next message in archive
no next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects
The Thanksgiving weekend on Brier Island was outstanding for fallouts of migrants. Some extracts from my notes will give the flavour. Saturday October 11. "On the road before dawn, in darkness, Lighthouse Road from Camp Road to the Picnic Ground was alive with birds hopping out from and into the shrubbery - mainly thrushes and White-throated Sparrows. In the headlights we identified 1 Veery, 1 Hermit Thrush, 10+ Swainson's Thrushes, 20+ White-throats, 1 imm. White-crowned Sparrow, 3+ Lincoln's Sparrows, a few Song and Savannah (!) Sparrows and about 10 Juncos. As the light increased, the birds just disappeared like magic into the alders and were not seen again." During the day we had lots of Sharp-shins, Merlins and Kestrels, 5+ Peregrines, a Long-eared Owl, a Phoebe, an adult Orange-crowned Warbler and two overflying Rusty Blackbirds. Sunday October 12. "An extraordinary day - the biggest fallout of birds I have ever seen here. In the darkness, ca. 0645- 0715, Lighthouse Road was alive with hundreds of Whitethroats, mixed with Hermit Thrushes, a few Swamp Sparrows, several Lincoln's Sparrows, and numerous White-crowns. At dawn, the sky was full of birds all over the island, and this continued at Northern Point for close to three hours - tens of thousands of Pines Siskins mixed with Goldfinches, hundreds of Robins and Cedar Waxwings, and many thousands of Myrtle Warblers mixed with Palms. Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets were everywhere and small groups of Chipping Sparrows passed by along with dozens of Red-breasted Nuthatches. A female Cardinal, calling loudly popped out of the alders. The sky remained full of birds and their sounds, esp. Pine Siskins, for at least three hours. Most birds were moving from S to N or NE apparently after overshooting the land, except for the Siskins, which appeared to be coming in from the NE. White-throats were everywhere all day, and a modest hawk flight developed, involving about 100 Turkey Vultures, 4 Red-tails, 170 Broad- wings, 5 Peregrines, and a lot of small hawks of three species." Other species that day included Long-eared, Saw-Whet and Great Horned Owls, a female Red-bellied Woodpecker, a Phoebe, an adult Orange-crowned Warbler, another Cardinal, and some Lapland Longspurs. Monday October 13. A somewhat quieter day, although with the same flavour, and with birds at some locations along the roads well before dawn, indicating another arrival of sparrows. Through this period, the winds were mainly from the NW or NNW and the skies clear. There was really nothing to stop the birds on the island - but stop they did, presumably finding themselves nearby at dawn. And of course it's clear from other postings on NatureNS that sparrows arrived on the mainland in great numbers at least on Sunday the 12th. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Eric L. Mills 286 Kingsburg Road RR#1, Rose Bay, Nova Scotia B0J 2X0, CANADA E.Mills@Dal.Ca ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
next message in archive
no next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects