16th Northumberland Summer Bird Count

Nature Notes for June 10, 2011

On Saturday, June 4, I awoke to gentle rain. This was not good news, since this was the first day of the 16th Northumberland Summer Bird Count. I ate breakfast and drove to my assigned area near Castleton in the rain. By the time I arrived, the rain had stopped but the skies were still very gray.

Even without rain, the weather was going to be a problem. On a bird count at this season, observers find birds mostly by sound – songs and calls. Overcast skies tend to suppress bird song, so birds can be very difficult to detect.

I donned my rain gear and started down the road allowance. This is a very interesting route, since there are treed hedgerows along both sides of the road. Part of the length has forest on one side and open agricultural fields and pasture on the other.

The variety in habitats houses a good variety of landbirds. In the hedgerows were such species as Indigo Bunting, Brown Thrasher and Chestnut-sided Warbler. The forest held Veery, Ovenbird and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. In the open fields, I could hear Eastern Meadowlark, Bobolink, Grasshopper Sparrow and Savannah Sparrow.

There is one wet field with a small pond. Here I encountered swarms of mosquitoes. In an area that is generally high and dry, I am assigned the “buggiest” walk. Thanks goodness for the rain gear!

I returned to my car and drove slowly up Jakobi Road, stopping from time to time to get out and count the birds I was hearing. Next stop was another unmaintained road allowance, where I startled a group of people checking the transformer for their solar collectors. I’m sure they thought I was a bit odd when I told them I was doing a bird count. Who would walk into that valley with thunder rumbling from increasingly dark clouds?

This time, I used the environmentally friendly bug spray that I had purchased at Port Hope’s Living Green Fair. I also donned my mesh bug shirt. As I ventured down the road, light rain began to fall. By the time I had walked to the river bottom and back to my car, it was raining hard.

This seemed a good time to have some lunch and wait for the storm to pass. It didn’t. The rain fell even harder. I decided to drive slowly with the car window open along several secondary roads to see if I might hear or see any other birds. I learned that not only robins sing in the rain, but so do Baltimore Orioles. Since the rain seemed to have settled in, I ended my day at 11:45 and headed for home.

On Sunday,  I had a friend birding with me. I picked Katsu up and drove to our starting place, this time in fog. There was intermittent sun and cloud, so the birds were singing more. Our first walk was another buggy walk (for which Katsu wasn’t prepared) along a different road allowance to Piper Creek. This walk yielded Mourning Warbler, Alder Flycatcher, Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, and Swamp Sparrow, as well as other species.

On a drive in an agricultural area we found Horned Lark, more Bobolinks, Savannah Sparrows, Grasshopper Sparrows and a pair of Northern Harriers. These were the first raptors I had seen. They don’t like to hunt in the rain.

Next was a walk through a pine plantation in search of Red-breasted Nuthatch (success) and Red Crossbills (no joy), but we did find Blue-headed Vireo. Then another walk along a wooded trail through the forest. This walk added Scarlet Tanager, seen as well as heard.

The last bird of the day was a Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

Why do we do these counts? It is mainly to monitor breeding bird population trends. Data from this count has been used by the Nature Conservancy of Canada in their conservation work on the Rice Lake Plains and is available to other agencies.

This count is organized by Willow Beach Field Naturalists. The data from past counts is posted on the WBFN web site, www.willowbeachfieldnaturalists.org. The 2011 data will be added when it has been compiled.

Let’s hope for dry weather in 2012. We’re due. It also rained on the 2010 count.