As an update the yellow-throated warbler has survived the last storm and is healthy and well. It is visiting the residence of Bruce and Pam Ostli at 170 Queen Street in Chester, NS, Lunenburg County on a regular basis as is the female red-bellied woodpecker. This was as of February 12 as last report.
James R. Hirtle
LaHave
Around 5 P.M., as I was driving down Forest Street in Yarmouth, approaching
Main Street, I saw a crow heading across in a very determined fashion. Up
flew a small falcon from Murray Manor and fluttered off, successfully
evading the bigger bird.
I was driving, so couldn't observe too much, but saw no sign of rufous on
the bird. Merlin?
Dear All,
   As I expect many have noticed, I don't go out of my way to look for
birds. I am content with those I encounter in the natural course of events.
   The Bald Headed eagle is a beautiful creature but so are the rest.
The balance of Nature works, if allowed to function, but putting dead
poultry out the feed Eagles and create a tourist attraction is
equivalent to tampering with that balance. This was likely desirable
when eagles were declining but that is history.
   At one point Bald Eagles were getting sparse. And that was a great
lesson. Drawing on memory; they were saved from perhaps dangerously low
numbers by a practice which is now outlawed; collection of birds egg's.
From field observations there were indications that egg shells were
unusually fragile and broken before full development of the bird.
Fortunately, the London Natural History Museum had a large collection of
bird's eggs in which the same species was represented over a period of
many years. Measurements of shell thickness pointed the finger at DDT
because shell thickness (not sure if all birds or only Eagles)
decreased abruptly after introduction of DDT. One lesson, for those who
perhaps have not noticed, is that specimens of plant or animal material
collected over time may, when problems arise, act as a substitute for a
time machine.
   A second lesson is more of a question. Is it not counterproductive
to give every advantage to a large flying appetite on the one hand while
striving for diversity on the other ?
Dave Webster, Kentville
ANNUAL CYRIL K. COLDWELL EAGLES/RAPTORS COUNT OF EASTERN KING’s COUNTY
Yesterday a bunch of us local naturalists, biologists, and other folks got very lucky with good viewing conditions just before the overnight dump of new snow. We all spread out to designated areas for a single hour, from 10 to 11 a.m., then drove around and/or walked and tabulated all eagles and other raptors plus other wildlife. The one-hour framework is to minimize double-counting of individual eagles etc.
The total area covered is pretty big, much like for the Wolfville Christmas Bird Count: it stretches from Kentville to Avonport and from North Mountain south to Black River Lake.
We had 38 observers in 19 field parties.
I will write this up in more detail later, but for now here are the totals seen for Sunday, Feb. 7/21:
512 BALD EAGLES — 282 adults (57%), 211 immatures (43%), 19 of unknown age
68 RED-TAILED HAWKS — one was in an unusual dark plumage called ‘abieticola’
1 ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK in dark phase
(also one unidentified flying buteo hawk was seen)
4 NORTHERN HARRIERS (alias ‘marsh hawks')
1 SHARP-SHINNED HAWK
1 PEREGRINE FALCON
4 SHORT-EARED OWLS
2 GREAT HORNED OWLS (heard hooting that evening)
Other noted wildlife included 1 coyote, 1 red-throated loon, 500 Canada geese, 4 common mergansers, 2 common goldeneyes, 2 black scoters, 1 Iceland gull, 6 ravens, 99 horned larks, 1 robin, 7 song sparrows.
For the bald eagles, see the attached summary of all of our counts through the years. Most of the eagles totals range from 2-300 up to almost 600, with no clear trend in recent years.
Cheers from Jim in Wolfville
We have had a pair chez nous on Wyman Road for at least a couple of days,
hammering away at the ground. Hope the coming snow doesn't make life too
difficult for them.
I tried to send this naturens back on Feb. 1, but it failed because it was too large in content (photo) — I can send the photo to anyone who wants to see it. Cheers from Jim in Wolfville, and Gina also lives in Wolfville.
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Jim Wolford <jimwolford(a)eastlink.ca>
> Subject: Fwd: Black Squirrel
> Date: February 1, 2021 at 3:12:56 PM AST
> To: naturens <naturens(a)chebucto.ns.ca>
> Cc: Gina Newcombe <gina(a)cheshire-grin.ca>
>
> Gina, Thanks for report. I’d like to see other photos of the black squirrel if you have some, to be sure it’s a black morph of the gray squirrel, and not a black red squirrel, which would be much rarer. The gray squirrels seem to be co-existing all right with the red squirrels here, but we have no data on that as far as I know.
>
> What some people have heard regarding gray vs. red squirrels comes from Europe, where the introduced gray squirrel carries a virus that is lethal to the European red squirrel, which is a close cousin to the gray squirrel.
>
> Cheers from Jim in Wolfville.
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: Gina Newcombe <gina(a)cheshire-grin.ca>
>> Subject: Black Squirrel
>> Date: February 1, 2021 at 11:51:25 AM AST
>> To: Jim Wolford <jimwolford(a)eastlink.ca>
>>
>> Hi Jim,
>>
>> This is my very first sighting of a Black squirrel since I came to live in NS. I’m not particular happy about it. I remember how many there were in ON. I can see the little red squirrel being pushed out of NS.
>> The Mourning Dove is enjoying a tail dip. A little fattie but that’s all good as long as he/she can get off the ground!
>>
>> Take care and stay safe.
>>
>> Gina
I tried to send this naturens back on Feb. 1, but it failed because it was too large in content (photo) — I can send the photo to anyone who wants to see it. Cheers from Jim in Wolfville, and Gina also lives in Wolfville.
Begin forwarded message:
> From: Jim Wolford <jimwolford(a)eastlink.ca>
> Subject: Fwd: Black Squirrel
> Date: February 1, 2021 at 3:12:56 PM AST
> To: naturens <naturens(a)chebucto.ns.ca>
> Cc: Gina Newcombe <gina(a)cheshire-grin.ca>
>
> Gina, Thanks for report. I’d like to see other photos of the black squirrel if you have some, to be sure it’s a black morph of the gray squirrel, and not a black red squirrel, which would be much rarer. The gray squirrels seem to be co-existing all right with the red squirrels here, but we have no data on that as far as I know.
>
> What some people have heard regarding gray vs. red squirrels comes from Europe, where the introduced gray squirrel carries a virus that is lethal to the European red squirrel, which is a close cousin to the gray squirrel.
>
> Cheers from Jim in Wolfville.
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: Gina Newcombe <gina(a)cheshire-grin.ca>
>> Subject: Black Squirrel
>> Date: February 1, 2021 at 11:51:25 AM AST
>> To: Jim Wolford <jimwolford(a)eastlink.ca>
>>
>> Hi Jim,
>>
>> This is my very first sighting of a Black squirrel since I came to live in NS. I’m not particular happy about it. I remember how many there were in ON. I can see the little red squirrel being pushed out of NS.
>> The Mourning Dove is enjoying a tail dip. A little fattie but that’s all good as long as he/she can get off the ground!
>>
>> Take care and stay safe.
>>
>> Gina
A walk around the lagoon at Rainbow Haven this morning found a large number
of waterfowl on the flooded salt marsh at the south end of the lagoon.
Canada Geese - 100+
American Wigeon - 30+
Green-winged Teal -12+
Bufflehead - 25
Of note was one wigeon that stood out from the crowd due to a very bright
white pate and white cheeks. The only reference I could find to this
plumage was a few pictures of some very similar wigeons that were
identified as:
1) a west coast bird or,
2) " Storm Wigeon"
Any ideas?
Pictures of the wigeon along with some of the GW Teal were added to my
annual gallery at:
https://scranlocker.smugmug.com/Nature/Nature-2021/n-kLLjct
Paul Murray
Dartmouth
