[ValleyNature] Blomidon Nat. Soc. meeting notes, Jan. 18, 2010 (long)

[James W. Wolford]

JAN. 18, 2010 - This morning I saw 6 different n. cardinals (2m,4f)  
at or near our feeders, with chickadees, m. doves, white-throated  
sparrows, occasional juncos, etc.  Yesterday I counted 10 blue jays  
there, too.

At the Blomidon Naturalists Society Meeting tonight, the following  
sightings were reported by various people:

- Larry & Alison Bogan report that the whitish crow is still in the  
Cambridge area, as of a day or two ago;

- Patrick Kelly told everyone about the surprising 2 sandhill cranes  
that were seen at Centre Burlington during the West Hants Christmas  
Bird Count on Dec. 27/09 (perhaps these were the same 2 cranes that  
were at Grand Pre earlier?);

- Bernard Forsythe once again is doing his Winter Birds List on foot  
for ecological reasons (way to go, Bernard!!) -- on Dec. 14 he and  
Rick Whitman walked to Grand Pre along the main dyke from Wolfville  
and found 2 mockingbirds (1 at Wolfville wharf area, other on Long  
Island, n. Grand Pre), a harrier, a peregrine falcon, a short-eared  
owl (ravens harassed it and it flew up very high until it was just a  
speck in the binoculars), white-winged scoters, c. eider, a Bohemian  
waxwing in Wolfville, horned larks, etc. -- so far Bernard has 62  
species, and 10 of them are species not seen by him last winter; --  
Bernard also told us he had seen the 2 Barrow's goldeneyes at the  
Port Williams sewage ponds;

- Rick Whitman and others reported the young bobcat that was at the  
Wolfville  -Greenwich border at Paul Elderkin's farm from Jan. 12 to  
16, 2010 -- it was very weak and was offered some food but apparently  
disappeared after Jan. 16?;

- Rick also reported having found a probable otter slide in the snow  
(somewhere near Lumsden Reservoir??);

- there were a couple of reports of foxes, at Starr's Point and New  
Minas (the latter fox appeared unhealthy and was seen by Mike Shreve  
a few weeks ago);

- I reported an active chipmunk recently this winter but couldn't  
remember who saw it or where -- but it was active for several days in  
very cold weather;

- Alison Bogan reported on the results of the Wolfville Christmas  
Bird Count: 64 species and about 25,000 individual birds were tallied  
(plus Cooper's hawk & mockingbird for Count Week) -- Count Day birds  
included 254 bald eagles, 1 harrier, 2 merlins, 3 peregrine falcons,  
4 barred owls, 7 pileated woodpeckers, 1 ruby-crowned kinglet, 6  
common redpolls, a few pine siskins, etc.;

- Ed Sulis told me that for the past week he has been seeing 2  
different GRAY SQUIRRELS in his yard on Canaan Ave.? in Kentville.   
Previously he had two of them there, but  one of them was trapped and  
killed and added to the Acadia Biology Museum collection.  His 2  
current gray squirrels are quite different in size, with one being  
markedly larger than the other.   And he is only seeing them every  
few days, not daily.

- Also tonight at the BNS meeting, Howie Huynh, a M.Sc. student in  
Acadia Biology under Dr. Don Stewart, has been studying archived old  
and recent reports of GRAY SQUIRRELS in Nova Scotia, and says that  
the oldest documented report goes back to the 1800s.  He said that  
gray squirrels might be considered to be a native? species in our  
province?  He and others are trying to determine if gray squirrels  
are now naturalized and maintaining themselves in N.S.  Acadia's two  
specimens are a reproductively adult male and a similarly  
reproductive female; in fact the female was lactating when she was  
road-killed, and must have had some growing infants at the time.

Also Howie renewed his request for information from anyone who has  
seen aerial leafy nests or dreys of gray squirrels anywhere in the  
province?  He mentioned having heard somewhere that in Canada? gray  
squirrels are more likely to utilize holes in trees than aerial leafy  
nests.

Still at the BNS meeting, our featured speaker was Becky Stewart from  
Bird Studies Canada (Breeding Bird Atlas Coordinator) gave us a very  
interesting presentation called "From Canada to Costa Rica: a bird- 
banding adventure".  She took us from Long Point and the Lakehead  
area of Lake Superior to Delta Marsh in Manitoba and then to  
Tortuguero in ne. Costa Rica, Rancho Santa Maria? in the Yucatan  
Peninsula of Mexico, and the Starr Ranch in the mountains near Los  
Angeles, California (an Audubon Ranch).  She showed us lots of  
colourful and exotic birds, entertained and taught us with anecdotes,  
partly about minimizing the stress to the handled birds (permits  
needed and certification preferred/needed?), and showed good visuals  
of the places where she did the banding.  Then poor Beckie had to  
drive all the way back to Sackville, N.B. that same evening because  
she had some important meeting the next morning!  Thanks, Becky!

(I have more notes from Becky's presentation if needed for our BNS  
newsletter)

Cheers from Jim in Wolfville

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