sign in sign up
<<
Home , Atlantic Canada, Cape Spear

AtlanticCanada

and one male in . The tern that trackede. of , then hit

SEA eHebr• [•BP•DOR winteringmale in St. Pierrelingered until 5 se. .Elsewhere in the , May.A femaleNorthern Pintail wintered on andlater in theseason, the Great Egret totals St. Pierreet Miquelon,a rareevent locally A for and were but maleGarganey was present on St. Pierre24- 3 and one. SnowyEgrets and Little Blue 31 May (LJet al., ph.), thefirst for theFrench Heronswere not part of the early flight; islands.By 31 May,it waskeeping company provincialtotals for Snowywere 5 in Nova Scotia,9 in New Brunswick,and one in New- •c• • with a femaleBlue-winged Teal. A freshly deadCanvasback was found during the 2nd foundland, and there were 5 Little Blues in weekof Mar nearQuispamsis, NB (fideJW), Nova Scotia,4 in New Brunswick,plus one •e •-• •e Broo• where less than annual. Of 4 Eurasian Ieal re- onSt. Pierre 15-26 May. No IricoloredHerons [ ported,3 werein NewBrunswick and one in werereported, and there were but 2 mainland e. Newfoundland. Ihere were still 7 Redheads CatdeEgrets, both in NewBrunswick in May , NEW at OysterbedBridge, PEI 7 Mar,a notablecon- A CattleEgret at Buchans,NL wasboth a rare •e Jo•n•. NOVA•COTIA S•S•es: centration(DS), while 2 lingeredat C.S.I. spring and inland record (Dianne Reid). throughlate Mar. At leasta dozenTufted GlossyIbis, however, broke the mold of this Duckswere in the St.John•, NL area,and one spring•tepid heron flight by staginga Re- lingeredthrough 28 May (Anne Hughes). gionwidearrival in the lastsix weeksof the Elsewhere,New Brunswickhad 2 males in season. There were at least 10 birds in New BlakeMaybank Mar.The wintering Lesser Seaup on St.Pierre Brunswick,including an eventualgroup of 6 waslast noted 9 May Fourmale King Eiders at LowerJemseg, and a lonebird far n. at Mis- canno longerdivine the meaning of a were noted from e. Newfoundland in Mar- cou I. Four were noted togetheralong the "normal• spring, but most observers con- Apr,one was seen off CapeIourmentine, NB GlenfinnanR., PEI (TomDuffy) 28 Apr,while sidered2007 a relativelyuneventful peri- in late Mar, and 2 were off St. Pierre et 4 in s. NovaScotia were more widely scat- od, especiallywith respectto the weather,at Miquelonin Apr. Observersin Nova Scotia tered.The flightextended farther n. as well, leastin theMaritime provinces. St. Pierre and commentedon the low numbersof scoters, with at least4 birdsin St.Pierre et Miquelon the island of Newfoundland had a colder, but them•gration past Pt. Lep- stormiertime of it, with considerablesnowfall reau, NB was normal. Several early on in easternNewfoundland, though observersin differentparts of nothingrecord-breaking. The mild weather the Region suggestedthat did bodewell for the birds,and the general Long-tailed Duck numbers consensuswas of a modestrecovery in the were low, but the data are in- migrantbreeding bird populationsthat had sufficient to confirm or refute sufferedfrom weather-related migration mor- suchsuggestions, so observers talitiesthe previous two springs. The smallest should make an effort to count jurisdictions,Prince Edward Island and St. this common wintering Pierreet Miquelon,claimed the three"firsts" speciesmore precisely.Ihere this year,all well documentedwith photo- were 2-3 RuddyDucks in or graphs.Embrace the digitalrevolution! nearHalifax Harbour through lateApr, and a well-described Abbreviations:B.I. (BrierI., NS);C.S.I. ( pair at St. Pierre 5 or 6 May Sable I., NS); G.M.A. (Grand Manan Archi- (fidePB) makes the 5th occur- Thismale Garganey was present on SL Pierre 24-31 (here 25) May 2007. pelago,NB); H.R.M. (Halifax RegionalMu- rence for the islands and first PhotoõraphbyPatrick Boez. nicipality,NS); NL (the provinceof New- in spring.Etcheberry again be- foundland& );Newfoundland (the moanedthe scarcity of Red-neckedGrebes off 15-22 May,while somereached Newfound- island of Newfoundlandonly); N.S.M.C. St.Pierre et Miquelon,but numbersfarther s. land:5 from25 Apr-10 May at Bonavista,ris- (Nova ScotiaMigration Count; May 13); werenormal and sometimes notable, e.g., 600 ing to 7 on 11-13May 0on Joyet al.), plus N.S.B.S.(Nova ScotiaBird Society);S.EM. off G.M.A.7 Apr (RogerLeBlanc et al.). singles24 Mayat Pasadena(Lois Bateman et (SaintPierre et Miquelon,France). al.) andthe nextday m PortugalCove South TUBENOSESTHROUGH RAPTORS (DaveShepherd et al.). WATERFOWLTHROUGH LOONS A fewSooty Shearwaters were noted off C.S.I. Ihere was belated news of a mid-winter Asin 2006,few Snow Geese were noted away by mid-May,but one off G.M.A. 25 Apr was BlackVulture near Dingwall, Cape Breton, NS fromtheir ne. New Brunswickstaging areas, notablyearly. A loneNorthern Gannet 5 Apr (StorrsOlsen, ph.). Ihis furnishesthe 16th where the largestflock recordedwas about offSt. Pierre was 17 daysearlier than average provincialrecord, of whichseven have oc- 3000 birds26 Apr. Brantnumbers were well (LJ).There was an oddpattern to the annual curredduring the Dec-Febperiod. In Nova down in Nova Scotia, but it is unclear if the overshootof heronsand egrets, with 6 Great Scotia,Iurkey Vulturesstaged a largemove- populationhas decreasedor just shiftedits Egretsarriving in the Avalon and Burin ment in Apr and May away from their sw. migrationroute. There were at leasttwo pairs Peninsulasof Newfoundland11-20 Apr, with stronghold,with more than 50 individuals of EurasianWigeon in e. Newfoundland, somelingering until May Therewas no cor- noted,including 7 on C.S.I.,6 in Advocate, while there were 3 males in H.R.M. into mid- respondingarrival to the s. and w., so these Cumberland,flocks of up to 11 at Canso, Apr,4 malesand a femalein NewBrunswick, birdsmust have been caught in a weathersys- Guysborough,and at least8 on CapeBreton,

408 NORTH AUERICAN BIRDS ATLANTICCANADA

includinga groupof 6 in LittlePond. Perhaps 27 Apr (MC). A Stilt Sandpiperon St. Pierre Mar,stealing dog food from a dish(fide Dave this year we will confirm nestingin the 29 Apr (ph. LJ), wasunseasonable and only Shepherd). province.This flight also pushed a lonebird the 4th local occurrence. to PrinceEdward Island, 9 May alongChina DOVESTHROUGH STARTING PointRd. (JohnHayden). For the first time GULLSTHROUGH ALCIDS A White-wingedDove at a St.John's feeder sinceEtcheberry began keeping St. Pierre.et A PomarineJaeger off Colombier I., St.Pierre 14-18May (AidanGreene et al.) wasat least Miquelon'sbird records,in 1974, therewere et Miqueion27 May (RE) providedthe only the 5th for Newfoundland. A Yellow-billed noreports of Ospreyon theFrench islands. It local report.A Long-tailedJaeger, the only Cuckoo23 Mar at C.S.I.provided the only re- is perhapsnot a coincidencethat the Osprey jaeger reportedfrom Nova Scotiaand the port for thisspring rarity and was unexpect- total of 111 on the N.S.M.C. was the lowest in rarestjaeger at anyseason, was seen off Flint edlyearly (Garvin Swim). A NorthernHawk thepast nine years, down 27% over the long- I., CapeBreton 19 May (Cathy& AllanMur- Owl madea too-briefappearance on C.S.I.23 term average. rant). May broughta small movementof May (WilfredAtwood); they are reported less LaughingGulls into Nova Scotia, with 3 in e. than annuallyin the province.As in 2006, RAILSAND SHOREBIRDS CapeBreton and at least4 in theHalifax Har- twonest-boxes on St. Pierre were occupied by At least6 AmericanCoots wintered in ponds bourarea. The province's18th Little Gull was BorealOwls by mid-Apr (RE), thoughone around Halifax Harbour; one or 2 is the notedin Pictouduring the N.S.M.C.;most nestwas subsequently abandoned. Five call- norm.Two successfully wintered on St. Pierre previousrecords are fromautumn and win- ing BorealOwls were tallied on the West et Miquelonfor the first time, last seen15 ter.At least3 Mew Gullswere present in Hal- LabradorSpring Count 12 May Although Apr.There were at least7 SandhillCranes re- ChimneySwifts have now been designated as portedfrom New Brunswickin Apr andMay, Threatenedin , there was an encour- thoughnone appeared to be paired.In Nova aging resurgenceof their numberson the Scotia,the Lunenburg bird wintered and was mainland,with the highestcount in Nova last reportedin late May,while a different Scotiabeing 760 in Pictou25 Mayand in New birdwas noted at Canso,Guysborough in ear- Brunswick 200 at Ste-Anne-de-Madawaska 23 ly May May Farthern. at St. Pierrethere were seven There was a small influx of European reportsof one to 3 birds12-29 May A num- Golden-Ploversto NeWfoundland: up to 7 in ber of Red-belliedWoodpeckers wintered in Bonavista23 Apr-13 May (RodCox et al.); NovaScotia; two pairsin Yarmouth,one bird one at Sandy Cove, EastportPen. i May in Antigonish,4 in Jollimore,H.R.M., and one (GregStroud); 3 at Kilbride2-4 May (Paul in Queens.Breeding was only confirmedfor Linegatet ai.); andone on thew. coastat St. the province last year in Jollimore. The Paul'sInlet 11 May (MoniqueVasallo et al.). ,NB individual,first foundin Nov, Only 4 ad. AmericanOystercatchers were waslast reported 25 Apr,and a migrantap- notedon C.S.I. this spring,down from 7 a peared10-12 May at Mary'sPt., NB (DC). year earlier.On 14 May,LJ foundand pho- An EasternPhoebe was quite far n. at St. tographedSt. Pierreet Miquelon's2nd Com- Pierre11 May (PatrickAsselin). While search- monGreenshank in thesame pond where he ing for a MountainBluebird, Donna Crosby discoveredSt. Pierreet Miquelon'sfirst, four founda rarespring White-eyed Vireo in Upper yearsearlier. Two Willets arrived at Renews, EastGreen Harbour, Shelburne, NS 26 May NL in late May, and lingered,and though PurpleMartins appear to be extirpatedas a theyshowed agitated behavior, there was no In NewBrunswick, this Le Conte's Sparrow at MercerSettle- breedingbird in NovaScotia, and a singlemi- evidenceof nesting.The speciesis rare in meritin KingsCounty 13-30 (here 14) May 2007 repre- grantwas noted,29 Apr, in Kings(m..). NeWfoundland,especially along the e. coast. senteda secondrecord for the province. Photograph by With 7 present,BlueJays are now almost con- Hank$cartb. On the N.S.M.C., totals of Red Knot (7) and sideredresident on St. Pierre et Miqueion.The Sanderling(9) werewell belowtheir long- ifax Harbourthrough late Mar, includinga predictedextirpation of BlackscappedChick- termaverage, by 82ø/0and 95%,respectively larger-billedindividual that showedtraits of adeeson St. Pierreet Miquelonmight have The high Red Knot total at Maisonnette the e. Eurasiansubspecies heinei, and an ad. beenpremature, as the populationon Saint- Dune, NB wasonly 14 (29 May), thoughas Mew Gull was at St. Pierre the first half of Pierrehas risen from one to 4; the recentar- with 2006 this newly discoveredspring Apr;one of thewintering Mews in St.John's, rivals bring fresh hope. Golden-crowned shorebirdsite enjoyedsome Regional high NL, a second-cyclebird, lingereduntil 13 Kingletsenjoyed a banneryear in 2006, but counts:140 Black-belliedPlovers (23 May); May A classicfirst-cycle Thayer's Gull was thisspring their numbers fell sharply; perhaps 66 SemipalmatedPlovers (26 May);46 Short- photographedat Sullivan'sPond, H.R.M. 4 the cold winter was to blame. Prince Edward billedDowitchers (26 May); 12 RuddyTurn- Mar (Bernard Burke); this is the 6th convinc- Islandhad its first CarolinaWren in spring stones(26 May); and 242 LeastSandpipers ing Nova Scotiarecord for this problematic 2006,but thispioneer was followed by 2 that (17 May),A latesnowstorm in LabradorCity species.The ad. Slaty-backedGull in St. arrived in Summersidein mid-Dec 2006, and 31 Maygrounded many passerines as well as John's,first discoveredin late Nov 2006, was theyremained through at leastmid-Apr. Two a RedKnot and a PurpleSandpiper, both very presentuntil at least25 Mar. Two Dovekies CarolinaWren sightings in Fredricton,NB, 30 outof placeat suchan inlandlocation. A Pec- lingeredinto Apr in NovaScotia, and a few Mar and 2 Apr, wereseparated by somedis- toral Sandpiper29 Apr at PortugalCove Thick-billed Murres were still noted in the tance,so may represent2 individuals.Once South,NL (Dave Shepherd)represented a firsthalf of May The onlyIvory Gull report- again,New Brunswick had the only Blue-gray rarespring record, as did 3 in SaintJohn, NB, ed was one at PortugalCove South,NL. 2 Gnatcatchers,5 birds 10-23 May

VOLUME 61 (2007) ß NUMBER 3 409 ATLANTICCANADA

Northern Wheatears seen in e. Newfound- Tanagersuccessfully wintered in WestPubni- average(RE). The Golden-crownedSparrow land includeda femaleat CapeSpear 7-10 co, Shelburne,but the provincialtotal was foundlast Dec on St. Pierreet Miquelonre- May (TerryJanes et al.) and a maleat Bear thenaugmented by 3 additionalbirds: a male mainedthrough 4 May, and thoughit re- Cove, Avalon Pen. date unknown (Terry 19 Apr at C.S.L(m.ob.); a femalein Canso mainedfrustratingly elusive, it waseventually Janes);another was on C.S.L25 May (Murray 22-23 May (TK); anda malein HalifaxSPub- photographed.For the2nd spring in a row,an Newell),rather late VicWilliams provided an lic Gardens30 May (ph. Tim Venters). OregonJunco reached Cape Breton, NS, this accuratedescription of a MountainBluebird Labradorsfirst Western Tanager (male), and timein remoteWhite Pt.,where it lingered7- at UpperEast Green Harbour, Shelburne 23 the province's3rd, wasa mediasensation in 13 May (LisaDixon et al.). May (fide Donna Crosby);this is the 8th Happy Valley/GooseBay 10-26 May (Tony There was a memorable influx of colorful provincial record of this w. species.A Chubbs et al.). grosbeaksand buntings into theRegion. More Townsend'sSolitaire at ,NB 15 Apr There were 5 Eastern Towhees in Nova Sco- than 100 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were re- (StuartTingley) and anotherat Tarantum, tia in May,plus three sightings of perhapsthe portedacross Nova Scotia, and 12 reachedSt. PEI 10-12 Mar (Dwaine Oakley, Pierreet Miquelon,an impressive Dan McAskill) were both rare, count for the Frenchislands (totals thoughthe latterbird represented were not monitored in New just the 6th occurrencefor that Brunswick or Prince Edward Is- province.Hermit Thrushcontin- land). St. Pierreet Miquelonalso uestobe the commonest thrush / enjoyedlate May visitsby a Blue on St. Pierre et Miquelon,with Grosbeakand 2 IndigoBuntings. manymore sightings (23) than • Apr/May mainland records for Swainsoh's(7) andGray-cheeked • thesetwo specieswere as follows: (3) combined.There was a large BlueGrosbeak 9/5 (NB/NS);Indigo push of NorthernMockingbirds Bunting9/31 (NB/NS).Just one In- and Brown Thrashers into New digo Buntingwas reportedfrom Brunswick and Nova Scotia from Prince EdwardIsland. Many of late Apr onwards,with provincial thesebirds were noted in conjunc- totalsof 3 and9 for themocking- tion with the intensemid-Apr birds and 15 and 14 for the thrash- storm that movedup the coast ers, respectivelyIn addition, 2 from the . thrashersand a mockingbirdwin- Furnishinga first record for Prince Edward Island, this Harris's Sparrow was at CorranBan 18 The only Yellow-headedBlack- May2007. Photograph byDwaine Oakley. tered in Nova Scotia, a thrasher bird was an imm. male on C.S:I. 20 reachedCape St. Mary's,NL 13 May (rare sameindividual on MachiasSeal I., NB 9-15 May (MN et al.). A Brown-headedCowbird springrecord; Gene Herzberg et al.), and a May (RalphEldridge). A ChippingSparrow wasnotable 5 Mayin St.Lewis, Labrador (Eva mockingbirdreached St. Pierre 28 May nearMirande L., St. Pierre29 Apr was three Luther),where the speciesis lessthan annu- weeksearlier than averageand the earliest al. Six Common Grackles in Labrador in the WARBLERSTHROUGH FINCHES everon St. Pierreet Miquelonby fourdays last week of May also were noteworthy Two Orange-crownedWarblers wintered in (RE).There were but 2 Clay-coloredSparrows TwelveOrchard Oriole sightings in Maywere H.R.M.; a rare spring migrant Orange- reportedRegionwide; one wintered in Canso, split evenly betweenNew Brunswickand crownedwas on G.M.A. 22 May (JW). Five NS, whereroutine, but morenotable by far Nova Scotia,but the rarestoriole was a male Pine Warblerswintered, 3 in H.R.M. and 2 in was St. Pierreet MiquelonSfirst and long- Bullock'sOriole 25 May in Argyle,Shelburne, New Brunswick.Etcheberry commented that overdueClay-colored Sparrow, present 23 NS (Tedd'Eon), the 11thprovincial record. onSt. Pierre et Miquelon,in contrastto recent May near MirandeL., well appreciatedand The LabradorWest Spring Count found 94 years,some species of warblerseemed more photographedby local birders. Field Sparrows RustyBlackbirds, an encouragingnumber for numerous,and the countof 17 speciesthere werescarce, with threereports in May,two in thisspecies in decline_ thisspring is encouraging.There was an im- Nova Scotia,and one in New Brunswick.The pressivetanager show in May,concentrated as Stellarton,NS Lark Sparrow wintered until 23 Contributors(subregional editors in bold- expectedon themainland, but with a fewno- Apr,and there were 2 otherearly Apr birdsin face,for Nova Scotiaunless otherwise noted); tably far-flungbirds. Summer Tanagers ar- the province,both thoughtto be migrants. Patrick Boez, David Christie, Merv Cormier, rived in numbersin Nova Scotia,with at least NewBrunswickS 2nd Le Conte'sSparrow was BrianDalzell (New Brunswick), Ralph A. El- 10 mainland birds from Halifax southward, a cooperativesinging male, discovered13 dridge (RAE), Roger Etcheberry(RE, St. the first 19 Apr in conjunctionwith a power- May+near Mercer Settlement, Kings (Richard Pierreet Miquelon),Ulli HOger,Laurent Jack- ful stormthat sweptin from the s., the rest Blacqniereet al., ph.). PrinceEdward Island man,John Joy, Tom Kavanaugh, Bruce Mac- throughMay Onereached Cape Breton, and enjoyeda one-dayvisit by its first Harris's ravish(BMt, for Newfoundland& Labrador), therewere 2 May birdsin New Brunswick. Sparrowat CoranBan; the bird was identified Ken McKenna,lan McLaren, Eric Mills, Su- ScarletTanagers, all in May,were moredis- by Vince Maclntyre,who spreadthe word sannMyers, Murray Newell, Dorothy Poole, persed,with 4 in New Brunswick,5 in s. quicklyenough for many of the province's David Seeler (Prince Edward Island), Hans Nova Scotia,and 2 in Newfoundland(one w. birdersto enjoyit. The Lunenburg,NS HarrisS Toom,Jim Wilson. C at Cornerbrook3 May,one e. at St.Mary's 27 Sparrow(8th for the province)successfully May), and the othera freshlydead male at winteredand was last reported 17 Apr.A vari- BlakeMaybank, 144 Bayview Drive Northwest River 20 May, just the 2nd ety of the commonersparrows arrived on St. White'sLake, Nova Scotia B3T 111 Labrador record. Nova Scotia's 18th Western Pierreet Miquelonabout a weekearlier than ([email protected])

410 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS