FOR THE BIRDS

MARCH  2003

By

Helen O'Shea

• Bill O’Shea saw the male Ring-necked Pheasant on February 25 at the second gate to the Visitor Centre on Route 22. On February 20 the pheasant was near Pauline Kelly’s driveway on Wolfe Street.
• Bill O’Shea and Sandy Balcom saw a Ruffed Grouse at the Commissionaire’s gate by the road to Kennington Cove. There were 3 crossing the road in the same location on March 7.
• Joseph Rosta watched a deer at his feeder two days in mid-February. It arrived about 5:30 p.m and opened his gazebo feeder by hitting it with its hoof and then ate the seed off the ground. Northside East Bay provides interesting sightings in winter.
• Jean Bagnell reported a fancy Pigeon in her yard with a pink band on its leg. Is it a homing pigeon?
• Juanita Fudge called about 5:30 p.m. on February 20. She had been watching 2 rufous Ruffed Grouse eating buds from an apple tree. They stayed around for over 15 minutes.
• Susann Myers reported a Harlequin Duck off the Lighthouse on February 20.
• Judy and Manning Burke of Catalone Gut have been watching 2 mature Bald Eagles in a tree opposite their house. These birds are seen hunting and fishing. Will they be a breeding pair this spring?
• Charlene Martell noticed a huge flock of Starlings on her porch and in her yard on February 14. They found a supply of hard cat food and devoured it all.
• Pat Bates of Bateston has 14 Crows visiting his feeder.
• Nora Pink of Catalone has a sock filed with niger seed that is very popular with American Goldfinch. She also has Mourning Doves, Juncos, Black-capped Chickadees and Crows at her feeders.
• Norman Day had a Robin in his yard for the first half of February.
• Burns MacMillan was in the General Store buying birdseed on February 28. As I walked along Main Street a flock of approximately 60 Starlings and House Sparrows were circling high above his house.
• Diane Bussey had a one-legged Sparrow at her feeder on February 9.
• Wilfred and Mary Kehoe had 3 Partridge eating alders at the end of their driveway after a storm that dropped 35 cm. of snow. There was a Robin in their yard in early February.
• Geneva Pond watched 6 Partridge at the top of small trees in her yard on the Sydney-Glace Bay highway. It was minus 16 that February 12 and the snow was deep.
• Glenn Shepard and Chad Magee watched a flock of Canada Geese, fighting 40 kph winds in minus 32 degree weather on February 15, flying from the Lighthouse over the pond behind the fire hall on the Fortress site.
• Jennifer Talbot brought an injured Robin out of the minus 49 degree temperatures on February 14 and put it in a towel in her garage to warm it up.
• Pearl Magee watched a Ruffed Grouse balance precariously in a cherry tree down her driveway for more than ¾ of an hour as it ate the buds. She has a family of Starlings that visit her feeder daily. She thinks they are the ones that nested there last year. On February 4 she had an American Tree Sparrow visit and at 6 a.m. that day Winston watched a Great Horned Owl in the tree beside their driveway. A flock of Purple Finch is visible in nearby trees but do not come to her feeder. Very few Goldfinch arrive but a flock of at least a dozen Blue Jays is at her feeders every morning. With all the snow she scatters seed on the ground more often. Juncos are the most numerous birds. She has not seen a Red-breasted Nuthatch since late fall and the last Black-capped Chickadees were in the yard in mid-January. On a drive to Forchu the first weekend in March she and Winston commented on the lack of birds. They saw a Bald Eagle on the ice beside an open spot of water and watched the Scaup and Common Goldeneye at the Mira River bridge. The Crow is still the provincial bird based on numbers seen while travelling. Her first Redpoll in months arrived on March 7.
• Victor Anderson has had some exciting birds. A Fox Sparrow has been at his feeders since December. He now has a Song Sparrow, American Tree Sparrow and White-throated Sparrow. Part of the winter he had a Blue Jay with a white head. Brent Baker also had this bird. It disappeared a couple of weeks ago—the same time a hawk swooped through Brent’s yard with prey. Victor now has 30 Juncos, 15 Mourning Doves, and 15 Blue Jays. Until 3 weeks ago, when he had to take several disselfinks in that the squirrels had chewed, he had 25 to 50 Evening Grosbeaks daily (on occasion up to 100). He also had Purple Finch for about 2 weeks. Their preferred food was the sunflower seed in these feeders. He has a resident immature Sharp-shinned Hawk. Victor commented on the lack of Red-breasted Nuthatch and Crossbills. He watches the birds drink from the brook and then seek cover in the nearby trees.

Around the town

Bill and I watched 2 Ruffed Grouse eating dried apples in a tree on Administration Road near the former home of Richard Kelly. Everyone who walks to the top of the sidewalk at Station Hill comments on the lack of Woodpeckers. Pearl Magee, Marlene Bates, Michael Burke and I have yet to see one in their familiar spots.

Around the harbour

February 8 Bill and I observed a female Red-breasted Merganser, 2 pair of Bufflehead, a Common Loon, 2 pair of Long-tailed Duck, a White-winged Scoter, 7 Black Ducks, a Kumlien Iceland Gull and Black Guillemots off the Government Wharf and more than a dozen Iceland Gulls on the roof of Jimmy Dale Kennedy’s processing plant. There were 20 Black Ducks and 5 Scaup off Hopkin’s wharf.

At the Fortress Barachois there was a female Red-breasted Merganser, a Common Loon, 5 pair of Bufflehead, a mature Bald Eagle. At the Fortress site there was an immature Bald Eagle, a pair of mature Bald Eagles along the shore past Black Rock, a raft of Eider Ducks on the ocean side, and 10-15 Red-breasted Mergansers in the surf off Rochefort Point. There were 20 Long-tailed Ducks in the same location.

February 20 we saw a female Spruce Grouse on the road to the Lighthouse. It lingered behind a snowbank for several minutes. There were 3 female Goldeneye, 6 Long-tailed Duck, a female Common Merganser, 3 White-winged Scoter, a Scaup and a female Red-breasted Merganser off the Lighthouse. February 22 there was a pair of mature Bald Eagles on the ice near the Lobster Kettle Restaurant. On the sea side of Black Rock there was a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers. In the harbour there were a pair of Bufflehead, a Black Guillemot, Black Duck, and a Robin at the side of the road. 5 white-tailed deer ran across the road and into the woods.

The male Ring-necked Pheasant was seen pecking at the gravel by the side of the road between the Visitor Centre gate and the Administration road on Route 22 on March 4. He circled my parked car a couple of times and stood on the yellow line in the centre of the road defying death from traffic at the end of a work day.

At my feeders

2 Song Sparrows have been here throughout the winter. 5 Blue Jays arrive daily and fill up on seed sifting for peanuts, as many as 40 Goldfinch, 2 pair of Purple Finch, a pair of Pine Siskins, too many Mourning Doves—sometimes more than 35, and a couple of dozen Juncos. 2 Black-capped Chickadees have become regular visitors. February 12 we had 2 male and 4 female Evening Grosbeaks drop by to sample the seeds. It was a sunny, minus 16 degree day. We still have a crop of rose hips that the occasional Robin and the Purple Finch enjoy.

ALL THE WET WEATHER MEANS IT IS TIME TO CLEAN OUT THE FEEDERS AND SHOVEL UP THE SEED ON THE GROUND TO PREVENT DISEASE IN BIRDS. It will then be time to fill them up again since the weather remains cold and snow cover hides seeds, etc.

LOOK FOR FOX SPARROWS. THEY SHOULD ARRIVE AROUND THE END OF THE MONTH.

Give me a call when you see them or any other spring arrivals.

Helen O’Shea

Extracted from © The Seagull, Helen O'Shea, For the Birds

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