Common Eiders a rare Visitor

Nature Notes for October 14, 2011

In the three days which passed between the writing of the last Nature Notes column and its appearance in print, the birds in the area changed from lingering early season migrants to good numbers of the later-expected fall migrants.

Then the weather changed again. The mild temperatures last week and over the Thanksgiving weekend caused the migration to slow yet again. As long as the weather stays warm and food is available, there is no urgency for the birds to leave.

The fair weather conditions have been accompanied by light winds and a full moon. Perhaps many migrants are just flying over, undetected by observers on the ground.

Despite the name, two female Common Eiders spotted in late September in the offshore islands at Presqu’ile Provincial Park have been the rarest birds seen to date this fall. The single Common Eider, seen on October 1 and 2 off Chub Point south of Grafton, may have been one of the Presqu’ile birds.

This large sea duck is common in the high Arctic, the Maritimes and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but it is quite rare on Lake Ontario.

Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory is reporting a good movement of Northern Saw-whet Owls. The peak of their southward migration through this area is usually in mid-October. Because they are highly nocturnal, most pass through without humans ever being aware of them. Some winter in Ontario but some go as far south as the mid-Atlantic states of the U.S.

Both Golden-crowned Kinglets and Ruby-crowned Kinglets have been abundant this week. These tiny birds are usually detected by sound. The Golden-crowns have been giving their high pitched call notes from neighbourhood conifers. The Ruby-crowns call note is lower pitched and wren-like. There seems also to be an abundance of tiny flying insects which provide food for them and other small land birds. In amongst these flocks, there have been a few WinterWrens and Brown Creepers, both later fall migrants.

Hermit Thrushes could be heard chucking from the underbrush. These are the last of Catharus thrushes to leave our area. Some do nest in the conifers of the Ganaraska and Northumberland Forests. Many of theses migrants have come from much further away in the boreal forest. They winter from the continental U.S. as far south as Central America.

Warblers can still be found. Most are Yellow-rumped Warblersand Palm Warblers, but a few others could be found during the past week: Nashville, Common Yellowthroat, Magnolia and Orange-crowned.

Although I haven’t seen them in large numbers, White-throated Sparrows are trickling through. A few White-crowned Sparrows can sometimes be found with them. The White-throated Sparrows breed as far north as the boreal forest. The White-crowns breed even further north on the taiga. There is a lot of overlap in the wintering range of these two species. White-throats stay mostly in the continental U.S., while White-crowns winter range extends through Mexico into Central America.

Dark-eyed Juncos have become more abundant in the past two weeks. This sparrow, too, breeds in the boreal forest. It is a regular at bird feeders and many winter in our area.

Although none have yet visited my backyard feeder, flocks of Pine Siskin could be heard passing over during the past week. This small finch breeds in the boreal forest. In some years, it irrupts south in response to food shortages in the northern forest. The local tree seed crops will determine whether the siskin will stop here.