[ValleyNature] eagle nest checks, 800+ C. geese, feeder birds, etc.

[James W. Wolford]

MAR. 14, 2009 - An adult WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW appeared at our  
feeders in Wolfville.  My distant and short view showed the lores to  
be dark, thus probably subspecies leucophrys?

MAR. 15, 2009 - I heard a woodpecker drumming (species unknown) in  
Wolfville today.  We still have a single AM. TREE SPARROW among our  
feeder-birds, but I didn't see the white-crowned sparrow today.

We saw a single AM. ROBIN at Blomidon on the property of Claudette  
and Jack Lafferty (prob. an overwintered individual).

MAR. 16, 2009 - We still have black-capped CHICKADEE WITH A  
STRIKINGLY WHITE TAIL at our feeders, and the adult WHITE-CROWNED  
SPARROW also appeared again today.

MAR. 17, 2009 - At Wellington Dyke (ne. of Port Williams) at mid-day  
there were at least 800 CANADA GEESE -- what a great sight and sound,  
as many were calling, most were on the ground (some close to the road  
in corn stubble, most in open fields just east of the road), and many  
small flocks were flying.  Two days ago, Brenda & Bill Thexton saw  
about 400 geese in the same spot.

Today I checked three BALD EAGLE NESTS, and only one of them  
definitely had an apparent incubating adult in/on the nest: the  
occupied one was on the south bank of the mouth of the Canard River  
(se. of Wellington Dyke, on Starr's Point) on the property of Chris  
Cox's pig farm; the rebuilt nest on the north bank of the Cornwallis  
River just west of Willowbank Farm (Starr's Point Loop Road) had no  
attending eagles; and I could not see an adult eagle at the Canard  
nest (at Muskrat Marsh Farm, east of Jawbone Corner.

Just north of Wellington Dyke, with herring gulls, was a single adult  
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL.

Also on March 15/09 Pat & I checked the BALD EAGLE NEST on the cliff  
edge at Blomidon (well south of the park), and no adult was visible  
on it; however, the angle and height of the nest leaves open that an  
adult was there but couldn't be seen.

At Chris Cox's farm at Starr's Point, an adult RAVEN was at the  
previously-used NEST built just below the top of the metal grain  
elevator, but I couldn't see any incubating adult in the nest.  The  
RAVEN NEST just north of the Acadia Arena now probably has an  
incubating adult on it, but there doesn't seem to be any place where  
I can view the nest clearly.

Port Williams sewage ponds: only 4 ducks, including a male mallard  
and 3 COMMON GOLDENEYES (2m,1f).

On the old Acadia gymnasium building, a ROCK PIGEON was in INCUBATING  
position on a nest.

MAR. 18, 2009 - WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW still present at our feeders.   
A SHARP-SHINNED HAWK was soaring in the glorious sunshine a bit north  
of our home in Wolfville in late morning.  Temperatures went to at  
least +9 C. today.  And a male CARDINAL showed up at our feeders at  
dusk (for the last few days, our pair of cardinals have not been seen).

Cheers from Jim in Wolfville

Jim (James W.) Wolford
91 Wickwire Ave.
Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada
B4P 1W3

phone 902-542-9204
e-mail <jimwolford at eastlink.ca>

"In wildness is the preservation of the world" -- Henry David Thoreau
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