Bobolink Update

So I've been trying for months now to find out if a wildlife survey has been conducted in the area where the Bobolinks have been sighted in the spring. Councillor Elgar has repeatedly emailed Conservation Halton and has received no reply. I'm shocked they can just ignore that request??? Anyway, that is still a dead end.

Some good/encouraging news though! I emailed Andrew Salmons, Ward 1 Candidate for Milton as the fields in question are in Milton, Ward 1. He was VERY helpful. He informed me of the following:

"Conservation Halton has the Bobolinks listed as "threatened" and can be sighting can be reported at http://www.conservationhalton.on.ca/ShowCategory.cfm?subCatID=1328"

So I have submitted a formal sighting report. Why the Halton Conservation contact did not suggest that, I have no idea.


Andrew also stated: "Halton Region has indicated some land south of Britannia to be developed between 2021 and 2031.

Map: http://www.halton.ca/common/pages/UserFile.aspx?fileId=17882

I am not in favour of mindless development over our farm land and environmentally sensitive land. I read that the Bobolinks prefers to nest in grassy fields. This means keeping the agriculture lands in the Britannia to Lower Base Line area safe from development. Halton Region has identified these lands as prime agriculture lands and cannot be developed.

Map: http://www.halton.ca/common/pages/UserFile.aspx?fileId=17870"

The Boyne Survey edges on to Britannia and would recommend sending your public input to the Milton Planning department whenever a development application comes up for approval.

http://www.milton.ca/townhall/projects/boynesurvey.htm

The Town of Milton has within the Secondary Plan for Boyne Survey a map of the Natural Heritage and Greenlands, page 52.

http://www.milton.ca/plandev/BoyneSurvey/June2010BoyneSurveySecPlanwithMaps.pdf



I found all this information to be VERY helpful. I wish Andrew the very best of luck in his campaign. I wish I was in his Ward (I'm just a little south of the dividing line). I encourage those in Ward 1 to vote for a candidate who takes immediate action and does his research. I was happy to have such a prompt and detailed response. Thank you Andrew!!!!!!!!!

Bird list for Sat. Aug. 21, 2010

We had a very exciting bird count for Saturday, including some birds we have not seen/heard in quite awhile.

American Crow -2
Blue Jay -5
Mourning Dove -5
Am. Gold Finch -5
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 2M + 1F
Downy WP - F+M
Hairy WP - F+M
European Starling- 4
Baltimore Oriole -1M+ 2 juv/fem
House Finch- 1M feeding 2 juv
Grackle - 7
Brown headed Cowbird- fem/juv
Red-winged Blackbird - 10+ juv male, 15 + adult males
American Robin- 7 in the backyard- eating berries from the Virgina Creeper (yay! always exciting seeing the birds eat from plants we put in just for them)
Northern Flicker (heard)
Black-capped Chickadee
House Wren
Cedar Waxwing
Indigo Bunting- M
Northern Cardinal- F+M+Juv
Great-crested Flycatcher
Catbird- Juv- on the back deck and then in blackberry bushes
Belted Kingfisher (heard)
Chipping Sparrow- at least one adult feeding 2 fledglings (Yay! That means there were other successful babies and not just the Cowbird baby).
House Sparrow- 1 M 1F
Killdeer (heard)

The big debate for the day was the sighting of two birds in the brush pile- were they Fox Sparrows or Hermit Thrush?? We were unable to come to a decision. They were moving in and out of the brush pile quite quickly. We had a few good looks, but we just aren't sure. We did not get a picture of it (boo!) so we can't even post for confirmation. Most of the bird books show breeding plummage and it's late in the year for that. If anyone has any definitive tell-tale signs they can share, please do. The Hermit Thrush would be a new life-lister for us!

Cape May Warbler- NEW TO LIFE LIST

Tonight we went to visit my parents and were looking out their front window. Lo and behold, a bird that looked somewhat like a Gold Finch upon first glance, but when it turned we could see a very pointed beak (unlike the Gold Finch). We observed, observed and observed, which wasn't easy without our regular binoculars or camera (note to self- ALWAYS bring your camera!). We took some pics, but they were quite blurry since we were using my mom's camera. I posted the pics to whatbird.com for ID help and had two confirmations that it's the Cape May Warbler. This is a new addition is our life list- the first in over a month! Very exciting. It turns out there were actually two flying in the trees and visiting the bird bath. Yay!

Sibley's Guide says the Cape May Warbler is "uncommon and irregular..." with a "pointed, clightly decurved bill..."

My mom had commented earlier today that she was hearing a new song in the yard today and she was right!!!

Here's our terrible pics (my apologies for the poor quality!)

Indigo Bunting

We've had a male Indigo Bunting frequenting the yard in the last week or so. We usually only see them in the yard in May, so this has been a nice treat. We do see them in Glenorchy Conservation area throughout the summer.

It seems that the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks have moved on for the season. At our last bird count, we did not see any at all. A few days later we saw a single male and female and that's been it in the last week or so.

The feeders have been busy with Baltimore Orioles - we had five first year and/or females at once! That's definitely a record for this year. We haven't seen the adult male in awhile. They will be moving along soon too.

The hummingbird feeders have been quite busy as well these last few days. It won't be much longer that we are seeing those birds as well. Things will probably be quiet in the next few weeks and then we'll see our fall/winter birds return.

Updates from the yard

It's been so hot! Everyone has been stopping in for a drink ....



One of the many young Robins that were hanging out on the front garden and on the driveway:

Group shot of young Robins:

Our poor little Chipping Sparrow spending all it's time and energy feeding a Cowbird that it thinks is it's baby. We did not see any young Chipping Sparrows :(

A young Cardinal has been in the yard:


We discovered one of our regular squirrels in blind in one eye. We just thought he was a bit cheeky and not afraid of us. I was cleaning the bird bath and he didn't run away at all. I was able to get quite close to him and I realized his one eye is clouded and he didn't move/flinch when I waved my hand near him.

So Dave decided to see how close he could get to our newly nicknamed "One-eyed Jack". Armed with some peanuts, Dave was able to hand feed Jack.


We've had enormous flocks of blackbirds in and around the yard and the nearby trees. The Grackles love the new water feature we put in and are often drinking at it. It's been so hot and humid out!







A Downy was making lots of noise while drumming on the nesting box.


A young Robin in the yard:


I bought Dave this feeder for his birthday. We set it up and it's now frequented by Gold Finch. I think this is a quieter spot for them while all the blackbirds are taking over the front yard. This past weekend we had our highest number of Gold Finches in a long time- over 6! We've only seen a single pair throughout the summer. It's nice to have them back!

BSC Holds Ontario-Wide Chimney Swift "Blitz"

From BSC:

As the Chimney Swift’s breeding season comes to an end, families and unmated individuals are gathering in large communal roosts before they migrate en masse to the Amazon Basin for the winter. BSC is encouraging Ontario residents to help look for roosting Chimney Swifts on the weekend of August 13-15. Volunteers will spend an evening watching a local chimney or similar manmade structure for signs of swifts. The goals are to increase our knowledge of Chimney Swift activity in the province, recruit interested participants/communities into our more formal Ontario SwiftWatch monitoring program, and raise awareness of the plight of the Chimney Swift, a federally Threatened species whose population has declined in Canada by 96% over the last 40 years.

You can help researchers identify critical Chimney Swift habitats by choosing a single night between August 13-15, and watching a chimney where swifts may roost. Start your monitoring period 20 minutes before sunset, and continue until you see the last bird entering the chimney. Complete the Chimney Swift Record Form and email your results to evanstam@birdscanada.org. For information concerning participation in Ontario SwiftWatch, email Kathy Jones, Ontario Programs Volunteer Coordinator, volunteer@birdscanada.org.

Experts worried about Ontario birds migrating to Gulf oil spill

Published On Mon Aug 02 2010
HO-DAVID DRINKWATER/CANADIAN PRESS
Maria Babbage The Canadian Press



A beloved Ontario bird that bounced back from endangered status may be flying to its demise when it heads south this fall — straight into the path of the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

For centuries the American white pelican has flocked to Ontario’s northwestern shores to breed, seeking refuge in colonies where hundreds or even thousands of birds may gather to lay their eggs.

But experts are worried that many of the awe-inspiring birds — whose wingspans can reach 2 ½ metres — may never make the trip north again.

“It’s a huge concern,” said Matthew Reudink, a post-doctorate fellow at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., who has studied the birds for years.

“We’re very concerned about pelicans as well as lots of other species at well.”

Once considered at risk of extinction in Ontario, the pelicans’ status was improved to “threatened” this year when scientists found new and smaller colonies sprouting up in and around Lake Superior.

“Those new colonies have created a more hopeful scenario for pelicans and that resulted in their downlisting,” said Joe Nocera, a scientist with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

“But they’re at ‘threatened’ — it still doesn’t mean they’re out of the woods yet.”

At last count, about 12,600 mature pelicans spend their summers in Ontario, with the largest colonies in Lake of the Woods and Lake Nipigon, Nocera said.

The birds are a major attraction for tourists, who come from as far away as Great Britain to see them, said Shawn Sas, who runs the HooknBullet Lake Tours in Kenora, Ont., about two hours away from Winnipeg.

‘”Twenty-five, 30 years ago, you’d never see pelicans up this far,” he said.

“They’re beautiful.”

But there are many dangers that await them in the Gulf’s oil-slicked waters.

The pelicans could starve if they can’t find enough to eat in the shallow coastal waters, Nocera said. Oil on their plumage reduces their ability to capture fish and regulate their temperature, causing them to die of hypothermia in the middle of the ocean’s warm waters.

Even if they find enough food to survive and manage to avoid the oil, they could eat fish that were affected by the spill and become contaminated themselves, he said.

If their numbers drop significantly, the birds will likely retreat to their colonies in the United States and abandon their breeding grounds further north in Ontario, said Reudink. And that will likely impact the rest of the food chain.

But there’s not much that can be done to stop them from going to the Gulf.

“The problem there is that it’s an extremely difficult thing to manage,” Nocera said. “You would have to actively discourage pelicans from going to their natural wintering grounds, and I don’t know how that could ever be accomplished.”

The pelicans won’t be making the trip alone. About 118 species of migratory birds in Canada fly to the Gulf region for the winter, including the piping plover — an endangered species, said Garry Donaldson, a biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service.

“We’re not quite sure exactly what the impact is yet,” he said.

“We’re definitely concerned, but because the oil isn’t completely covering the entire Gulf — and we don’t know how the birds will react once they get there — we’re not hitting the panic button just yet.”

Some birds may avoid the ecological disaster zone entirely because their migratory paths are so large, he said. They may also abandon the area if they find scarce food supplies.

The U.S. has also come up with a creative solution to lure birds away from the coastline, Donaldson said.

“They’re paying farmers to flood fields and create feeding areas where the birds may go, as opposed to the coast,” he said.

Canadian and American wildlife officials have been working together under a nearly century-old treaty to protect migratory birds, he added.

The Gulf’s coastal waters are a major migratory pathway, which means the impact of the oil spill may be felt in ecosystems thousands of kilometres away, said Reudink.

“Obviously, I have no idea what’s going to happen, but the possibilities are incredibly scary,” he said.

Scientists aren’t the only ones concerned about the impact the spill may have on Canada’s migratory birds. Aboriginal groups who have for centuries hunted ducks, geese and other waterfowl to feed their families are urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama to get involved.

First Nations leaders are “very concerned and frightened” about the possible environmental and health impacts of the oil disaster, which is affecting communities thousands of miles away, said Grand Chief Stan Louttit of the Mushkegowuk Council in Moose Factory, Ont.

“Will there be fewer geese this year because of the oil spill in the Gulf? Will it still be safe for my family and I to eat what we catch?” he wrote in a July 27 letter to Obama and Harper.

“After seeing images of oil-soaked birds and fish in newspapers and on the television, these are the kinds of questions our people are asking, with dread in our hearts.”