Saturday 29 October 2016

Turkey Vultures moving through Northumberland



Nature Notes for October 28, 2016

Turkey Vultures are the bird of the month in Port Hope. When the salmon are running in the Ganaraska, the vultures gather. The salmon die after spawning, so there is an abundance of food for these scavengers along the river and the adjacent lakeshore.

October is also the time that most of these big birds migrate. Since vultures have no feathers on their heads, a good adaptation for a bird that eats almost exclusively dead things, they can’t tolerate cold Canadian winters. Most birds that breed here migrate only to the southern U.S., although they live year-round throughout Central and South America. 


Turkey Vulture in flight.
Photo © Rob Lonsberry Photography



The migration route for Turkey Vultures is the same as for most raptors that migrate through Northumberland. These birds don’t like to cross large bodies of water. They fly south to the shore of Lake Ontario and then turn west, following the north shore of Lakes Ontario and Erie and crossing the Detroit River at Windsor/Detroit.

When the wind is out of the north, the birds are pushed towards the lakeshore and large numbers can be counted passing over. There were suitable winds on Thanksgiving Monday. The observation platform at the A.K. Sculthorpe Woodland Marsh along the Waterfront Trail in Port Hope gives a good view of the sky to the east.

My husband and I stood on the platform and counted for most of the day. The most abundant bird was Turkey Vulture at 889, followed by Red-tailed Hawk at 87. Other raptors counted were 3 Bald Eagles, 9 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 Northern Harrier, 2 Cooper’s Hawks, 2 Red-shouldered Hawks, and 1 Osprey.

On the same day, the Holiday Beach Hawk Watch at the west end of Lake Erie counted 6,415 Turkey Vultures. There is a network of hawk watches along the north shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie, including in High Park in Toronto. The further west the hawk watch site, the greater the number of birds seen. The birds take advantage of the thermals created where land meets water to fly long distances with a minimum of energy expenditure.

There were a couple of other surprises that day. A single Eastern Bluebird flew over, flying east and two Common Ravens also passed over.

In late September and early October, there was a noticeable movement of Blue Jays along the lakeshore, flying west. These birds follow the same flight line as the raptors.

Most of the songbirds that migrate to the tropics have already left our area. On the other hand, the wintering ones are arriving. My garden has been host to a little flock of Dark-eyed Juncos. A few of these will remain all winter.

American Pipits could be found in agricultural fields last week; one flock was about 200 birds. They nest in the Arctic and winter in the southern U.S., so are just passing through.

In the past week, there have been a few reports of American Tree Sparrows and Snow Buntings. Both are Arctic nesters, the sparrows in the taiga and the buntings in the high Arctic. Both can remain in southern Ontario throughout the winter. Both prefer fairly open areas, so are more abundant in agricultural landscapes than in towns and villages.

The next Project FeederWatch season begins on November 12. This project recruits an army of volunteers to record the birds visiting backyard feeders throughout the winter. Anyone who is willing to learn the identities of the birds coming to their feeder can participate. There is a registration fee, but participants are provided with instructions, a FeederWatch calendar and on-line assistance in identifying birds. For more information, check http://feederwatch.org/. This is a North America Wide project.


Sunday 2 October 2016

Willow Beach Field Naturalists Events Teach About Natural World



Nature Notes for September 30, 2016

“In the late summer of 1953 a little group of naturalists who often happened to meet while strolling along the railway embankment that runs beside the marsh at Willow Beach conferred together along the pathway and decided there were enough interested people to warrant forming a naturalist club. The little group included Dr. and Mrs. C.B. Kelly, Mr. and Mrs. Harold Reeve, Peter Landry, Ted McDonald, Stella Bennett, Louise Steele.” This is a quote from a history of Willow Beach Field Naturalists Club, written by Louise Steele, one of its founders.

This meeting led to the founding of the club which still exists today, to study and celebrate our natural heritage. Initially, this club’s area included both Port Hope and Cobourg, as well as Hope and Hamilton Townships. Through the intervening years, the club has evolved to include all of Northumberland County

The Whimbrel used to be called Hudsonian Curlew. This bird is the logo for Willow Beach Field Naturalists because they used to arrive in numbers at Willow Beach around Victoria Day weekend during the spring migration. The club's newsletter is called The Curlew, referring to this bird.
Photo  © Rob Lonsberry Photography


In the early years, meetings were held in member’s homes and outings were quite informal. Now, there are seven indoor meetings per year, at present, all at the Cobourg Public Library.

In recent years, speakers at these meetings have included ornithologist Bridget Stutchbury, professor at York University and author of Silence of the Songbirds and The Bird Detective; bee biologist Laurence Packer, professor at York and author of Keeping the Bees; geologist Nick Eyles, professor at U. of Toronto and known to many through a 5-part series on the Nature of Things, Geologic Journey. Sheila Colla, now an assistant professor at York, spoke to WBFN when she was a graduate student, about her research on the Rusty-patch Bumble Bee.

Meteoroligist Dave Phillips spoke to us about weather legends. Gord Vogg, seasonal naturalists at Darlington Provincial Park, made a presentation about fungi and the next day led a very successful outing to Peter’s Woods to search for and identify fungi. Hummingbird bander, Cindy Cartwright made a presentation on these fascinating birds. Rory Quigley, Arborist for the Town of Cobourg presented about urban forestry.

WBFN also has many knowledgeable people in the membership who have done presentations about birds, plants, insects, animal bones, and animal tracks.

The club organizes at least one outing per month. Some are within the county at locations like the A.K. Sculthorpe Woodland Marsh (also known as the Lake Street waterfront trail) in Port Hope, Cobourg Harbour, Lucas Point Park, Garden Hill Conservation Area, Laurie Lawson Outdoor Education Centre, Peter’s Woods, Rice Lake Conservation Area, Seymour Conservation Area, Northumberland Forest, Presqu’ile Provincial Park, Nature Conservancy of Canada properties, NorthumberlandLand Trust properties, and Alderville Black Oak Savanna. Some outings have also been held on private property, at the invitation of the owners.

Others outings are to more distant locations. Destinations have included the CardenAlvar in search of the endangered Loggerhead Shrike, November trips to Niagara in search of unusual gulls, trips to Amherst Island in search of wintering owls, Algonquin Park in winter, Lost Bay Nature Reserve north of Kingston, and the Menzel Nature Reserve north of Napanee in search of butterflies.

Some trip leaders are members of our club, some are from outside organizations. The objective is to learn more about our natural heritage and develop awareness of what is around us.

Early in its history, WBFN held an annual Christmas bird census. This has evolved into an official Audubon Christmas Bird Count, with different boundaries than the original census. Now, three Christmas Bird Counts are held in the county, each one covering a different circle. Some members take part in all three counts. For the past twenty years, the club has also organized a Summer Bird Count to monitor breeding birds.

WBFN helped to purchase Peter’s Woods Provincial Nature Reserve, and part of Carr’s Marsh, now managed by Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority. Because land ownership is quite a different mandate than nature study, WBFN created the Northumberland Land Trust twelve years ago. NLT now owns five properties and holds a conservation easement on a sixth.

The first indoor meeting for the 2016-17 is tonight, Sept. 30 at the Cobourg Public Library starting at 7:30 p.m. The guest speaker is Chris Ketola, whose topic is Masters of the Sky: Raptor Biodiversity, Biology and Behaviour.  Perhaps you would prefer to join us for a walk on Saturday morning (Oct. 1) along Cobourg’s West Beach, from 10 a.m. to noon, led by member Eleanor Sartisohn. Visitors are welcome at all WBFN events.

For more information about WBFN, check the website at http://www.willowbeachfieldnaturalists.org/ or follow the club on Facebook.