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Ken McKenna
Box 218 Stellarton NS
B0K 1S0
Hi all and especially Pat and James
I did not run an official owl route Good Friday night ( April 10) as I =
had a nasty head cold and did not want to inflict my bugs on my owling =
partners. We will wait for later to run the 3 routes we do in the Pictou =
Co. area.=20
However, the evening seemed to be sizing up better than the forecasts =
predicted and I could not pass up such a clear, quiet night. I decided =
to fill in some Atlas squares with Woodcock observations and any owls =
heard would be a bonus. My route took me from Garden of Eden, Eden Lake, =
East River St. Mary's, Aspen, Glenelg, Smithfield, Lower Caledonia to =
Caledonia. This then met up with one of our owl monitoring routes but in =
the opposite direction (Sunny Brae- Caledonia).=20
Eden Lake was frozen over, but from the Kerrowgare Rd., I could see the =
BALD EAGLE sitting on a nest on a tree in the island in the lake. I went =
up as far as I could get on the Kerrowgare Rd. as the road was blocked =
with snow. ( Guess Steve Vine's owl route is blocked for a bit yet). At =
this location I waited a few minutes at the edges of several blueberry =
fields till dusk. A few minutes after 20:00, I heard an AMERICAN =
WOODCOCK calling. As I drove around the North end of the Lake, I entered =
Garden of Eden square and stops there yielded Canada Geese, my first =
five WILSON'S SNIPE for the spring and a couple more American Woodcock. =
On Highway 347, a stop opposite Eden L. gave me 4 more AMERICAN WOODCOCK =
in a Christmas tree plantation. A couple of WOOD FROGS were "quacking" =
softly and by no means a chorus and I suspect they would fall silent as =
the temperature dropped overnight. Before leaving the Eden L. square, I =
had another woodcock in Rocky Mountain.
A fruitless hour ( 20:40-21:40) was spent in the East River St. Mary's =
square. Did not hear birds or amphibians- only multitudes of jets.=20
Aspen square was much more productive ( the full moon had come up?). In =
this square I heard a couple of groups of Canada Geese near lakes, 8 =
AMERICAN WOODCOCK, 4 BARRED OWLS and a few howling COYOTES .=20
The Smithfield square had a pair of calling GREAT HORNED OWLS and =
another pack of vocal COYOTES. I added 2 more American Woodcock in the =
Lower Caledonia square and one more in the Caledonia square. By now it =
was near 01:00 and time to head straight home as I had surveyed along =
this home route for Woodcock on previous occasions.=20
As Pat and James indicated, it was a lovely night to be out with a nice =
clear sky and little wind. My technique was mostly geared to calling =
small owls either by tape or my mimic attempts and I made quite a few =
stops at cut-over areas - there are a lot of the latter in rural Pictou =
-Guysborough counties. Alas not one small owl was heard on the route. =
All larger owls were calling on their own. The temperature earlier in =
the day had been 12C but by mid-way in the trip it had fallen to 0C. =
There were a number of flying moths.
A check of the Maritime Breeding Bird Atlas maps at
http://www.mba-aom.ca/jsp/map.jsp?lang=3Den shows many squares in NS =
lacking Woodcock reports. Why not plan a route through some of these =
areas some fine April evening to add some needed data to the atlas =
effort. You might be surprised about how much else you might find!
cheers
ken
Hi there,
Suzanne Borkowski and I ran my Owl Survey Route (Tangier) last =
night (i.e. Good Friday, 10th April). My route runs inland from Tangier =
along the road to Mooseland; this road is the eastern boundary of the =
Tangier Grand Lake Wilderness Area. Since most of the road is paved, we =
can do this route earlier than Suzanne's, which is all on a dirt road.
We were watching the weather and I'm glad that we did not let =
the forecast of showers deter us. Conditions were ideal for listening =
for owls last night - clear skies, no precipitation, temperatures above =
freezing, and almost no wind. However, in seven years of doing this =
route we had the second-lowest owl count - only five. We heard three =
Northern Saw-whets, one Barred, and one Great Horned Owl. In the past =
we have had a low of four owls and a high of eleven, with an average of =
7. We usually find all three of the regular species. =20
A few of the salt marshes and barachois ponds were still partly =
frozen, though all the salt water coves were open. Every bay and inlet =
along Highway 7 seemed to have one or two Common Loons in full breeding =
plumage, and no wonder. The lakes were 70-90% frozen still, with open =
water only around the edges, and very dark, soft looking ice. The loons =
have arrived on the coast and they are just waiting for the lakes to =
open up so they can move inland and claim them. The only loons we saw =
inland were a pair on River Lake, which was about 70% frozen. So we =
didn't hear any loons calling last night, and I missed their wails and =
yodels which usually accompany our survey.=20
There are a lot of cottages and fishing camps along this road, =
but perhaps since the lakes are still frozen, there was very little =
traffic for a long weekend, when more visitors might have been expected. =
We encountered only 3 other cars in 3.5 hours, so it was very quiet.
There is still some light snow cover in the woods along the =
eastern shore, and in the ditches, but we heard lots of running water =
during our survey. However the Spring Peepers were not yet calling, and =
I heard only one Wood Frog, late in the evening. Canada Geese were =
calling from Scraggy Lake. At the last stop, just before midnight, =
there were three American Woodcock peenting (but not winnowing).
Tangier is about 100 K from Halifax and far beyond any light =
pollution. The view of the night sky was stunning, until the moon rose, =
large and orange, half-way through our survey. For those who wonder =
about a correlation between owls and moon phase, there was a full moon =
(as always close to Easter), and it was after moonrise that we heard the =
owls. However, we usually hear more owls later on in the route, as we =
move further inland, so I'm not sure that the moon was a significant =
factor.
On our way up the Eastern Shore we stopped in Jeddore Oyster =
Ponds at Luc Berrigan's house. Unfortunately no one was home (sorry we =
missed you!) but we were delighted to see two male Red Crossbills in the =
yard, along with the regular feeder birds.
The most surprising observation of the evening came while we =
were eating supper at the restaurant of the Fairwinds Motel in Sheet =
Harbour. We had a table by the window overlooking the water. Knowing =
it was such a great location we both naturally took our binoculars with =
us into the restaurant, and I also had my field guide on the table. (I =
like to let businesses see that naturalists bring $$.$$) This was not =
lost on our waitress, who was happy to tell us that a pair of Canada =
Geese and several mergansers had been on the river earlier in the day. =
Anyway, while we were seated, I spotted a large dark bird fly across the =
harbour towards us, flapping its wings deeply. We had both been hoping =
to see an Osprey and because I was expecting to see one, I was baffled =
by this bird at first, until I finally realized that, despite its flight =
pattern, it was a Turkey Vulture! I've never seen a Vulture in Halifax =
County before. Today there were news reports of an abundance of dead =
seals washing up on the beaches of the Eastern Shore, perhaps accounting =
for the presence of this bird.
It was great to see all the Coltsfoot in bloom along the =
roadsides yesterday in the sunshine, the first I have seen this year.=20
Cheers,
Patricia L. Chalmers
Halifax
----- Original Message -----=20
From: James Hirtle=20
To: Naturens Naturens=20
Sent: Saturday, April 11, 2009 1:49 AM
Subject: [NatureNS] My First Owl Monitoring Route
I did my first owl monitoring route on the evening of 04/10/09. =
Dorothy Poole accompanied me and it was a perfect night for such. I did =
my Lapland/Lacona route and it was not bad. We had six barred owls and =
one great horned owl. I believe this is my lowest count yet on this =
route and the owls were all a lot further away than normal. This is the =
first year ever that I did not get to see an owl on the count. Anyhow, =
it was good to hear the owls. It is also the quietest that I've ever =
run the route. If not for a large amount of air traffic other than the =
owls and frogs and a few dogs nothing else would have been heard. =20
=20
Near the end on two of the stops vehicles with loud exhaust leaks did =
not help. I must say though this was also the least amount of vehicular =
traffic that I've had on the route. Also, of special note, this was the =
first year ever that we did not hear a large number of loons. In fact =
the first year that I've run the route that we did not hear one loon =
even.
=20
James R. Hirtle
East LaHave
-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
-----
Tell the whole story with photos, right from your Messenger window. =
Learn how! =
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Ken McKenna<BR>Box 218 Stellarton NS<BR>B0K 1S0<BR><FONT face=Arial>Hi
all and especially Pat and James</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I did not run an official owl route Good
Friday night ( April 10) as I had a nasty head cold and did
not want to inflict my bugs on my owling partners. We will wait for later to run
the 3 routes we do in the Pictou Co. area. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>However, the evening seemed to be sizing up better than
the forecasts predicted and I could not pass up such a clear, quiet night. I
decided to fill in some Atlas squares with Woodcock observations and any owls
heard would be a bonus. My route took me from Garden of Eden, Eden Lake, East
River St. Mary's, Aspen, Glenelg, Smithfield, Lower Caledonia to Caledonia. This
then met up with one of our owl monitoring routes but in the opposite
direction (Sunny Brae- Caledonia). </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Eden Lake was frozen over, but from the Kerrowgare Rd., I
could see the BALD EAGLE sitting on a nest on a tree in the island in the
lake. I went up as far as I could get on the Kerrowgare Rd. as the road was
blocked with snow. ( Guess Steve Vine's owl route is blocked for a bit yet). At
this location I waited a few minutes at the edges of several blueberry
fields till dusk. A few minutes after 20:00, I heard an AMERICAN WOODCOCK
calling. As I drove around the North end of the Lake, I entered Garden of Eden
square and stops there yielded Canada Geese, my first five WILSON'S SNIPE
for the spring and a couple more American Woodcock. On Highway 347, a stop
opposite Eden L. gave me 4 more AMERICAN WOODCOCK in a Christmas tree
plantation. A couple of WOOD FROGS were "quacking" softly and by no means a
chorus and I suspect they would fall silent as the temperature dropped
overnight. Before leaving the Eden L. square, I had another woodcock in
Rocky Mountain.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>A fruitless hour ( 20:40-21:40) was spent in the
East River St. Mary's square. Did not hear birds or amphibians- only multitudes
of jets. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Aspen square was much more productive ( the full moon had
come up?). In this square I heard a couple of groups of Canada Geese near
lakes, 8 AMERICAN WOODCOCK, 4 BARRED OWLS and a few howling COYOTES .
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>The Smithfield square had a pair of calling GREAT HORNED
OWLS and another pack of vocal COYOTES. I added 2 more American Woodcock
in the Lower Caledonia square and one more in the Caledonia square. By now
it was near 01:00 and time to head straight home as I had surveyed along this
home route for Woodcock on previous occasions. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>As Pat and James indicated, it was a lovely night to be
out with a nice clear sky and little wind. My technique was mostly geared to
calling small owls either by tape or my mimic attempts and I made quite a few
stops at cut-over areas - there are a lot of the latter in rural Pictou
-Guysborough counties. Alas not one small owl was heard on the
route. All larger owls were calling on their own. The temperature earlier
in the day had been 12C but by mid-way in the trip it had fallen to 0C. There
were a number of flying moths.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial> A check of the Maritime Breeding Bird Atlas maps
at</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial> </FONT><FONT face=Arial><A
href="http://www.mba-aom.ca/jsp/map.jsp?lang=en">http://www.mba-aom.ca/jsp/map.jsp?lang=en</A>
shows many squares in NS lacking Woodcock reports. Why not plan a
route through some of these areas some fine April evening to add some needed
data to the atlas effort. You might be surprised about how much else you might
find!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>cheers</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>ken</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial> <FONT face="Courier New">Hi
there,<BR><BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB>Suzanne
Borkowski and I ran my Owl Survey Route (Tangier) last night (i.e. Good Friday,
10th April). My route runs inland from Tangier along the road to
Mooseland; this road is the eastern boundary of the Tangier Grand Lake
Wilderness Area. Since most of the road is paved, we can do this route
earlier than Suzanne's, which is all on a dirt
road.<BR><BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB>We
were watching the weather and I'm glad that we did not let the forecast of
showers deter us. Conditions were ideal for listening for owls last night
- clear skies, no precipitation, temperatures above freezing, and almost no
wind. However, in seven years of doing this route we had the second-lowest
owl count - only five. We heard three Northern Saw-whets, one Barred, and
one Great Horned Owl. In the past we have had a low of four owls and a
high of eleven, with an average of 7. We usually find all three of the
regular species.
<BR><BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB>A few of
the salt marshes and barachois ponds were still partly frozen, though all the
salt water coves were open. Every bay and inlet along Highway 7 seemed to
have one or two Common Loons in full breeding plumage, and no wonder. The lakes
were 70-90% frozen still, with open water only around the edges, and very dark,
soft looking ice. The loons have arrived on the coast and they are just
waiting for the lakes to open up so they can move inland and claim them.
The only loons we saw inland were a pair on River Lake, which was about 70%
frozen. So we didn't hear any loons calling last night, and I missed their
wails and yodels which usually accompany our survey.
<BR><BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB>There are
a lot of cottages and fishing camps along this road, but perhaps since the lakes
are still frozen, there was very little traffic for a long weekend, when more
visitors might have been expected. We encountered only 3 other cars in 3.5
hours, so it was very
quiet.<BR><BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB>There
is still some light snow cover in the woods along the eastern shore, and in the
ditches, but we heard lots of running water during our survey. However the
Spring Peepers were not yet calling, and I heard only one Wood Frog, late in the
evening. Canada Geese were calling from Scraggy Lake. At the last
stop, just before midnight, there were three American Woodcock peenting (but not
winnowing).<BR><BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB>Tangier
is about 100 K from Halifax and far beyond any light pollution. The view
of the night sky was stunning, until the moon rose, large and orange, half-way
through our survey. For those who wonder about a correlation between owls
and moon phase, there was a full moon (as always close to Easter), and it was
after moonrise that we heard the owls. However, we usually hear more owls
later on in the route, as we move further inland, so I'm not sure that the moon
was a significant
factor.<BR><BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB>On
our way up the Eastern Shore we stopped in Jeddore Oyster Ponds at Luc
Berrigan's house. Unfortunately no one was home (sorry we missed you!) but
we were delighted to see two male Red Crossbills in the yard, along with the
regular feeder
birds.<BR><BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB>The
most surprising observation of the evening came while we were eating supper at
the restaurant of the Fairwinds Motel in Sheet Harbour. We had a table by
the window overlooking the water. Knowing it was such a great location we
both naturally took our binoculars with us into the restaurant, and I also had
my field guide on the table. (I like to let businesses see that naturalists
bring $$.$$) This was not lost on our waitress, who was happy to tell us
that a pair of Canada Geese and several mergansers had been on the river earlier
in the day. Anyway, while we were seated, I spotted a large dark bird fly
across the harbour towards us, flapping its wings deeply. We had both been
hoping to see an Osprey and because I was expecting to see one, I was baffled by
this bird at first, until I finally realized that, despite its flight pattern,
it was a Turkey Vulture! I've never seen a Vulture in Halifax County
before. Today there were news reports of an abundance of dead seals washing up
on the beaches of the Eastern Shore, perhaps accounting for the presence of this
bird.<BR><BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB>It
was great to see all the Coltsfoot in bloom along the roadsides yesterday in the
sunshine, the first I have seen this year.
<BR><BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB>Cheers,<BR><BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB>Patricia
L.
Chalmers<BR><X-TAB> </X-TAB>Halifax</FONT><BR><BR><BR><X-TAB></FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=jrhbirder@hotmail.com href="mailto:jrhbirder@hotmail.com">James
Hirtle</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
href="mailto:naturens@chebucto.ns.ca">Naturens Naturens</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, April 11, 2009 1:49
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [NatureNS] My First Owl
Monitoring Route</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>I did my first owl monitoring route on the evening of
04/10/09. Dorothy Poole accompanied me and it was a perfect night for
such. I did my Lapland/Lacona route and it was not bad. We had six
barred owls and one great horned owl. I believe this is my lowest count
yet on this route and the owls were all a lot further away than normal.
This is the first year ever that I did not get to see an owl on the
count. Anyhow, it was good to hear the owls. It is also the
quietest that I've ever run the route. If not for a large amount of air
traffic other than the owls and frogs and a few dogs nothing else would have
been heard. <BR> <BR>Near the end on two of the stops vehicles with
loud exhaust leaks did not help. I must say though this was also the
least amount of vehicular traffic that I've had on the route. Also, of
special note, this was the first year ever that we did not hear a large number
of loons. In fact the first year that I've run the route that we did not
hear one loon even.<BR> <BR>James R. Hirtle<BR>East LaHave<BR><BR>
<HR>
Tell the whole story with photos, right from your Messenger window. <A
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