1
Common Grackle 1 2 35
Brown-headed Cowbird 2
Pine Grosbeak 16 25 8 1 19 1
House Finch 170 6 33 16 13 16 31
Purple Finch 17 1 1 2
White-winged Crossbill 2 1
Common Redpoll 138 30 106 29 3 257 1054 75
Hoary Redpoll 1 1 2
Pine Siskin 78 5 8 cw
American Goldfinch 296 32 38 147 45 20 47 85 63
Evening Grosbeak 1 4 2 4 8
House Sparrow 268 46 67 151 32 83 34 68 17
Total species 86 52 53 63 69 63 35 55 48
Total individualsincluding ’sp’ (below) 35869 4273 7286 5726
11324 4114 1245 8385 3362
Swan sp. 19 213
ABDUxMALL hybrid 1
Greater/Lesser Scaup 1
Merganser sp. 20
Duck sp. 30 86 42
Waterfowl sp. 25
Buteo/hawk sp. 1 5 1
Gull sp. 7 20 208 7 5
Owl sp. 1
Woodpecker sp. 4 2
Passerine sp. 8
Common/Hoary Redpoll 2
Sparrow sp. 4
Finch sp. 4
bird sp. 26
Total ’sp’ counts 89 0 20 0 516 12 0 0 105
Further information regarding count dates and locations can be
found on the Bird Studies Canada website.
To view or download historical results from any location, please
visit the Audubon website.
http://www.birdscanada.org/volunteer/cbc/http://netapp.audubon.org/cbcobservation/
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8 March 2019
3 Mid-winter Waterfowl Inventory (2019)by Mark D. Read
The Mid-Winter Waterfowl Inventory (MWWI) iscarried out
throughout North America during thefirst weeks of January. In
Canada, a coordinatedground survey of Lake Ontario typically
takesplace on the first Sunday during the period 6th-12th
January. CWS offshore aerial data is then added tothe shoreline
ground counts to form the final LakeOntario count. This gets added
to the other lowerGreat Lakes data to form the Ontario
contributionto the entireMississippi Flyway totals. These num-bers
are then used in waterfowl management de-cisions on a
continent-wide basis (habitat restora-tion, bag limits etc.).
Fifteen observers surveyed theKingston region, allthe way from
Ivy Lea to Prince Edward Point, aswell as north along the Rideau to
Westport. It wasamainly cloudydaywith sunny intervals and
tem-peratures holding just below 0◦C. Visibility wasgood and the
majority of waterways were open.This was one of the most pleasant
counts for sometime. CWS conducted their aerial survey 11th-12th
January, just a few days after the ground sur-vey. Participants
were Shannon Badzinski (CWS),Barb Campbell (CWS), Cheryl Anderson,
SharonDavid, Stephanie Davison, Bill Depew, Ken Ed-wards, Chris
Heffernan, Kurt Hennige, Todd Nor-ris, Mark Read, AmandaRonce i,
Martin Ronce i,Kathy Webb, and Peter Waycik. Results from
theAmherst Island CBC held on the 4th January wereused for that
section of the survey. Sincere thanksgo to all participants.
Table 1 shows results of the combined ground andaerial survey
for the Kingston area as provided byKim Benne (MNRF). In total,
69,804 individualswere counted of 21 species (compared to 6,362
in-dividuals of 20 species in 2018 and 74,739 individ-uals of 25
species in 2017). An amazing 52 BaldEagles were also tallied by the
ground survey. Lo-cal results were then submi ed to the Lake
On-tario compiler (Glenn Coady) who then returnedthe overall data
found in Table 2. These re-sults do not include any of the aerial
data. Areas sur-veyed along Lake Ontario from east to west
wereKingston, Quinte, Presqu’ile, Port Hope, Durham,
Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara.
As noted by Glenn,
”…contributions have allowed us toprovide comprehensive coverage
ofthe entire Ontario shoreline of LakeOntario for the 40th
consecutive year. Ithas been an amazingly sustained com-mitment and
a substantial contribu-tion to waterfowl conservation effortsto
have good numbers upon which tobase decisions on from bag limits
onhunting to priorities for research dol-lars and habitat
improvement and ac-quisition.
A quick look at our results will re-veal that this year provided
excep-tional species diversity with 40 speciesseen lake-wide to tie
our best ever,achieved only in one other year in 2000.Our lake-wide
total of over 120,000birds was up by more than 25% overlast year,
probably in part due to themuch more favourable viewing condi-tions
and much more open water area.
Although most routes detected num-bers typical for their areas
in recentyears, there was a noticeable dropin the number of diving
ducks fromHamilton over to eastern Mississauga.The lower than usual
count of Trum-peter Swans may be a ributable tomore birds still
found on open inlandwater bodies due to the mild weatherthroughout
December. This may alsoaccount for the late arrival of some ofthe
diving ducks at the western endof the lake. The ongoing
explosivegrowth in numbers of Mute Swans atthe east end of the lake
is in stark con-trast to the declining numbers at thewest end of
the lake where nest controlmeasures now seem to be having an
ef-fect.
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 9
Kingston is so awash in Bald Eaglesthat this year we have a
record hightally of 71 Bald Eagles. Nice work atthe eastern end of
the lake.
Yet again this year we set an all-timerecord low count of 307
lake-wide forthe American Black Duck - might wesee its near
disappearance from LakeOntario within another generation? As
recently as 2005 we tallied 4217 birds.
No record-high counts were set for anyspecies, although the 8
Red-throatedLoons approached the record high of9.”
Next year’s ground survey is scheduled to takeplace on Sunday
12th January. Please [email protected] if interested in
taking part.
Table 4: Combined aerial and ground survey results for the
Kingston area.
Ivy HI WI King AI Hy33 CP PEPt Napa Rid Totals
Canada Goose 1814 1740 5703 940 1676 3247 8000 445 1051 135
24751
Mute Swan 272 312 201 121 18 16 32 136 36 29 1173
Trumpeter Swan 1 3 6 - - 1 - - 1 59 71
Tundra Swan - 19 83 - 8 - - - - 82 192
Swan sp. - - - - - - - - - 67 67
N. Shoveler - - - 2 - - - - - - 2
Gadwall - 7 - 21 111 10 - - - - 149
A. Wigeon - - - 2 - - - - - - 2
Mallard 302 465 2851 471 120 559 136 2 181 10 5097
Am Black Duck 4 8 91 3 23 1 2 25 14 6 177
Canvasback - - - 7 - - - - - - 7
Redhead - - 43 470 - - - 600 - 20 1133
RN Duck - - - 20 - - 1 - - - 21
Greater Scaup - - 9 440 1 188 17 1 - - 656
Lesser Scaup - - 1 10 - 1 - - - - 12
Scaup sp. - - 141 25 - - - 38 - - 166
WW Scoter - - 50 - 1 - - 208 - - 259
LT Duck 6 358 360 22 22 19 2 26652 - - 27441
Bufflehead - 2 6 17 67 16 21 40 - - 169
C. Goldeneye 267 110 679 160 262 279 164 368 79 93 2461
Duck sp. 7 - - - - - - - - - 7
H. Merganser - - - 8 4 - - - - 10 12
C. Merganser 1812 1564 542 441 302 569 - 15 2 204 5451
RB Merganser 19 50 165 34 13 7 - 40 - - 328
Species Counts(21) 9 12 15 18 14 13 9 12 7 10 69804
Bald Eagle 6a, 3i 4a, 1i 2i - 28 - 2a, - - 1 3a, 2i 52
Key: Ivy = Ivy Lea Bridge to RMC; HI = Howe Island; WI = Wolfe
Island; King = Kingston (LaSalle toCollins Bay); AI = Amherst
Island; Hy33 = Amherstview to Glenora Ferry; CP = Cressy Peninsula;
PEPt =Black Creek to PEPt; Napa = Glenora/Picton to Napanee &
Hay Bay; Rid = Rideau system north of 401 toWestport, including
Bedford Mills. For Bald Eagles ’a’ refers to adults, ’i’ refers to
immatures”. Swan sp.,Scaup sp. and Duck sp. are not included in the
Species Counts.
mailto:[email protected]
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10 March 2019
Table 5: Combined aerial and ground survey results for the
Kingston area.
Species KingstonQuinte Presqu’ilePortHope Durham Toronto
HamiltonNiagara Total
Red-throated Loon - - - 1 - 1 1 5 8
Common Loon - - - - - 2 1 - 3
Pied-billed Grebe - - - - - 1 - - 1
Horned Grebe - - - - - 2 - - 2
Red-necked Grebe - - - - - - 10 - 10
DC Cormorant - 1 - - - 6 57 23 87
Tundra Swan 192 158 - - - 2 - 3 350
Trumpeter Swan 63 3 1 - - 145 60 - 270
Mute Swan 732 430 120 - 4 235 48 3 1572
GWF Goose - - - - - 2 - - 2
Snow Goose - - - - - 1 - - 1
Canada Goose 20422 2696 452 2876 2229 10893 1938 456 41962
Cackling Goose - 4 - - - 2 - - 6
Wood Duck - 1 - - - 1 - - 2
Green-winged Teal - - - - - - 2 - 2
American Black Duck 68 3 - 57 6 127 34 12 307
Mallard 1329 200 1 525 63 3053 2378 159 7708
Northern Pintail - - - - - 2 - - 2
Northern Shoveler 2 - - 1 - 1 91 - 95
Gadwall 149 - - - 28 487 41 - 705
American Wigeon 2 - - - - 30 - - 32
Canvasback 7 31 9 - - 12 17 4 80
Redhead 1133 1615 450 - - 2074 17 126 5415
Ring-necked Duck 21 1 - - - 1 - 1 24
Greater Scaup 656 360 645 156 973 11550 1731 3250 19321
Lesser Scaup 12 3 1 - - 23 44 2 85
Scaup sp. - 60 - - - - 33 17 110
King Eider - - - - - - 1 - 1
Harlequin Duck - - - - 1 1 - - 2
Long-tailed Duck 998 1183 2334 209 363 4971 2908 6531 19497
Black Scoter - - - - - 5 10 2 17
Surf Scoter - - - 2 - 32 75 97 206
White-winged Scoter 209 9 8 - - 217 186 1137 1766
Common Goldeneye 1817 559 982 252 624 2851 1390 3972 12447
Bufflehead 93 17 43 34 204 869 168 254 1682
Hooded Merganser 12 2 - - - 17 38 - 69
Common Merganser 2404 3 9 7 19 286 689 165 3582
RBMerganser 312 13 180 274 285 1000 727 737 3430
Ruddy Duck - - - - - 2 31 1 34
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 11
Species KingstonQuinte Presqu’ilePortHope Durham Toronto
HamiltonNiagara Total
American Coot 2 - - - - 2 31 - 33
Swan sp. 67 - - - - - - - 67
TUDU x Scaup sp. - - - - - 1 - - 1
COGO x HOME - - - - - 1 - - 1
ABDU x MALL - - - 1 - 14 - - 15
Duck sp. 807 - - 75 - - 2 121 1005
Total Birds 31505 7352 5235 4470 4799 38931 12751 16975
122018
Total Species 21 21 14 12 12 37 27 20 40
Participants 13 1 7 2 3 30 20 13 89
Party-hours 32 9 18 8 10.5 52.75 25 14 169.25
Bald Eagle 52 3 1 - - 7 7 1 71
Figure 3: Immature Bald Eagle. (Mark D. Read) Figure 4: Female
Common Merganser. (Mark D. Read)
Figure 5: Mute and Trumpeter Swans. (Mark D. Read)
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12 March 2019
4 Kingston Region Birds – Autumn 2018 (August 1st – November
30th)by Mark D. Read
The KFN reporting area is centred on MacDon-ald Park, Kingston
and extends for a radial dis-tance of 50 km. An interactive map
showingthe KFN circle is available on the website. If er-rors are
noted or significant observations omit-ted, please contact me and I
will update accord-ingly. We also encourage you to submit all
sight-ings, so that a be er understanding of our region’sbirdlife
can be achieved. Members already usingeBird can very easily share
their sightings withthe username ’Kingston FN’. Alternatively,
pleaseemail or phone me directly with your
sightings([email protected] / 613-217-1246). Pleasenote that some
of the following reports remain un-confirmed until accepted by the
Rare Birds Com-mi ee.
In total, 250 species of bird were recorded in ourregion during
the reporting period, exactly match-ing last year’s autumn total.
The vast majorityof sightings were obtained from eBird – 32.0%
ofwhich were shared with the KFN account (com-pared to the 23.0%
shared in the summer). In to-tal, 312 observers logged 2833
checklists, equatingto 35,566 sightings. Only a few records were
re-ceived via phone/email/word of mouth, indicat-ing the popularity
of eBird (www.ebird.ca). Asusual, an impressive number of
individual birds(510,761) were recorded, though many of thesewere,
of course, the same birds seen on subsequentdays. A huge thank you
goes out to every ob-server, without whom our understanding of
birddistribution would be far more limited. Unfortu-nately, only
observerswith sightings in the currentreport are noted below.
The autumn of 2018 was generally warm at firstduring late summer
cooling in September andthrough October – a pre y ’average’ season.
Anumber of rare birds were recorded includingPurple Sandpiper,
Parasitic Jaeger, Pacific Loon,American White Pelican, Black
Vulture, WesternKingbird, Lark Sparrow, and Hooded Warbler.Here are
the highlights of autumn 2018:
SnowGoose: Two birds feeding on a lawn in Dex-
ter, NY, on 6th August were unusual (LeE). Typicalarrival began
in late September with a high countof 350 at Gananoque on 24th
November (JET).
Brant: The first bird of the season (1) was seen atMartin
Edwards Reserve, Amherst Island on 13th
October (EBR). Passage was over by 20th Novem-ber (90 at Brewers
Mills (MDR)), with a high countof 250 at Morton on 15th October
(MDR).
CacklingGoose: The first birds of the seasonwereseen at Reed’s
Bay, Wolfe Island on 5th October,with this season’s high of 11 seen
at the same loca-tion on 14th October (MDR).
Mute Swan: Numbers continue to increase in ourareawith a high
count of 181 at Bayfield Bay,WolfeIsland on 14th August (MDR).
Trumpeter Swan: A high count of 16 was receivedfrom Chaffey’s
Locks on 22nd November (SLD).
Tundra Swan: The first returning bird (1) was seenon Amherst
Island on 3rd October (BMDL). A highof 300 birds was made at Point
Peninsula, NY on24th November (RiB).
Blue-winged Teal: Plenty of autumn sightingsagain this year with
a high of 125 at Perch River,NY, on 31st August (JSB). The last
bird of the sea-sonwas seen atMartin Edwards Reserve,
AmherstIsland, on 22nd October (DeB, ShJ).
Canvasback: It was a poor seasonwith just 5 sight-ings. A high
count of 11 birds came from BayfieldBay, Wolfe Island, on 11th
November (MDR).
Redhead: A coordinated survey of Wolfe Islandon 3rd November
produced a total of 8,100 birds,about half that reported last year
(MDR).
Ring-necked Duck: This year’s high count of anestimated 1500
birds was received from BayfieldBay, Wolfe Island, on 3rd November
(MDR).
Black Scoter: There were 7 records this season,with a high count
of just 2 birds seen at Prince Ed-ward Point on 22nd October
(BER).
mailto:[email protected]?subject=Bird%20Sightinghttps://www.ebird.ca
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 13
Ruddy Duck: The first 2 birds of the season wereseen at Belle
Park, Kingston, on 5th October (WTD,KAW), with a high (and last)
count of 63 comingfrom Bayfield Bay, Wolfe Island, on 3rd
November(MDR).
Pied-billed Grebe: A high count of 30 was notedat Perch River
WMA, NY on 30th August (JSB).
Horned Grebe: The first record of the season wasof 3 birds at
Martin Edwards Reserve, Amherst Is-land, on 3rd October (KJH). A
total of 26 birds (sea-son high count) was present by the end of
the day(BMDL).
Red-necked Grebe: There were 14 sightings thisseason with a high
of 2 at Amherst Island on 3rd
October (BMDL).
Common Nighthawk: The usual mass migrationof this species in
August brought an impressivecount of 200 birds through Verona on
19th (TAN).An exceptionally late bird (but not quite the lateston
record) was seen at Frontenac Provincial Parkon 20th October (CHB,
MAJ).
Sandhill Crane: There was a good number ofrecords this year (22
in total), with a high countof 27 seen near Crosby on 17th November
(SLD,CTH).
American Golden Plover: There were just 2 re-ports this season;
the first from Fishers Land-ing, NY, on 27th August (ChF), and the
secondfrom Thousand Island Park, NY, on 15th Septem-ber (BBM).
Killdeer: The last birds of the year (5) were seenon Amherst
Island, on 4th November (JPR et al).
Stilt Sandpiper: There was just 1 record this sea-son of 2 birds
at Perch River WMA, NY, on 21st
September (JSB).
Purple Sandpiper: An unusual observationwas ofa single bird at
Cape Vincent, NY, on 20th October(LoK).
Baird’s Sandpiper: A poor season with just 4records, though a
high count of 5 birds at MartinEdwards Reserve, Amherst Island, on
23rd August
is noteworthy (EDB).
White-rumped Sandpiper: There were 17 recordsthis season, with
an impressive count of 16 comingfrom Big Sandy Bay, Wolfe Island,
on 21st October(ErH, LoK).
Pectoral Sandpiper: A high count of 30 birdscame fromWilton
Creek, Morven, on 18th October(BER).
Wilson’s Phalarope: There were just 2 records: 1was seen at
Perch River WMA, NY, on 31st August(JSB); another single was
present at AmherstviewSewage Lagoons on 1st September (JPR et
al).
Parasitic Jaeger: An immature bird was seen atTibbe s Point, NY,
on 20th October (LoK).
Li le Gull: There were just two records; 1 atPrince Edward Point
on 13th October (MJP), andanother single at Amherstview Sewage
Lagoonson 18th October (BER).
Iceland Gull: The first bird of the season was seenat Heritage
Point, Bath, on 15th November (BER).
Lesser Black-backedGull: The only recordwas ofa single bird at
Heritage Point, Bath, on 30th Octo-ber (KJH).
Glaucous Gull: The first (of just 2 birds) was seenat Violet
Dump on 22nd November (VPM).
Red-throated Loon: There were 10 records, with ahigh count of 7
seen at Tibbe s Point on 20th Octo-ber (LoK).
Pacific Loon: A single bird was seen near Chau-mont, NY, on 21st
October (NiL).
American White Pelican: An adult bird was seenin the Thousand
Island National Park on 18th Au-gust (DPC).
Least Bi ern: There was just one record, fromWellesley SP, NY,
on 29th August (ChF).
Black Vulture: An unusual inland record camefrom Chaffey’s Lock
where a single bird was seenon 6th September (RiH).
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14 March 2019
Osprey: The last bird of the yearwas seen at PrinceEdward Point
on 25th October (LuF, ErG).
Golden Eagle: Six records this year (all sin-gle birds) from
five different locations includ-ing Prince Edward Point on 13th
October (PRF),Crosby on 22nd October (SLD, CTH), Belle
Park,Kingston on 29th October (WTD, KAW), Prince Ed-ward Point on
30th October (AlM), Amherst Islandon 3rd November (FFN), and
Murphys Bay Wet-land (Davis Lock) on 4th November (SLD, CTH).
Northern Goshawk: There were 5 records thisseason; 2 from
Wellesley SP, NY, with individu-als seen on 29th and 31st August
(ChF), 1 at BlackRapids on 1st October (KJH), 1 at Prince
EdwardPoint on 18thOctober, and 1 nearMillhaven on 23rd
October (KJH).
Red-shouldered Hawk: The last record of thisspecies was from
Opinicon Road on 4th November(PJB, CHB, MAJ).
Broad-winged Hawk: The last report of thisspecies came from
Prince Edward Point on 6th Oc-tober (DeW).
Rough-legged Hawk: The first birds of an appar-ently good
seasonwere seen onAmherst Island on7th October (GrM, NaM).
Snowy Owl: It is hard to identify the first bird ofthe season as
an individual summered onAmherstIsland. The first occurrence of
more than 1 bird(2) was on 26th October, also from Amherst
Island(ShJ).
Long-earedOwl: Twobirdswere banded at PrinceEdward Point this
year (PEPtBO). Another 2 birdswere seen on Amherst Island on 3rd
November(KFN).
Northern Saw-whet Owl: A total of 554 birdswere banded at Prince
Edward Point this sea-son, mainly during October. An incredible
127were banded on the night of 13th October alone(PEPtBO).
Red-headed Woodpecker: Two birds were seenthis autumn including
an immature at BedfordMils 12th-14th October (MEC, LJN), and
another at
Brownville WMA, NY, on 18th-19th October (ElT).
Olive-sided Flycatcher: There were 5 records thisautumn with the
last being noted at Belle Island,Kingston, on 4th September
(RBDC).
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher: There were 9 recordsthis year, with
the last birds (2) seen at Prince Ed-ward Point on 27th September
(TMW).
Western Kingbird: A great find for the area wasthis bird seen on
22nd-23rd September at Prince Ed-ward Point (PeH).
Loggerhead Shrike: The last sighting of birdsfrom the known
breeding location of NapaneePlain IBA was on the early date of 2nd
August(DaT). The last of the seasonwas seen at Prince Ed-ward Point
on 13th September (TMW).
Tufted Titmouse: There were numerous recordsfrom Jefferson
County, NY, over the period,mainly of a continuing bird at Millen
Bay (DaM).Birds from this side of the border included a birdnear
Treasure Island on 5thOctober (CeH), anothernear Desert Lake on
21st October (MaR), and asingle at Belle Park, Kingston, on 21st
November(RKFE).
Sedge Wren: The only record came from FishersLanding, NY, on
26th August (ChF).
Carolina Wren: There were 27 widespread ob-servations this
season, way up on last years’ fourrecords.
Grey-cheeked Thrush: An early bird was bandedat Prince
EdwardPoint on 30thAugust (TMW). Thelast of the season was seen on
Amherst Island on14th October (OFO).
NorthernMockingbird: Therewere just 2 records:1 was seen near
Yarker on 23rd August (MaB), withanother at Point Peninsula, NY, on
22nd September(LoK et al).
Evening Grosbeak: It was an irruption year forthis and the
following species. With over 80 ob-servations, the first were seen
near Crosby on 9th
September (SLD, CTH). A high count of 45 birdscame from a
property near Verona on 15th Novem-
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 15
ber (TAN).
Pine Grosbeak: There were fewer records of thisspecies (19) than
the above but with their absencefor many years, it was good to
catch up with someof the flocks. The first bird was seen near
Veronaon 4th November (TAN), with a high count of 10from
Amherstview on 22nd November (EDB).
Common & Hoary Redpoll: It was a great sea-son for Common
Redpolls with 77 widespreadrecords received. Amongst those birds, a
singleHoary Redpoll was seen onAmherst Island on 14th
November (JPR).
RedCrossbill: One birdwas recorded at a locationnear Verona on
23rd August (TAN), with two nearYarker on 22nd October (TAN).
White-winged Crossbill: Two were seen nearCrosby on 22nd October
(CTH), with a single atMurphy’s Bay Wetland near Davis Lock on
4th
November (SLD, CTH).
Pine Siskin: There were 245 records this seasonwith a high count
of 75 at Prince Edward Point on25th October (TMW).
Clay-coloured Sparrow: The last bird of the sea-son was seen
near Newboro on 22nd September(LeG).
Lark Sparrow: A good find for the observer, a sin-gle birdwas
photographed at Prince Edward Pointon 16th August (TMW).
Nelson’s Sparrow: A bird banded at Prince Ed-ward Point Bird
Observatory on 3rd October wasthe first for that location (PEPtBO).
Another birdwas seen at themore typical location ofMartin Ed-wards
Reserve, Amherst Island, also on 3rd Octo-ber (KJH).
Orange-crowned Warbler: There were 20 recordsthis autumn, with
the first seen at Point Peninsulaon 22nd September (LoK et al). The
last sightingwas of a single bird at Wartman-Pa erson
Park,Kingston, on 20th November (KFN).
Mourning Warbler: There were 4 records: 1 nearVerona on 23rd
August (TAN); 1 near Elginburg
on 3rd September (EDB); 1 at Prince Edward Pointon 11th
September (ShT); and 1 at Marshlands CA,Kingston, on 14th September
(VPM).
Hooded Warbler: A cracking bird was seen onAmherst Island on
14th October (OFO).
Cerulean Warbler: The only two records bothcame from the
vicinity of Frontenac ProvincialPark, on 4th and 9th August
(DaT).
Prairie Warbler: Both records came from theknown breeding
location of Chaumont on 4th and5th August (StK, CWS).
Other species observed during the reporting pe-riod: Canada
Goose, Wood Duck, NorthernShoveler, Gadwall, American Wigeon,
Mallard,American Black Duck, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal,
Greater Scaup, Lesser Scaup, SurfScoter, White-winged Scoter,
Long-tailed Duck,Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Hooded Mer-ganser,
Common Merganser, Red-breasted Mer-ganser, Ring-necked Pheasant,
Ruffed Grouse,Wild Turkey, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove,Yellow-billed
Cuckoo, Black-billed Cuckoo, East-ern Whip-poor-will, Chimney
Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Virginia Rail, Sora, Com-mon
Gallinule, American Coot, Black-belliedPlover, Semipalmated Plover,
Upland Sandpiper,Sanderling, Dunlin, Least Sandpiper, Semipal-mated
Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, Amer-ican Woodcock, Wilson’s
Snipe, Spo ed Sand-piper, Solitary Sandpiper, Greater
Yellowlegs,Lesser Yellowlegs, Bonaparte’s Gull, Ring-billedGull,
Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull,Caspian Tern, Black Tern,
Common Tern, Com-mon Loon, Double-crested Cormorant, Ameri-can Bi
ern, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, GreenHeron, Black-crowned
Night-Heron, Turkey Vul-ture, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned
Hawk,Cooper’s Hawk, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk,Eastern
Screech-Owl, Great Horned Owl, BarredOwl, Short-eared Owl, Belted
Kingfisher, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Red-bellied
Woodpecker,DownyWoodpecker, HairyWoodpecker, PileatedWoodpecker,
Northern Flicker, American Kestrel,Merlin, Peregrine Falcon,
Eastern Wood-Pewee,Alder Flycatcher, Willow Flycatcher, Least
Fly-catcher, Eastern Phoebe, Great Crested Flycatcher,
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16 March 2019
Eastern Kingbird, Northern Shrike, Yellow-throated Vireo,
Blue-headed Vireo, PhiladelphiaVireo, Warbling Vireo, Red-eyed
Vireo, Blue Jay,American Crow, Common Raven, Horned Lark,Northern
Rough-winged Swallow, Purple Mar-tin, Tree Swallow, Bank Swallow,
Barn Swal-low, Cliff Swallow, Black-capped Chickadee, Red-breasted
Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch,Brown Creeper, House Wren, Winter
Wren,Marsh Wren, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, Golden-crowned Kinglet,
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, East-ern Bluebird, Veery, Swainson’s Thrush,
HermitThrush,Wood Thrush, American Robin, Grey Cat-bird, Brown
Thrasher, European Starling, Amer-ican Pipit, Bohemian Waxwing,
Cedar Waxwing,House Finch, Purple Finch, American Goldfinch,Lapland
Longspur, Snow Bunting, Grasshop-per Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow,
Field Sparrow,American Tree Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Dark-eyedJunco,
White-crowned Sparrow, White-throatedSparrow, Vesper Sparrow,
Savannah Sparrow,Song Sparrow, Lincoln’s Sparrow, Swamp Spar-row,
Eastern Towhee, Bobolink, Eastern Mead-owlark, Baltimore Oriole,
Red-winged Blackbird,Brown-headed Cowbird, Rusty Blackbird, Com-mon
Grackle, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush,Golden-winged Warbler,
Blue-winged Warbler,Black-and-white Warbler, Tennessee
Warbler,Nashville Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Amer-ican Redstart,
Cape May Warbler, Cerulean War-bler, Northern Parula, Magnolia
Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, YellowWarbler,
Chestnut-sided Warbler, Blackpoll War-bler, Black-throated Blue
Warbler, Pine Warbler,
Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black-throated GreenWarbler, Canada
Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler, Scar-let Tanager, Northern Cardinal,
Rose-breastedGrosbeak, Indigo Bunting, House Sparrow.
Observers:Debbie Barre (DeB), Erwin D. Batalla (EDB), Pe-ter J.
Blancher (PJB), Jeff S. Bolsinger (JSB), CarolynH Bonta (CHB), Mary
Brinklow (MaB), RichardBrouse (RiB), Mark E. Chojnacki (MEC), Dave
&Pat Croft (DPC), Richard Brault & Dianne Croteau(RBDC),
Stephanie L. Davison (SLD), William T.Depew (WTD), R. Ken F.
Edwards (RKFE), LeeEllsworth (LeE), Chris Fisher (ChF), Lucas
Foer-ster (LuF), Peter R. Fuller (PRF), Eric Giles (ErG),Leanne
Grieves (LeG), Chris T. Heffernan (CTH),Eric Heisey (ErH), Kurt J.
Hennige (KJH), Cered-wyn Hill (CeH), Peter Hogenbirk (PeH),
RickiHurst (RiH), Sherri Jensen (ShJ), Michael A. John-son (MAJ),
LoganKahle (LoK), Steve Kelling (StK),Bruce M. Di Labio (BMDL),
Nick Leone (NiL),V. Paul Mackenzie (VPM), David Miller
(DaM),GreggMiller (GrM),NathanMiller (NaM), Brian&Brooke Morse
(BBM), Alan Moss (AlM), KingstonField Naturalists (KFN), Todd A.
Norris (TAN),Linda J. Nu all (LJN), Ontario Field Ornithol-ogists
(OFO), Mark J. Patry (MJP), Prince Ed-ward Point Bird Observatory
(PEPtBO), Mary Rae(MaR), Mark D. Read (MDR), Bruce E. Ripley(BER),
Jon P. Ruddy (JPR), James E. Thompson(JET), David Turner (DaT),
Shae Turner (ShT), Eliz-abeth Truskowski (ElT), Kathy A. Webb
(KAW),TomM.Wheatley (TMW), DebbieWheeler (DeW),Carol Williams-Suich
(CWS).
Figure 6: Lark Sparrow – Prince Edward Point – 16th Au-gust,
photo 1 of 2. (TomWheatley)
Figure 7: Lark Sparrow – Prince Edward Point – 16th Au-gust,
photo 2 of 2. (TomWheatley)
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 17
Figure 8: Red-breasted Nuthatch with deformed bill.(TomWheatley)
Figure 9: Loggerhead Shrike, September 13 at the point,
last sighting of 2018 in Ontario. (TomWheatley)
Figure 10: Western Kingbird, September 23rd. (TomWheatley)
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18 March 2019
5 Articles5.1 Exercise Timbit Traveller III - The Great Ontario
Birding Tour 2018by Anthony Kaduck
This article was originally published in The Adjutant –the
Journal of the Army Ornithological Society. Wherenecessary,
footnotes have been added to translate BritishMilitary English to
Canadian Civilian English.
Last year I decided to do a “biggish year”, aimingto hit most of
the major birding hotspots in South-ern Ontario, with the goal of
seeing as many birdspecies as possible and also ge ing to know
someof the top birding hotspots in Ontario. In order tosucceed I
knew I would have to make a long roadtrip to hit a number of key
sites during the peakweeks of early May.
Executing this master plan would involve thou-sands of
kilometres on the road, late nights, earlymornings, breakfast at
Tim’s, and long marches inall kinds of weather conditions.
Travelling com-panionswere needed to share the driving load andbear
witness to the mayhem of Spring migration,but they needed to be
stout-hearted types ableto endure the conditions without whingeing.
Sonaturally I turned to my colleagues in the BritishArmy
Ornithological Society (the AOS) and on 5May AndrewHarrison
andMikeWilliams arrivedat YYZ eager to pad their Canada lists.
Mike’s wasat zero when he arrived, so he was at that happystage
where every bird was potentially a lifer.
After the obligatory touristy stuff (a visit to
thewildly-overpriced CN Tower, a somewhat ade-quate meal at Wayne
Gre ky’s) we sped off downthe highway bound for the vortex that is
PointPelee.
The VortexPoint Pelee National Park is justly renowned asone of
the premier birding spots inNorthAmerica.As the southernmost point
in mainland Canadaand the shortest way across Lake Erie it acts a
su-perhighway for migratory birds. The masses ofinbound birds that
flow through in May are onlymatched by the thousands of birders and
photog-raphers who descend upon the park in droves.
Birding can be a peaceful, contemplative way ofenjoying nature,
but birding in Pelee in May is…not. The hordes rush madly between
trails andviewing areas, hot on the heels of any rarish birdthat
peeks its head out of the bushes. Photogra-phers with massive
lenses and tripods elbow theirway to the front, demanding to
knowwhich bird isthe “good” one. Birders compare notes on what
isbeing seen, often ending with the dreaded phrase“you should have
been here ten minutes ago.”
So Pelee is, in short, a zoo, but it can’t be deniedthat we were
seeing a lot of birds in a very shorttime. We arrived late on the
6th and “only” added13 species in the pouring rain. Another 22
showedup the next day, including White-eyed Vireo (alifer for
me).
Figure 11: White-eyed Vireo. (Anthony Kaduck)
Figure 12: Us in the rain 6 May. (Anthony Kaduck)
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 19
Figure 13: Pelee Crowds. (Anthony Kaduck)
RondeauPoint Pelee is not the only hotspot in the bird-blessed
Southwest of Ontario. Rondeau Provin-cial Park is about an hour
away and a much morepleasant experience. The variety of birds on
viewwas excellent but for some reason Rondeau doesnot a ract the
mobs. We birded the park on the8th and added several good species
including themuch-desired Prothonotary Warbler. And justwhen
spirits were dangerously flagging the Visi-tor Centre came up with
cups of good coffee, andall was well again.
Figure 14: Prothonotary Warbler. (Anthony Kaduck)
On theway back fromRondeau thewordwent outthat American Avocets
were being seen at HillmanMarsh. Of course we had to check it out,
so weand a couple hundred of our closest friends de-scended on this
conservation area for a look. Thesmall, one-lane parking area was
completely over-whelmed so we parked in a nearby churchyard,tabbed1
in on the double, saw the birds andmovedback out in the space of
about 15 minutes – much
to the surprise of the lady collecting money at thegate. Then it
was back to the vortex on the 9th forone last round of
crowd-birding.
Figure 15: American Avocets. (Anthony Kaduck)
For all its oversubscribed charms, the Pelee areawas an
excellent place to run up the year list.I started the excursion
with 152 species on myyear list, and added 66 species over three
anda half days. We missed the enigmatic Worm-eating Warbler, but
added a few semi-rarities andhard-to-see birds including Kentucky,
Hoodedand Cerulean Warblers, American White Pelican,Surf Scoter,
Willet, the Avocets and a Red-headedWoodpecker.
Figure 16: American White Pelican. (Anthony Kaduck)
We also had an excellent meal of ribs at Ray’s Rib-house in
Leamington, albeit on the third a empt:on Sunday evening the
extraction fans broke downand the place was filled with smoke, and
of courseas everyone knows (!) all restaurants in Leaming-ton are
closed on Mondays. But Tuesday all waswell and it was worth the
wait.
The morning of the 10th saw us headed East. Ashort side trip to
the Blenheim sewage lagoons onthe way ne ed Wilson’s Phalarope,
Horned Larkand a few waders, then it was on to Long Point.
1Tabbing – marching at speed, usually carrying a heavily loaded
rucksack – or in the birding version, a telescope and tripod,
acamera with a big lens, bins and other paraphernalia.
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20 March 2019
Long PointThe Long Point area is another prime birdinghotspot in
Ontario and we planned to have a goodlook around for about a day.
There are dozens ofbirding spots in the area but ground zero is a
small-ish patch of scrub known as The Old Cut. LongPoint itself
juts well out into Lake Erie so it’s an-other shortcut for
migrating birds. They land atthe point and then work their way
North, foragingthrough scrub, reeds and wet boggy copses - thebird
equivalent of a breakfast buffet.
Old Cut is the end of the road – the good habitatcomes to an end
and their nextmove is a long flightto the next feeding station. So
the birds tend tostooge around Old Cut for a while, ge ing in
theirpre-flight meal and flinging themselves into mistnets so they
can be banded by the diligent workersat the Long Point Bird
Observatory.
What we were hoping to experience at Long Pointwas a “fall” of
warblers. When conditions areright (or wrong, from the warblers’
point of view)unfavourable winds and/or rain can force a hugenumber
of migrating birds to seek shelter in thenearest available cover.
They then try to load upon food until the time comes to resume the
North-ward trek.
A big fall is an epic experience. You can find your-self
surrounded byhundreds ofwarblers of twentyor more species, all
buzzing about and singingtheir special songs of love. Birders
experiencinga fall often descend into warbler mania, a state
ofgiddiness and mild confusion brought on by be-ing surrounded by
fast-moving natural beauty andtrying to look at every bird at
once.
Figure 17: Least Flycatcher. (Anthony Kaduck)
However, this time it was not to be. As in our visits
to Pelee and Rondeau, there were a good numberof birds passing
through but nothing like the mad-ness we were hoping for. 24 hours
at Long Pointonly added two new birds to our list, though wehad a
frustrating missed-it-by-five-minutes expe-rience with an exotic
yellow-throated warbler. Weconsoled ourselves in the traditional
birder way(application of beer) and then girded ourselves forthe
longest day of our trip.
The Long MarchThe next day we set out on a 500km road
march,aiming to bypass Toronto, nab a series of scarcebirds that
hang around in the Carden Alvar, andend up in Brighton poised for a
thorough scouringof Presqu’ile Provincial Park.
We escaped Toronto traffic relatively unscathed,and made it to
Kirkfield in time to have a greatlunch at the imaginatively-named
but nonethelessestimable Kirkfield Restaurant. Thus fortified
weheaded North toWylie Road, the heartland of spe-cial alvar
birds.
We first visited my no-fail site for Vesper Sparrow– and failed.
But things improved when we gotonto Wylie Road. Eastern Bluebird on
the fence-posts. Tick. Bobolink in the grassy field. Tick.Stop at
the bird hide and look for LoggerheadShrike. Tick. As we left the
bird hide we weretreated to, in quick succession, excellent views
ofField Sparrow and Grasshopper Sparrow. Tick,tick. Down to
themarsh for SwampSparrow. Tick.About the only target bird we
missed out on wasUpland Sandpiper, but for consolation we had
ex-traordinarily close views of the normally shy andretiring
Wilson’s Snipe. By 1730 our work therewas done, andwe headed south
for Brighton and afew hours of sleep, punctuated by feverish
visionsof multicoloured warblers fli ing just out of sight.
Figure 18: Wilson’s Snipe. (Anthony Kaduck)
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 21
Presqu’ilePresqu’ile Provincial Park is one of my
favouritebirding haunts. It’s another migrant trap thatsticks out
into Lake Ontario, but it also has longsand beaches that a ract
migrating waders. Hav-ing arrived during peak migration season
wehoped to find a selection of early waders, but ourhearts were
still set on experiencing a fall of war-blers.
Our first stop was the Brighton Constructed Wet-land (another
sewage lagoon, albeit with a down-town name). This site can be
excellent in the rightconditions but it’s verymuch feast or famine.
If thewater levels are too high themudflats, a.k.a. smor-gasbord
for waders, are submerged. Our visit wasmore on the famine side,
with only a few waderssneaking about. Blue-winged Teal, normally a
reg-ular visitor, were also absent. The best sightingswere our
first Marsh Wren of the year – expectedat the site – and Sedge Wren
– apparently unex-pected at that site, provoking an
I-don’t-think-soemail from the local E-Bird coordinator.
Figure 19: Marsh Wren. (Anthony Kaduck)
So basically we “dipped” at the sewage lagoons,but we hoped for
a regainwhenwe got to the Park.Almost certainly we would be
inundated by war-blers and sandpipers, as payback by the Bird
Godsfor ourmany hours of driving and birding. Almostcertainly we
were not.
Not that it was bad, mind you. We had two ploverspecies
(Black-bellied and Semipalmated) and twosandpipers (Least and Spo
ed). Nothing earth-sha ering but two of these were new to the
triplist. We also added a nice (and early) Olive-sidedFlycatcher
near theCampOffice and our firstGreatEgrets lounging about on Gull
Island (as they do).Probably our best findwas a loneBlack Scoter
lurk-
ing among a small gaggle of Surf Scoters. So…not bad, but not
brilliant either. The warbler countconsisted of the three most
commonwarblers (Yel-low, Yellow-rumped and Tennessee) and no
oth-ers.
Poignantly, there is a plaque at the Lighthouse,dedicated by his
friends to a now-deceased birder“in memory of many twenty warbler
days”. Ourthree-warbler day seemed a bit sad in comparison.At this
point I was starting to doubt whether wewould ever get to the 180+
species seen on the twoprevious ArmyOrnithological Society
expeditionsto Ontario. A serious case of piss-taking
seemedlikely.
So with tears in our eyes we set our course for Al-gonquin.
Algonquin Provincial ParkAlgonquin Park is basically a large
chunk of bo-real forest with a road through it. It’s not a
placewhere you go to see masses of birds, but we werethere aiming
to spot some northern specialities. Soto cut to the chase, we were
successful in our huntfor:
Black-backed WoodpeckerSpruce GrouseRuffed GrouseRed
CrossbillWhite-winged CrossbillPine SiskinPurple FinchRed-breasted
NuthatchMoose (OK, not exactly a bird, but an iconic Cana-dian
beast that Andy and Mike needed to see).… and were unable to
find:Boreal Chickadee (which have been very scarcethis year)Common
Redpoll (though Andy may have seenone), andCanada Jay (which ought
to have been easy to find,but alas our jay-hunting skills were
evidently notup to the job)
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22 March 2019
Figure 20: Moose. (Anthony Kaduck)
Assiduous early-morning scouring of the SpruceBog Boardwalk also
ne ed (in the metaphoricsense, I hasten to add) a sleeping Northern
Saw-whet Owl. Which in a triumph of hope overobservation skills I
misidentified it as a BorealOwl, drawing another
I-don’t-believe-you mes-sage from the E-Bird police. Any residual
indig-nation at this offence to our amour propre waswashed away by
a few pints of Muskoka’s finestat the Mad Musher. Then off to our
next point ofcall.
Figure 21: Mad Musher 13 May. (Anthony Kaduck)
The CountyAfter lunch we made the long trek down to Pic-ton,
arriving in time to check in at our hotel, beetleoff to Beaver
Meadow for Black Terns and a Green
Heron, then engulf some large meals at the Acous-tic Grill.
Figure 22: Black Tern. (Anthony Kaduck)
The next day’s met2 was ominous, but as everwe had our
crack-of-dawn breakfast at Tim’s andset off. The first stop was
Kaiser X-Road, andunlovely bit of farmland that is usually flooded
inthe Spring, and thus rather a ractive to visitingwaders. On that
morning there was a decent ar-ray of waders from five species, but
nothing newfor our list. And just as we arrived the rain startedto
pour down with increasing enthusiasm. Theomens for a bird-free day
were all around us aswe made our way to the Prince Edward Point
Na-tional Wildlife Area at the southern tip. And sureenough, the
rain was truly sheeting down whenwe arrived and there was nary a
soul about – eventhe bird ringers from the bird observatory
hadvanished. After we had stood under a makeshifttarp for an hour
or so, not drinking the coffee thatshould have been there (the
Friends of somethingor other usually offer coffee during the Bird
Festi-val), we began to feel a bit glum. The subject
wasnotmentioned out loud, but our inside voiceswerearguing for a
retreat to the warmth and succour ofPicton.
It was then, at the moment of absolute weakness,that one of my
local birding pals happened by.Soaked to the skin he was, as was
his dog, but heallowed that he had heard some interesting war-bler
calls from the woods at Traverse Point. NowKen is a bit of a bird
savant, and will usually heara given bird about 100 metres before I
will. But therain was starting to tail off a bit so we decided
tosee what we could dig up.
2”Meteorology” – i.e. weather forecast.
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 23
Warbler Mania
Figure 23: Magnolia Warbler. (Anthony Kaduck)
Well, that title is a bit of a spoiler. Yep, wewent to the woods
and there they were: hun-dreds of birds each lurking under their
own equiv-alent of a shelter half3 waiting for the weather toturn.
It was the true warbler experience we hadbeen hoping for, with each
of us spo ing differ-ent birds simultaneously and trying to “get
on”all of them at once. In between sponging off ouroptics we
managed to tick off 48 species in twohours – 16 warbler species,
including the muchsought-after Canada Warbler, Hermit and
Swain-son’s Thrushes, a Black-billed Cuckoo (lifer for allof us),
and a variety of other migrants. Peeringthrough the mist we spo ed
a gaggle of Surf Scot-ers at close range, though by thenmy lens was
wetinside and out so the images are – shall we say
–atmospheric.
Figure 24: Surf Scoters. (Anthony Kaduck)
When we repaired to the Bird Observatory moregoodness awaited. A
few other brave souls hadby then materialized4 and we goggled at
the arrayof birds on hand. At one point we were admiringa
Golden-winged Warbler at close range (a hard-to-see bird) when
about six feet in the other direc-tion up popped a Blue-winged
Warbler (equallyhard to see). Added up there were fifteen
warblerspecies on the site, of which six were additions forthe day
list.
As we made the trek out to the lighthouse we con-tinued to add
to the list. The most unusual findwas a Common Nighthawk perched on
a limb.This bird is rarely seen at the Observatory – asfar as I can
tell “mine” was the only one spo edthis year – and as a purely
nocturnal and well-camouflaged beast is usually only identified
bycall. So to see and photograph onewas quite good.It also
illustrates an important lesson of birding:the likelihood of seeing
a rare bird increases loga-rithmically with distance from the car
where oneleft one’s camera. Fortunately while I was tabbingway back
to the Observatory and then returning tothe point the creature was
content to sit in place,believing itself invisible, and dream of
devouringgiant moths.
Figure 25: Common Nighthawk. (Anthony Kaduck)
3A tarpaulin carried by soldiers. One piece can be fashioned
into an expedient lean-to; two pieces can be joined together to
make asmall tent.
4Ken Edwards and Paul Mackenzie.
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24 March 2019
So for a dreary, rainy day we ended up with 62species including
six more for the Biggish Year list.Needless to say, a few pints of
Prince Eddy’s wentdown that evening, in honour of an epic day.
The next morning we decided to give Presqu’ileanother chance,
certain that it would have somewarbler goodness to show us. It did
not, but wewere mollified by good looks some forest birds
in-cluding Red-headed Woodpecker, Northern Car-dinal, Grey Catbird
and lots of Cedar Waxwings.A sma ering of waders were about but
nothingnew for the list. We then headed East towardsKingston, with
a quick stop at a site along the wayyielding Sora and Virginia
Rail, and a farmlandroad that finally offered up a Vesper Sparrow
forthe trip. We descended into Kingston where mybeloved had dinner
and beds waiting.
Figure 26: Cedar Waxwing. (Anthony Kaduck)
We had a bit of a lie-in the next day and then ex-plored some
sites in the local area. By now newbirds for the list were few and
far between, butwe did get good looks at a Barred Owl family
andGreat Crested Flycatcher. Then itwas back to townto freshen up,
as we were scheduled to a end theannual dinner of the Kingston
Field Naturalists.
The next morning featured a very early start, asone of our
number required a 0200 visit to A&E5.By the time that was
sorted out we decided to getsome sleep and get back in the saddle
after lunch.We checked out some more local sites but by nowit was
ge ing very difficult to find new birds forthe list so we
eventually repaired to Chez Kaduckfor the traditional barbecue.
The next day would be our last so we set out tocheck out a few
sites on the way to the airport. Itwas a wet and blustery day but
we managed topick up a lone Piping Plover at Darlington, and
fi-nally had our first decent views of Wood Ducks.Then it was time
for a last visit to TimHorton’s be-fore we made the run to the
airport.
Figure 27: Piping Plover. (Anthony Kaduck)
Figure 28: Tim’s. (Anthony Kaduck)
And so the third rotation of Ex TIMBIT TRAV-5The Emergency ward
at a hospital.
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 25
ELLER came to an end. This will probably be thelast one for a
while as most of the world-travellingAOS members took part in one
of the three itera-tions. However Saskatchewan looms…
By the Numbers:Bird Species Seen by at least one member –
198(Previous Ex TT record 185)Seen by all members – 194Road Mileage
– 3663 km
Road mileage from London to Moscow – 2879 km0530 Tim’s
breakfasts – 11Tim’s Visited – 10Beer species consumed – 12National
Parks – 1National Wildlife Areas – 2Provincial Parks –
5Conservation Areas – 10Outdoor Education Centres – 1Sewage Lagoons
– 3
Reader Observations
Paul Arrowsmith sent in some photos of local birds to share with
The Blue Bill readers.
Figure 29: House Wren with spider at Point St. MarkDrive (Paul
Arrowsmith)
Figure 30: Hummingbird just north of Kingston
(PaulArrowsmith)
Figure 31: Great Blue Heron at Kingston Mills (Paul
Ar-rowsmith)
Figure 32: Mute Swans at Kingston Mills (Paul Arrow-smith)
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26 March 2019
6 KFN Outings6.1 Ramble to the Cataraqui Cemetery (January 8,
2019)by Anne Robertson
Figure 33: Everybody showed up despite the ice underfoot. (Janis
Grant)
Eight members met to walk the Cataraqui Ceme-tery Trails. The
temperature was 4◦C but rem-nants of the freezing rain overnight
made thewalking conditions nasty. We started by dis-cussing the
European Larch (Laryx decidua–a goodname for a conifer that loses
its needles each year)and the difference between that and our
nativeTamarack (Laryx laricina) which has much smallercones. We
then discussed Norway Spruce (Piceaabies–introduced) and White
Spruce (Picea glauca–native). An English Yew (Taxus baccata) and
its fre-quent planting in cemeteries was compared to thenative
Canada Yew (Taxus canadensis) last seen on aRamble to the Sandbeach
property on Amherst Is-land. Later we found a couple of the English
Yewwith very red bark.
There are many very large trees in the cemeteryand it is a
splendid place to walk and bird watch(as it says on the web site).
Janis recorded CanadaGoose (16),MourningDove (1), Blue Jay (2),
Amer-ican Crow (6), Black-capped Chickadee (13) andWhite-breasted
Nuthatch (3). We visited Sir JohnA McDonald’s grave site and the
Kentucky Cof-fee Tree (Gymnocladus dioicus) nearby. This treeis
north of its range (found in Southern Ontario)
and is interesting for its doubly compound leaves(30 to 90 cm
long!) as well as its pods. Manylong petioles li ered the ground.
Next we checkedout the Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) trees and
no-ticed how almost all the nuts had been eaten bysquirrels.
Details of the twigs show leaf scars thatlook like a monkey face
but in this species with-out the ”moustache” of hairs seen on the
Bu er-nut (Juglans cinerea) twig. A small Ginkgo (Ginkgobiloba)
tree resulted in a discussion about the of-fensive odor of the
fleshy coating of the seed (onfemale trees).
This 70 acre site makes a peaceful walk in townwith interesting
trees and birds to observe.
Figure 34: Yes, it really was this big. (Janis Grant)
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 27
6.2 Ramble to the Bu ernut Creek Trail (January 22, 2019)by
Marlene Rothenbury
Figure 35: Cold Ramble at Bu ernut Creek. (JanisGrant)
The early morning temperature on Jan. 22, 2019was a brisk -26◦C.
Thoughts of hot beverages andcosy comforters were top of mind.
Regardless,five resolute Ramblers, including our leader
AnneRobertson, met on a sunny, calm Tuesday morn-ing, temperature
having risen to a balmy -20◦Cby 9:30 a.m. We were off to explore
the Bu ernutCreek Trail at the end of Innovation Dr. on the
eastside of Kingston.
Over the approximately 2 km of beautifullygroomed trail, we were
rewarded for our almosttwo hour walk with the following bonanza of
birdand plant life.
Birds Sighted: Barred Owl, Blue Jay, Cardi-nal, Hairy
Woodpecker, another woodpeckerwe couldn’t identify, many
Chickadees, WhiteBreasted Nuthatch, Crow, Goldfinch, Tree Spar-row,
Morning Dove.
Plants, expertly identified by Anne: Buckthorn,
Sumac and Sumac berries on the snow, HighbushCranberry, Bur Oak,
Knapweed, Ca ails..bothBroad and Narrow Leafed, Dog Strangling
Vine.
We also examined a coughed up woodpecker pel-let, whichAnne
retrieved from the debris under anenormous rectangular shaped hole,
obviously cre-ated by a hungry Pilated Woodpecker. She brokethis
open for us, revealing am amazing number ofant skeletol remains,
which apparently the Pilatedis unable to digest.
Figure 36: Barred Owl at Bu ernut Creek. (Janis Grant)
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28 March 2019
6.3 Ramble to the Cataraqui Trail at Perth Road (February 5,
2019)by Nancy Spencer
14 Ramblers ventured out on a grey, mild morn-ing and drove out
to Perth Road Village, where thesun was shining! It was just above
0◦C and quiteslushy underfoot. We walked west from PerthRoad.
We identified many tree species and also wild-flower seed-heads.
A flock of redpolls was seenby some, and the bird list reached 11,
with agreat commotion of many Blue Jays out past thepond. Beaver
activity was noted there, but thelocal landowners seem to have
outsmarted themwith drainage pipes and fencing.
There were some colour–ferns that remain green,mosses, including
”feather” moss, sulphur-yellowbuds of the bi ernut tree, Herb
Robert leaves andsome bright orange bi ersweet fruits.
Figure 37: Ferns and mosses still green in February.(Paul
MacKenzie)
We found a variety of bird nests including Ameri-can Robin and
Red-eyed Vireo. Wewere surprisedto find some flies and snow fleas
active.
One phenomenon we noted was the snow thathad dropped from the
trees and rolled down asteep embankment, forming snow Danish
pastry-like coils known as snow rollers! The photogra-
phers were busy.
We saw one red squirrel, and evidence of othermammals in tracks
and scat and high peeled bark,the work of porcupines.
Andwe found some pussy willows, which we hadbeen searching
for.
So, altogether we had some brisk exercise and avery satisfying
Ramble.
Figure 38: Snow roller still standing. (Paul MacKenzie)
Figure 39: Snow fleas. (Paul MacKenzie)
Figure 40: Fly on snow. (Paul MacKenzie)
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 29
6.4 Teens Clean Out Wood Duck Nest Boxes (February 9, 2019)by
Amelie Robitaille
The Teen Naturalists went to the Helen QuilliamSanctuary on the
9th of February to clean out fourWood Duck houses. It was about a
three hourlong process of walking there and taking the oldnest
materials and adding new ones plus lookingat their condition.
On the way to the Wood Duck houses, we saw anold birch with odd
bark on it. At first we had noidea it was a birch until we looked
up the trunkand saw some birch bark.
Once we arrived we used various tools to helppry the boxes open
and take out the remnants ofshells and bedding materials, then we
closed thebox and put in new wood chips through the holewere the
ducks go through. Iwas the first person toopen a box which was very
exciting. While we didthis there was a curious immature Bald Eagle
look-ing for food. Soon he lost interest and flew away.Then, we
checked usage, which species used thebox and the condition of the
box.
We found that three of the boxes were used. Therewas one
successful nesting (probably a HoodedMerganser from the size of the
shell fragments)and others were unknown. Some of the boxes
weren’t used (one had no wood chips- must havebeen forgo en last
time) but one was used pos-sibly by a mouse and squirrel because of
the scatand masses of pine needles that we saw. The con-ditions of
the boxes were good therefore, nothingwas changed or replaced
except the wood chips.
On the way back we saw a red squirrel scurry un-der a pile of
rocks. Maybe it thought we were go-ing to eat it!
Figure 41: Cleaning out a Wood Duck box. (AnneRobertson)
6.5 Ramble to the Bayview Bog (February 19, 2019)by Maureen
Martin
Figure 42: Ramblers on Lost Lake. (Janis Grant)
On Tuesday, February 19th, our group of eightwarmly
dressedKFNmembersmet at the entrancegate to the Bayview Bog. The
bright sun and li lewind made it feel warmer than -12◦C. We madeour
way down the trail and I was impressed bythe diversity of the
forest. The variety of decid-uous trees, aspen, birch, red oak,
mossy cup oak... was soon interspersed with white cedar andwhite
spruce. More open areas were filled withjuniper, grey and red osier
dogwood, sumac bothmale and female, ca ails, purple loosestrife
andelecampane.
We walked through a white pine plantation and
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30 March 2019
the temperature felt quite a bit colder. As we de-scended
downhill, the character of the forest re-vealed the presence of
very acid soil. This is asurprise on the limestone of this area.
BalsamFir showed their sap filled blisters and lenticelswhich are
holes in the bark used for gas exchange.Tamarack and black spruce
rose from the bog floorwhich was covered with leatherleaf, Labrador
teawith its hairy orange underleaf and sensitive fern.
Past the bog was Lost Lake surrounded by alderwith its male and
female catkins and swamp wil-low. During our walk we were
accompaniedby Blue Jays, Black-capped Chickadees, White-breasted
Nuthatches and a Downy Woodpecker.Two large nests were observed
(smaller than a soc-cer ball but larger than a softball), one made
up ofmany needles from fir trees and the other grassesand mosses.
The printed snow revealed evidenceof fox, coyote, squirrels and
grouse.
We left the trails leaving only our footprints andone very well
made snow angel on Lost Lake. Itwas a beautiful day for a hike and
the temperaturehad risen to -7◦C by noon.
Figure 43: Snow angel. (Janis Grant)
6.6 Amherst Island Outing (March 2, 2019)by Janet Sco
Figure 44: Members of the Kingston Field Naturalists gathered in
the Amherst Island School parking lot. (Gaye Beck-with)
On Saturday, March 2nd, 2019, 16 members of theKingston Field
Naturalists joined Bonnie Living-stone and I in the Amherst Island
School parkinglot for what seems to have become our annual rap-tor
outing thanks to Gaye Beckwith. We do sug-gest to anyone planning a
group outing to the Is-land to organize cars and people in this
spot asanywhere around the docks during this construc-
tion period is unsafe and inconvenient for parking.Wewere
pleased that the weather co-operated andthat so many were able to
join us.
Amature Bald Eaglewaited by the school until justthe moment that
the ferry approached and then ittook a leisurely circle around the
docks and ferryas if greeting our honoured guests. Actually it
was
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 31
probably looking for edible flotsam stirred up bythe ferry
propellers but calling this majestic raptora scavenger just doesn’t
suit this special occasion.
I think we had six cars but at times we gained orlost one over
the next four hours but fortunatelyonce again Gaye volunteered to
be the shepherdcar at the end of the flock and to keep track of
anylost sheep. We did get a compliment from an Is-lander that our
group did keep to the edge of theroad and did not block traffic, as
sometimes hap-pens when excited visitors to our Island abandoncars,
doors open and parked dangerously on hillsand roads; so Bonnie and
Iwho live here thank youfor that.
Our tour proceeded east from the village alongFront Road which
usually provides a great va-riety of raptor sightings these days
but it wasnot to be. We crept quietly up to Bob Hunter’sfarm with
the wind-damaged barn hoping to spotthe Short-eared Owls that have
been roosting atRichard and Wendy’s home, but they were a noshow.
The feeder there provided House Finches,Red Polls, Mourning Doves
and a Cardinal. Talk-ing to Richard on Sunday I learned that there
were29 owls hunkered down in their Cedar Trees whilewe looked for
them. They took off in a whooshlater when an expected visitor
pulled into theirdriveway.
The trip around the foot, past the KFN propertyprovided Canada
Geese but when we reached theSouth Shore we began to see several
Red-tailedHawks and low-flying Northern Harriers. Bothshores were
frozen in so we were unable to seeduck species. Crows and Ravens
were numerousaround farms and fields.
On the trip north on the Stella Forty-foot we sawseveral
raptors. The Rough-legged hawks werehovering and a dark phase made
a wonderfulfly-past across the road in front of our caval-cade
showing the two-toned effect under its darkwings; the light phase
then followed on cue so thatwe could observe the black belly band
and wristpatches.
On the Second Concession the Wild Turkeys werepresent at the
Quinte Pastures plus more North-
ern Harriers and Red-tailed Hawks. Some Im-mature Eagles hang
out along that road but thehighlight was a Long-eared Owl who
stayed putin its hiding spot, although a second one tookoff.
Cardinals, White-breasted Nuthatches andBlack-capped Chickadees
entertained our watch-ers while each birder got a look at that
elusive li leOwl in the cedar.
We had spent a very long time searching on thistrip for the
Snowy Owls that hid and the Shrikethat wouldn’t appear, so lunch at
my house wasrushed and folks had to hurry back to catch the1:00
ferry. Gaye and Betsy added a Great black-backedGull andHerringGull
to the list and thank-you Anthony Kaduck for submi ing our list
toeBird.
Figure 45: Greater black backed gull with herring gullsin the
Amherst island ferry channel. (Gaye Beckwith)
Bird Species . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . 26
Canada Goose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 12Wild Turkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Feral Pigeon . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Mourning Dove . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Northern
Harrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7Bald Eagle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . 3Red-tailed Hawk (borealis) . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 9Red-tailed Hawk (abieticola) . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 1Rough-legged Hawk . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Long-eared Owl (not in Owl Woods) . . .
. . . . . . . . 2Downy Woodpecker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 1Hairy Woodpecker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Red-bellied Woodpecker . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2American Kestrel . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Blue Jay . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7American Crow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 10
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32 March 2019
Common Raven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . 17Black-capped Chickadee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . 23White-breasted Nuthatch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . 3European Starling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . 265House Finch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Snow Buntings . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Dark-eyed Junco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . 1Northern Cardinal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . 5House Sparrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Great Black-backed Gull . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Herring Gull . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Figure 46: Immature Red-tailed Hawk posing for photographs.
(Peter Waycik)
6.7 Ramble to the Rogers Side Road Trails (March 5, 2019)by
Rosemary Bradley
Fifteen Ramblers turned out on a calm sunnymorning to explore a
private property east ofRogers Side Road. It was a site new to many
of us,and, with no trail evident, we headed out alonga limestone
ridge. The mature deciduous treesand light undergrowth provided
excellent condi-tions for the bird photographers in the group,
butour species tally was only six. Twenty-eight chick-adees, 8
White- breasted Nuthatches, 3 DownyWoodpeckers, 2 American Crows, 1
Red-tailedHawk, and 1 Northern Shrike. Thank you PaulMacKenzie for
this last sighting! It was wonder-ful to hear some of the
chickadees in song, but theraucous calls of Blue Jays were
conspicuously ab-sent as none were seen.
There was much interest in tree identification
as Anne mentioned the possibility of seeingChinquapin Oak
(Quercus muehlenbergii) which isknown at this location but at the
edge of its range.Mature specimens of Shagbark Hickory and Pa-per
birch were in competition for the title of “mostraggedy tree
trunk”while nearby therewas a natu-ral display of vines to compare.
It turns out that theWildGrape vine, beingmuchmore robust than
theadjacent almost delicate Bi ersweet vine, is moredetrimental to
the the health of its supporting tree.A third vine in evidence, the
Dog-strangling Vine,joins with Garlic Mustard, Japanese
Knotweed,and the European Buckthorn shrub, making atleast four
invasive species seen. The Barberrycould well have been Japanese
Barberry, anotherinvasive alien. With Anne’s help, other trees
and
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 33
shrubs were identified by bark texture, terminalbud features,
leaf arrangement or winter leaf per-sistence (golden leaves on Blue
Beech), or pos-sibly species-specific galls (observed on Bi
ernutHickory). The term “ironwood” was discussedsince it has been
applied to both Hop Hornbeamand to Blue Beech a.k.a American
Hornbeam. Thela er was most easily identified by smooth greybark
and undulating muscle-like appearance ofthe trunk, which has given
it the alternate nameof “muscle tree.” The Hop Hornbeam has
barkscales and distinctive hop-like fruits in summer.Also noted on
the ramble were Prickly Ash, Beech-drops, and nests of grey
squirrel (called dreys)and Red-eyed Vireo, and a wing mark of a
RuffedGrouse where it had taken off where it came to theedge of the
woods.
Figure 47: Wewere fascinated that this American Beech(Fagus
grandifolia) was still alive considering the exten-sive girdling.
There were only two thin strips of cam-bium intact. (Peter
Waycik)
Another feature of the ramble was animal trackidentification.
Identified cri ers were grey squir-
rel, woodland jumping mouse, Ruffed Grouse,fox, and a larger
canid. The most curious trackwas eventually determined to be that
of a porcu-pine. The soft hind foot pads–which are neces-sary for
tree climbing–leave a prominent squar-ish impression where one
might expect to see toeor claw marks as with other rodents. My
per-sonal favouritewas a tiny trackwhere amouse hademerged from an
under-snow tunnel to ventureacross the snow, leaving a wandering
track withits characteristic tail drag. Perhaps the absence
ofraptors wasn’t such a bad thing after all!
Figure 48: Paper birch (Betula papyrifera).
(RosemaryBradley)
Other KFN Outings During this Period:January 13 Field Trip to
Lemoine Point
February 18 Family Day Field Trip to Wolfe Island to see Snowy
Owls
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34 March 2019
7 Winter Bird Photos
Figure 49: Canada Jay inAlgonquin Park. (AnthonyKa-duck)
Figure 50: Horned Lark. (Anthony Kaduck)
Figure 51: Eastern Screech Owl from the January 6Mid-Winter
Waterfowl Survey on Howe Island. (Peter Way-cik)
Figure 52: Lapland Longspur. (Anthony Kaduck)
Figure 53: Solitary SnowBunting in a tree observed dur-ing
Family Day Field Trip to Wolfe Island. (Janis Grant)
Figure 54: Evening Grosbeaks were seen on Howe Is-land on
several occasions this winter. This photo in-cludes one of a flock
of six observed in December. (PeterWaycik)
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The Blue Bill Volume 66, No. 1 35
Figure 55: Long-eared Owl from last year’s outing toAmherst
Island. (Anthony Kaduck)
Figure 56: Photo of Short-eared Owls taken by MsDanzhu Yu on
March 2, 2019 on Amherst Island. Shejoined the KFN group for lunch
that day and shared herphoto of the birds we missed.. (Danzhu
Yu)
Figure 57: Not a bird, but a fan of bird feeders, thisAmerican
Red Squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) gets asip from a heated
winter water station. (Peter Waycik)
Figure 58: Dark-eyed Junco in the winter sun. (PeterWaycik)
Figure 59: Northern Cardinals were plentiful this win-ter and
enjoy the seeds left out by their human friends.(Peter Waycik)
Figure 60: Pine Siskin on Howe Island. (Peter Waycik)
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36 March 2019
8 Clipped ClassicsExcerpts from past issues of The Blue Bill
From 65 years ago ...In the “Notes” section of the first edition
of The Blue Bill (Volume 1, Number 1, March, 1954), Art
Hyde(presumably) writes:
Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithologyasked on their radio
program “Know your Birds”if they could be informed of observations
ofEvening Grosbeaks whosewings they had paintedwith crosses and
circles in various colours denot-ing the months of marking. We
could not have
given much help in this project for no Grosbeakshave been
reported from this region except for onesmall flock at Collins Bay
in November. It will beinteresting to learn as otherwinter
publications arereceived whether this has been a poor winter
gen-erally for Evening Grosbeaks.”
From 60 years ago ...From an article entitled, “Robins and
Waxwings,” A.M. Strong wrote in the March, 1959 Blue Bill:
Turning to follow the flock for a be er look Itramped for about
one hundred yards when Iheard the twi ering of cedar waxwings, then
sawtwo large pines and evidence of bird activity neartheir crowns.
Scarcely believing my eyes, I identi-fied from 40 to 60 Bohemian
waxwings in one treeand 100 to 150 cedar waxwings in the other. I
wasfortunate in ge ing closer to be er compare thetwo species and
made a note of the fluffier crests
in the Bohemians as well as the white wing barsand gray bellies.
While studying the waxwings Iwas surprised to see so many purple
finches, from500 to 1,000 as a very rough guess. All these
birdsplus several pine and evening grosbeaks and afew chickadees
seemed to be feeding on the blueberries of the red cedar which at
this place werevery abundant.
From 50 years ago ...A field trip report to Presqu’ile Point on
March 9, 1969 by Fred Cooke:
The long journey along the 401 was uneventful asfour carsmade up
the party on a cold but calm andsunny morning. A stop for coffee at
the ServiceCentre 1867 yielded a flock of 35 Redpoll in thetrees
near where we parked