19 Dec (C. Desjardins,B. Chafiebois)and Saint-Armand17Jan (L. Messier). A Mute Swanwas presentat kacolle16 Feb+ (E Savoie,m.ob.). A CacklingGoose Quebeclingered at Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieuuntil 9 Dec(M. Gauthier,G. l•thier).A WoodDuck, the first in winter for Abitibi, was found at Rouyn-Noranda31 Dec(R. Gauvin),while a Peninsula male overwintered at Becancour (R. Bar- beau).A femaleKing Eider was killed by a U•gaava y hunter in the Beauharnoiscanal, near Saint- Louis-de-Gonzague,in mid-Dec (fide S. "'ß Inukjuak Bougie).Bald Eagles continued their success story,with manyoverwintering in the kau- rentians,along the St. LawrenceR., and HudsonBay aroundthe GaspePeninsula. Single North- ern Harriersat EAscension-de-Patapedia, / GaspGsie18Dec (L. Martin,fideC. Pitre)and C•apis•u at kac Joannes,Abitibi 15 Jan (L. Jourdin) • *•a•on werenotably late so far n. in the province. SingleCoopers Hawks at Bic7 Dec(GG) and James1 Bay • Fermont• Matapedia26 Jan-28 Feb+ (ph., J. & L. • . Sa•onBlanc- ß Ea•main Michaud) were n. of their normal winter •atash- range.For the 2nd consecutivewinter, an ad. Red-tailed Hawk of the calurus race turned ßMatagami ßChi•u-gamau Baie- •1•' St.-Pierrequ• up at Gafineau15 Dec-29Jan (A. Cloufier,E Corneau•&c•>.; • Ile-d'A•icosti Leducet al.). Over 20 Gyr[alconswere re- e•os ß ßGas• Gu•of ported,a goodyear for thisspecies (fide PB). L.•int-Jean I • eMat•e ' One of the mostintriguing records of the ßRouyn Tadoussace•. erc6•wrence winterinvolved a Sort presentin thePhilips- C•-Tour•nte •' ß •. B iles-de-la burgsanctuary 1-21 Feb(,JG. Papineau, ph., MarieVille-ß , Mont-ß •ebecC• • . Madeleine m.ob.).This bird, presumablypresent since •uHer Berthie•ill% lastfall, was feeding in a smallstream empty- "• M•tr•al• eVi•o ville Ga•nea•• • •She•moke inginto a frozenmarsh. For the6th consecu- tivewinter, a Wilson'sSnipe overwintered at L.Champlain •e'du'Fe•re Val d'Or, Abitibi (C. Siano).A Blacksheaded Gull at Fatima,Magdalen Is. 19 Febwas a goodfind for the season (DGG). An ad.Less- Pierre Bannon YvesAubry er Black-backed Gull seen at different loca- tionsalong ]•viere desMille-lies 19 Dec (E 1517Leprohon CanadianWildlife Service Ronsseuet al.), 16Jan(GL, E. Presseau),and 19 Feb (P Franche,A. Gosselin)had most P.OBox 10100 Montreal,Ou•bec H4E 1P1 likely overwinteredlocally. The only large ([email protected]) Sainte-Foy,Quebec G1V 4H5 concentration of Dovekies was counted at PercG,where 4000 were noted l Jan (AC, ([email protected]) YC). A Black Guillemot was found dead at theairport near LG-3 hydro-dam, James Bay Samuel Denault 5 Feb (ERfide JR). Thisbird mostprobably 75 Beauchemin Normand David originatedfrom the small populationthat overwintersin HudsonBay. Saint-Basile-le-Grand,QuebecJ3N 1J6 347Donegani An EasternScreech-Owrs nest already containedan egg23 Feb,most probably a ([email protected]) Pointe-Claire,Ou•bec H9R $M4 record-earlydate for theRegion (G. Burrile). A total of over 25 Northern Hawk Owls re- ([email protected]) ported sincelast fall representeda high

Table1. RecentGreat Gray Owl irruptions inQuebec speciesnot usually known for theirirruptive er-than-normalwinter except for behaviorin theprovince. WinterSeason GreatGray Owls Counted osttheof denselyQuebec populated experiencedregions acold- of 1978-1979 ca.60 the south,where the temperaturewas nor- LOONSTHROUGH OWLS 1983-1984 350 mal and precipitationlevels were generally SingleCommon Loons at Perc•(AC, YC) and 1987-1988 26 20% lower than normal. It was a season Forillon N.E (M. COte,MC. Rancourt),both 1991-1992 ca.60 highlightedby spectacularirruptions not on 13 Feb,were either overlooked wintering 1996-1997 60+ onlyof northernowls but alsoof Red-bellied birdsor veryearly migrants. Late Turkey Vul- 2000-2001 103 Woodpeckerand Townsend'sSolitaire, turesinvolved singles at La Martre,Gasp•sie 2004-2005 ca.600

NORTH AMERICAN BIRD one of undeterminedsex (fide PB). Some Feb (J. Wiseman,D. Cahill).A late Black- birdsdispersed far e. andn., asshown by 11 throatedBlue Warbler delighted many at the in theGasp• Peninsula (fide PP) and one in Montr6al Botanical Gardens 30 Nov-20 Dec Abitibi(fide LI). Largenumbers were also re- (S. Guimond,m.ob.). A lateYellow-rumped portedin theadjacent areas of theMaritimes Warblerat Beaconsfield21 Jan wasworthy andin n. NewEngland. The reasons for this of mention (E Tarassof).The Yellow-throat- widespreadirruption remain unclear at this ed Warblerpreviously reported at Asbestos moment.Normally, only 4-5 birdsvisit the was last seen 5 Dec (G. Lacroix). The Yel- Regionin anentire calendar year. The Region low-breastedChat at Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive is nowoverdue for a firstnesting record. surviveduntil at least5 Dec,a newRegional The Ash-throatedFlycatcher at Bois-de- record-latedate (G. Desgagnes). LiesseNature Park, Montreal last fall contin- At least 6 Eastern Towhees were known to uedthrough 3 Dec(m.ob.). Tufted Tinnice havewintered throughout the Region(fide continuedto be seen in impressivenumbers, PB).A ChippingSparrow overwintered at most of them e. of the RichelieuR., with 5 Saint-Eusebe, Lower St. Lawrence (M. reachingthe Quebec City area (fide JL). At Beaulieu).A late Field Sparrowstopped at least20 CarolinaWrens were located mostly Longueuil19 Dec(D. Granger,JE Noulin), in s.Quebec, including pairs at Baled'Urf•e and a late SavannahSparrow was most un- and Philipsburg(fide PB). A WinterWren usualat Dorion2 Jan (M. Gabaueret al.). A successfullywintered at theMontreal Botan- HarrisgSparrow overwintered at Pointe-du- ical Gardens(S. Robert,E. Samson),while Lac, a rare occurrencefor the Region(K ThisGreat Gray Owl at Hudson, Quebec 24February 2005 anothershowed up at Beaconsfield8 Jan (S. Landry,m.ob., ph.). A White-crownedSpar- wasvery effective atkeeping traffic under 40 km/hr. Mathieu). rowat LaSarre19 Dec represented a first win- Unfortunately,intheir pursuit ofprey along cleared road- ter recordfor Abitibi(J. Aube), while singles sides,many Grea• Grays are struck and killed by vehides. In additionto the 3 birdsreported last fall, 7 more Townsend'sSolitaires were discov- overwinteredat Saint-Hubert(R. Belhumeur) eredduring the winter,resulting in the andSainte-Foy (E Otis).A Gray-crowned count(although still far belowthe record largestirruption ever for theRegion. Single Rosy-Finch,the 3rd for the Region, was well 200of winter2000-2001;fide SB). With ap- birdsappeared at Amqui10 Dec(R. Lang), describedat Guyenne,Abitibi 23-25 Dec (M. proximately600 Great Gray Owls recorded Sept-lies2 Jan through at least12 Feb(N. & B.Rivest, fide S. Gagnon). Departing from bythe end of Feb(fide SB, PB), the winters Chouinard,B. Poulin),Price 4 Jan(D. Ruest, theexpected pattern, Common Redpolls ir- invasionrepresented the largest ruptedfor a 2ndconsecutive year. everrecorded in theRegion (see .• Table 1). In contrastto the dis- Addenda: A Wilson's Storm-Pe- tribution of birds observed in trd at Bergeronnes2 Nov 2004 the 1983-1984 invasion, now •' was record late for the North thenext highest on record,few Shore(YA). An AmericanWhite birds crossed the St. Lawrence Pelicanwas killed by a hunterin R., at leastin the Momr•al area, a flockof 6 birdss. of LG-3 hy- suggestingthat voles were plen- dro-dam,James Bay in late May tiful n. of the river. Few birds 2004(ph. El', fide JR). A Turkey showedany signsof moving Vulturewas photographedat back n. in Mar. A least5 of these Wemindji, JamesBay 24 Jul rare visitorsreached the Gasp• 2004(fide JR). Three imm. King Peninsulain Mar (fidePP). An Eiders(2 male,one female) were astoundingconcentration of killed by huntersin Oct 2004 GreatGrays occurred on Ile aux nearMontreal, more precisely 2 Coudres, Charlevoix,a small ,."" on Lacdes Deux-Montagnes and area (ca. 60 kin2), where 67 This5ora present inthe Philipsburg sanctuary, nearthe Vermont border, 1-21 (here 2) one at Chateauguay(fide P birds were counted5 Feb, with February2005was without doubt the most unexpected birdof the season inQuebec, Brousseau).The song of anAca- at least51 still remainingthere presumablyabird present since autumn here. Its feeding territory was limited toa dianFlycatcher was taped at an smallstream emptying into a frozen marsh. Photograph by•arce16authier. 20 Mar (JEOuellet, M. Lafieur). automaticrecording station in Short-earedOwls were represented by 4 at GG), Alma8 Jan-28Feb+ (M. Bourgeois,G. La Mauricie N.P. 18 Jun 2004 (fide G. Saint-Basilefor most of thewinter (fide PB), Scullionet al.,ph.), Saint-Simon from early Falardeau). 3 at Samt-Alexandre18 Dec (E Saint-Denis Janthrough at least17 Feb(fide E Bourret, et al.), and3 at Carignan11 Jan+ (PB). At m.ob.,ph.), Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive26 Jan Contributors(subregional editors in bold- least 15 Boreal Owls were noted s. of the (J.Bernier), and Beauport 12-28 Feb+(JM. face):E Bannon(MonU:eal), S. Belleau,A. spedes'breeding range (fide PB). Giroux,m.ob., ph.). A VariedThrush bright- Couture, Y. Cyr, R. Fortin (Lower-St. enedLaval 9 Jan-17Mar (D. Bellemare,GL, Lawrence),DG. Gaudet(Magdalen Is.), G. KINGFISHERTHROUGH FffiCHE5 m.ob.,ph.). Single Gray Catbirds lingered at Gendron,B. Hamel(Brome-Missisquoi), L. Singleoverwintering Belted Kingfishers were Boucherville13-19 Dec (A. Messier,m.ob.) Irabeau(Abitibi), G. Lachaine,J. Lachance locatedat Magogand Rock Forest 4 Feb(B. and at Sainte-Catherine18 Dec (P Mitchell (QuebecCity), E. Pachano,E Poulin Turgeon)and Stoke 8 Feb(J. Turgeon). The et al.). A BrownThrasher successfully win- (Gasp•sie),J. Rodrigue,C. Roy (Bois- seasong final count of Red-bellied Wood- teredat Cantley(MC. Vanier). Francs), R. Saint-Laurent (Lower-St. peckerin the Regionwas an amazing39 CedarWaxwings turned up in unusual Lawrence),G. Savard(Saguenay-Lac-Saint- birds,including 27 males,11 females,and numbersthis winter, e.g., 1800 at Perc613 Jean),D. Toussaint(Outaouais). •,

VOLUME 59 (2005) NUMBER 2 235