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.