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This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --Boundary_(ID_UVGVWmn+T2p2jY1NilbZxg) Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable I enjoyed my first spring walk of the year at Jerry Lawrence Provincial = Park this morning. Although it was windy the birds were enthusiastic. = It's still about a week or two early for the warblers and vireos to = arrive and none were heard by me this morning. Beside the entrance road while walking in I heard Hermit Thrush and = Brown Creeper singing in the woods beside me. My first visual when I = arrived at Round Lake was a Double-crested Cormorant sitting on the only = rock in the lake. Overhead the lake a Broad-winged Hawk circled for a = time and also a pair of Osprey. Off the St Margaret's Bay Trail which = forms a portion of the northern boundary of the park Golden-crowned = Kinglets were singing and at the marsh itself there were several Swamp = Sparrows in full voice. Through out the park American Robins, Dark-eyed = Juncos, Black-capped Chickadeees, Bluejays and Song Sparrows were at it = too! In the next week or two with the arrival of the warblers and = vireos the dawn chorus will be well worth the early morning rise. The picnic area has been circled by about 20 brand new bird boxes. They = are sized for a Hairy Woodpecker with an entrance cavity suited to a = much smaller bird. There is no drainage at the bottom or ventilation at = the top that I can see so young birds could drown in the nest or roast = in the midday sun. I don't know which colonial bird this group of nest = boxes was built for or if they were designed for any particular species = at all. I hope some knowledgeable birders were consulted before all = this money was invested. Fortunately they are well constructed and can = be easily retrofitted without being removed from their 10 foot high = posts. A false bottom will have to be added if Tree Swallows or = Chickadees are to be encouraged to use them since the climb up from the = bottom of the box may be more than the young birds could manage without = ramping or mesh along the inside of the box. The enthusiasm of the = builders and erectors of these nest boxes is commendable and is in = itself a recognition of the special nature of the park and all the birds = that nest here. =20 Hans _________________________________ Hans Toom Portuguese Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada Website: http://hanstoom.com=20 _________________________________= --Boundary_(ID_UVGVWmn+T2p2jY1NilbZxg) Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16825" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I enjoyed my first spring walk of the year at Jerry Lawrence Provincial Park this morning. Although it was windy the birds were enthusiastic. It's still about a week or two early for the warblers and vireos to arrive and none were heard by me this morning.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Beside the entrance road while walking in I heard <STRONG>Hermit Thrush</STRONG> and <STRONG>Brown Creeper</STRONG> singing in the woods beside me. My first visual when I arrived at Round Lake was a <STRONG>Double-crested Cormorant</STRONG> sitting on the only rock in the lake. Overhead the lake a <STRONG>Broad-winged Hawk</STRONG> circled for a time and also a pair of <STRONG>Osprey</STRONG>. Off the St Margaret's Bay Trail which forms a portion of the northern boundary of the park <STRONG>Golden-crowned Kinglets</STRONG> were singing and at the marsh itself there were several <STRONG>Swamp Sparrows</STRONG> in full voice. Through out the park <STRONG>American Robins</STRONG>, <STRONG>Dark-eyed Juncos, Black-capped Chickadeees, Bluejays</STRONG> and <STRONG>Song Sparrows</STRONG> were at it too! In the next week or two with the arrival of the warblers and vireos the dawn chorus will be well worth the early morning rise.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The picnic area has been circled by about 20 brand new bird boxes. They are sized for a Hairy Woodpecker with an entrance cavity suited to a much smaller bird. There is no drainage at the bottom or ventilation at the top that I can see so young birds could drown in the nest or roast in the midday sun. I don't know which colonial bird this group of nest boxes was built for or if they were designed for any particular species at all. I hope some knowledgeable birders were consulted before all this money was invested. Fortunately they are well constructed and can be easily retrofitted without being removed from their 10 foot high posts. A false bottom will have to be added if Tree Swallows or Chickadees are to be encouraged to use them since the climb up from the bottom of the box may be more than the young birds could manage without ramping or mesh along the inside of the box. The enthusiasm of the builders and erectors of these nest boxes is commendable and is in itself a recognition of the special nature of the park and all the birds that nest here. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hans</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>_________________________________<BR>Hans Toom<BR>Portuguese Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada<BR>Website: <A href="http://hanstoom.com">http://hanstoom.com</A> <BR>_________________________________</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML> --Boundary_(ID_UVGVWmn+T2p2jY1NilbZxg)--
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