WEEKLY BIRD REPORT FROM PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY AND THE QUINTE AREA FOR THE WEEK ENDING Thursday, September 03, 2009 The "pink" sounds of BOBOLINKS, choruses of crickets and grasshoppers in roadside ditches, and crisp morning temperatures are a reminder that summer is on the wane and autumn is in the offing. BALTIMORE ORIOLES have departed from the majority of bird feeders across the region, although RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS are still holding their own, with as many as four visiting a nectar feeder along Bradley Crossroad at Lake on the Mountain. Juvenile RED-BELLIED WOODPECKERS have been seen at a peanut feeder in Bloomfield, and NORTHERN FLICKERS have even been noted at many feeding stations this past week, along with a few ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAKS yet. All over though birds are flocking and up to 1500 EUROPEAN STARLINGS have been blanketing a lawn along South Big Island Road just west of Caughey Road. Six COMMON LOONS were on Lake on the Mountain this week, and 20 TURKEY VULTURES were noted drifting south near Consecon on Tuesday. Six GREEN HERONS which probably constitutes a flock, were seen at the Brighton Constructed Wetlands August 30th, and other birds showing up at this popular location that day were 2 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES, LEAST SANDPIPER, OSPREY, MARSH WREN, COMMON MOORHEN and GREEN-WINGED TEAL, among the 16 species of birds recorded by one Napanee birder. An AMERICAN BITTERN was present along the Moira River south of the CN tracks in Belleville on the 2nd. During a 18-km canoe paddle on the Napanee River from Napanee to Strathcona on Sunday, and back again, a plethora of some 30 species got tallied during the four-hour paddle including numerous EASTERN WOOD-PEWEES, EASTERN PHOEBES, CEDAR WAXWINGS, OSPREY, GREEN HERON, GREAT BLUE HERON, PILEATED WOODPECKER, MALLARDS, SPOTTED SANDPIPERS, HOUSE WRENS, and both WARBLING and RED-EYED VIREOS, just to name a few that kept turning up during the paddle. Suddenly it was spring once again. At Prince Edward Point, an observer there on the 31st checked off CAPE MAY, TENNESSEE, BAY-BREASTED, and BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLERS, and AMERICAN REDSTARTS. It was my hope I could delay making this announcement until the end of this year, but circumstances have made it necessary to permanently retire the Quinte Area Bird Report, a service that has been provided to readers in some form or other since 1995. Increasing commitments with my business involving speaking engagements, interpretive hikes and canoe/kayak tours and bus tours are making it increasingly difficult to commit to this weekly task every Thursday. Thank you to everyone for some 14 years of providing this service to readers. The Quinte Area Bird Report will remain in some kind of format on my website at www.nturestuff.net , likely incorporating a few of the more interesting sightings as they come to my attention. Readers are encouraged to continue reporting any significant sightings to me in an effort to keep the Prince Edward County database up to date. Those who follow the the contributions from the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory can follow those reports at the Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory website at www.peptbo.ca/ Thank you again for all your past support. And that's it for this week from Prince Edward County and the Quinte area. Our thanks to Bruce Ripley, Donald McClure, Henri Garand, Garry Kirsch, Myrna Wood, Owen Weir, Pamela Stagg and Margaret Kirk for their contributions to this week's report. Good birding! Terry Sprague Prince Edward County tsprague@kos.net www.naturestuff.net