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face="Courier New" size=2>Lance Laviolette</FONT></SPAN> I have records of Turkey Vultures on Brier Island going back nearly 40 years. There are very few summer (June through mid-August) records from the islands or Digby Neck. In general, there is a pretty good movement in May, few to none in mid-summer, then increasing numbers from late August onward. In the late '80s Turkey Vultures began to winter on Brier, and they do so to the present. Among the returning birds in August and later I have seen dark-headed immatures that appear to be birds of the year. But so far there is no evidence of breeding anywhere in the Digby Neck or islands area. Personally, I think that the late August birds are arriving from Maine or New Brunswick, although I would like to be proved wrong. Where the spring birds are coming from is a puzzle, although they seem to arrive from the NE. Eric On 28 May 2008 at 9:33, Laviolette, Lance (EXP) wrote: > > Jim Wolford wrote: > > >I can add to Dave/Sharon's query about TURKEY VULTURES on Brier > >Island, and perhaps Lance or someone else can embellish or correct this? > >I started birding on Brier Island in 1976, and in those days Wickerson Lent > >was the lightkeeper at Northern Light. He was for a long time of the opinion > >(starting when?) that this species very probably nested on the island. > > The only breeding evidence that I know of for Turkey Vultures on Brier Island is that birds have > been seen during the breeding season. I don't think Brier has the topography for Turkey > Vulturesto nest in a 'natural' setting. That leavesabandoned buildings. They can be surprisingly > secretive for such a large bird. There may be a little used seasonal camp somewherethat might > host a nest ormay havehosted a nest in the past. I don't have a record of an immature bird > having been seen on Brier but perhaps Eric Mills, Richard Stern or someone else as seen a > young bird there. > > As you pointed out, they've been seen around the island for a long time. Tufts' Birds of Nova > Scotia indicates that adults have been seen regularly around Brier Island since 1974 but there are > records in the province going back as far as the end of the nineteenth century! > > All the best, > > Lance > =========================== > Lance Laviolette > Glen Robertson, Ontario > lance.laviolette@lmco.com > =========================== >
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