The Winter Season December 1, 1988 - February 28, 1989
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Winter Season December 1, 1988 - February 28, 1989 ATLANTIC PROVINCES REGION Ian A. McLaren ATLANTIC OCEAN Map Illustrations/DentseL. O'Brien of the continent. Bird food and bird-feeding paraphenalia season,sa new with Regional patternsEditor to Ithink was handedabout andaninteresting rarities to are now sold everywhere. Some of the most interesting savor. Reporting was excellent from all four provinces. birds this winter turned up at recently-establishedfeeders Christmas Bird Counts referred to here include many in the countryside and small towns. The unusual number "unofficial" ones that will not reach American Birds. Early of rarities also reflects the establishment,within the past winter was mild, with little persistentsnow in most coastal year or so, of weekly columns on birds in major Regional areas. However, February became unusually cold, extin- newspapers,one in Newfoundland and two in Nova Sco- guishing many half-hardy survivors. If we can keep our tia. Our informal rare-bird alerts are being fed from new eyes off the rarities momentarily, the two most striking sources.As one who has been at the game for a long time, events this winter were an exceptional influx of Pine I feel a twinge of nostalgiafor the days when we had to go Warblers and a huge holdback of American Robins in the out and figuratively (and literally) beat the bushes our- Region. Why the warblers should have flung themselves selves. northeastwardsso late in the fall is a mystery; simply to call them reverse migrants is no explanation. The robins are more explicable: the Mountain Ash fruit crops in ABBREVIATIONS -- S.P.M. = Saint-Pierre et Miquelon. Newfoundland and northeastern Nova Scotia were ex- LOONS TO WATERFOWL--Wintering Red-throated traordinary. Conifer and other seeds also abounded and Loons remained scarce in the Region, with CBC counts of there were complaints throughout the Region about the only one in New Brunswick and 10 in Nova Scotia where a paucity of birds at feeders. However, they may also have few probablereturnees were seenin mid-February.Although been diluted by a sharp increasein bird feeding,perhaps CBC Corn. Loonswere "doublethe averagenumber" in New more recently here than in other, more developed parts Brunswick {DSC},they were rated as scarcerin Nova Scotia Volume 43, Number 2 277 (LPMP). A Pied-billed Grebe was still at Pleasant Lake, NS, to Feb. 19 (H & HH, ER). Red-necked Grebes seemed secure, with goodCBC countsthroughout and "a high count for Nfid" (BMct) of 27 at Bellevue Beach Dec. 3. However, Horned Grebes were at best average in New Brunswick (DSC), and the CBC total was less than half last year's in Nova Scotia. As usual in recent years, a few Double-crested Cormorants were seen into the new year in Nova Scotia. Only one Greal Blue Heron was reported to have survived the February chill, near Pubnico. NS. Unusual were seven Snow Geese on Dec. 27 near Sackville, NB. two through January near Glace Bay, NS, two in late January at Chezzetcook,NS, and especially an adult Jan. 28 at Bonne Bay, NF (Hank & Kirsten Deichmann). Brant only began to winter on Grand Marian I. in 1970; this season,160+ were there Jan.3 (BD). None lingered elsewhere.A "Eurasian" drake was among six Green-winged Teal wintering in St. John's,NF (m.ob.). This duck wintering at St. John's, Newfoundland, photo- graphed in early January 1989, was apparently a Mallard x S.A. Northern Pintail hybrid. Photograph/BruceMacravish. Increasinglylarge congregationsof wintering water- fowl, mostly Am. Black Ducks, are fed by the public in parks in Moncton, NB, the Halifax-Dartmouth area and but only two near Halifax, NS, were seen through winter. A Sydney, NS, and St. John's, NF. Wildlife authorities Ruddy Duck near Halifax until Jan.6 (FLL et al.) provided the voiced concern about dependency of these birds, and first winter record in a decade. also about increased dalliance between Blacks and the more dependent Mallards. However, the handouts do help the Am. Black Ducks get through winter, and they are generallypaired and leave for saltmarshesand other DIURNAL RAPTORS--A Turkey Vulture near Sack- sites little used by Mallards before the latter become ville, NB, Dec. 26 (WAM) was not unprecedented.David consumedby courtship. Mallard x Black hybrids have Christie is "perplexedby winter reportsof Osprey,"including not notably increasedover recent years in the Halifax- a recent one from near St. Stephen, NB. There are a few good Dartmouth area at least. winter sightings from Nova Scotia, but I know of one that In Nova Scotia this winter, civic authorities attrib- proved to be a hovering light morph Rough-leg!A CBC total uted pollution to ducks (and to gulls roostingon lake of 47 Bald Eagles was "best ever per party hour" for New ice), and also blamed them for increasesin urban lakes Brunswick (DSC), but was outmatched by a record 96 on the of "swimmer'sitch," the partial penetrationof the skin CBC at their winter stronghold around Wolfville, NS. by larvae of trematode parasitesin snails, in turn from Sharp-shinnedHawks in Newfoundland were "backto nor- waterfowl feces. Birders, as part of this ecological-rec- mal after two high winters" (BMct), and were "average"on reational web, cherish such waterfowl gatheringsfor CBCs in New Brunswick (DSC) and perhapsbelow averagein their laggardsand vagrants. Three N. Pintail remained Nova Scotia (IAM). Impressions of small-hawk abundances as far north as St. John's,NF, along with a handsome may have been affectedby paucitiesof feederbirds (see later). drake Mallard x Pintail for its 2nd winter (BMct).Other No details were available for two Broad-wingedHawks re- laggardsincluded a drake Blue-winged Teal at St. An- ported in New Brunswick, one on the Woodstock CBC and drews, NB, until late January (fide DSC), a N. Shoveler one near Oak Bay Jan. 5. However, an immature near Horton- in Yarmouth, NS, through February (m.ob.), two Gad- ville, NS, Jan. 28 (J & SC et al.) furnished a well-described wall in Saint John, NB, into mid-January (Tom Page), 10th winter record for the province since 1979, and the 2nd- and scattered Am. Wigeon, including a drake in St. latest seasonally.Rough-legged Hawks did not make a big John's,NF, until at least Feb. 5 (RB). showing in the Region,although three were more than usual at the St. John's,NF, dump (BMct). A muskrat was exceptional prey for one near Amherst, NS, Feb. 18 (BD). An ad. Golden Eagle, joined by an immature in early February, was around A single LesserScaup appeared in late January among the Albert, NB, through winter (v.o.), and another adult was near dabbler hordesin Dartmouth,NS. RogerEtcheberry feels that Saint John, NB, Jan. 11-12 (KO'D). In Nova Scotia, adults were overhunting is dispersingthe once larger flocksof Corn.Eider seenin late February near Mt. Uniacke (PM) and Martinique around S.P.M. Up to 10 King Eiders were seen in s.e. New- Beach (Linda Conrad), the latter feeding on carrion put out foundland, and CBC birds at Brier Island, NS, and St. An- for Bald Eagles. drews, NB. Only one Harlequin Duck was reported from New An Am. Kestrelwas late at Cape Race, NF, Dec. 4 (RB).The Brunswick, and five from Nova Scotia: they are clearly in only post-CBC birds reported were two from Nova Scotia, trouble, and the current hunting ban may come too late. An where there has been a decided drop in numbers in recent aerial survey off Guysborough,NS, Dec. 17 found some 55 winters. Two or three Merlins wintered as far north as St. Surf and 3600 Black scoters,but no White-winged Scoters John's, NF, but elsewhere only three birds were reported (fide WAM), although these last were the most heavily re- following CBC totals of five. Peregrine Falconsappeared in ported from elsewhere.The survey was in relation to increas- Nova Scotiaat Wolfville Dec. 10-11 (RS,G & JT)and at Cherry ingly extensive culture of mussels, and pleas for duck "con- Hill Dec. 30 (JSC),and an ad. male wintered around Saint trol" bear watching. A single Barrow's Goldeneye near St. John, NB (fide DSC). In Newfoundland Gyrfalconswere not John's,NF, and about 10 in Nova Scotia were outmatched by seen south of L'Anse-aux-Meadows, but single dark birds some 40 at a traditional site at CocagneBridge, NB, in Feb- occurrednear Wolfville, NS, in mid-Februaryand alongthe ruary. A few Hooded Mergansers remained in the southwest, PetitcodiacR., NB, from late December(v.o.). 278 AmericanBirds, Summer 1989 GALLIFORMES TO ALCIDS -- Flocks of five and eight Gulls at Western Brook, NF (RB), and from near Halifax, NS. ptarmiganwere reported near Tracadie, NB, in late January in late February {v.o.}. I thought the latter was an extreme, {YolandePaulin, fide HC}, but were not identified to species. dark-eyed "Kumlien's"--it was pale-headed and its bill was Wild Turkeys introduced to Grand Manan I., NB, have repro- rather too slight. The distinction will no doubt soon become duced since 1987 and survived the winter with some supple- academic for listers. There were at least six Lesser Black- mental feeding {BD}. One Am. Coot was seen untfi early backed Gulls {one first-winter, one 2nd-winter, and two 3rd- Januaryin St. Johns,NF, and two survived through the season winter birds, and two adults, including a possible•uscus} in on Sullivan's Pond, Dartmouth, NS. No other rallids were St. John's, NF (fide BMct}, and Halifax, NS, had two or three reported.Yet anotherNorthern Lapwing reachedNewfound- adults {m.ob.}.Bruce Mactavish observeda Herring Gull Feb.