Blue Sky Birding – by Martin and Kathy Parker

A weekly column on bird watching in the North Bay Region which appears in the North Bay Nugget. This column was published in the August 28, 2009 edition. © Martin and Kathy Parker

Common Nighthawks Migrating Through Region

The fall migration is underway with the arrival in the region of a number of species which are starting their journey to their southern wintering grounds.

The common nighthawk, once a common bird of the cities, are now passing through the region. This dusk feeder, closely related to the whip-poor-will, can be observed in the evenings feeding on flying insects.

On August 24 Brent Turcotte observed a single common nighthawk flying over the City of North Bay. Stephen O’Donnell on the same evening had a group of four pass over his cottage on the shores of Lake Bernard.

The common nighthawk is a grayish-brown bird with long slim wings. There is a distinctive white bar on each wing. They fly with deep stiff wing beats and will glide at time with the wings held in a v-shape or dihedral. They are most active at dusk and during the night hours. They will visit lights during the night to feed on the flying insects which have been attracted to the light.

The single common nighthawk observed by Turcotte was present with a large flock of Bonaparte’s gulls. Turcotte noted the gulls were swarming and flying oddly over some of the houses in the area. They were probably feeding on flying insects and the erratic flight was created by them attempting to capture the insects.

The Bonaparte’s gull is the smallest gull which occurs in the region annually. In the spring the adults have a black head. At this time of the year the black is being replaced by a white head with a black smudge behind the ear. The wing tips have a large white triangular-shaped patch.

Bonaparte’s gulls will be present along the North Bay waterfront for the next three months. A good location to observe them is Sunset Point Park. They can be observed sitting on the sand beach.

O’Donnell on August 24 observed a bufflehead at the Sundridge lagoons. This is the first report we have received of this species for the fall migration. They are common in the region in April and early May as they are passing through on their way to the breeding grounds. They start returning in late August and will remain until the waterways start to freeze over in December.

The male bufflehead is a small black and white duck. The male has a very distinctive triangular white patch on the back of the black head.

Richard Clarke of South River forwarded a photograph of a juvenile northern goshawk. The bird had captured a young chicken and was feeding on it. The northern goshawk is a member of the accipiter family of hawks. The have short rounded wings and long tails and are designed for short bursts of speed and manoeuverability. Their primary food is other birds which they capture in a short fast sprint.

Other accipiters in the region are the sharp-shinned and Cooper’s hawks. All are forest community residents and during the breeding season become difficult to locate.

One of the prime foods of the northern goshawk is ruffed grouse. The barnyard chicken resembles a grouse so the juvenile bird thought it was feeding on its natural prey. Northern goshawks will also predate flocks of feral rock pigeons.

The main identifying feature of the juvenile goshawk, besides it over shape, is the promenant white line above the eye.

Laura Turcotte recently kayaked the Wasi River and flushed a green heron. This secretive heron on small wetlands and river valleys occurs in scatted populations in the region.

In August the waterfowl in the region are undergoing their eclipse moult. The male birds shed their brightly coloured plumage of the spring and replace it with the plumage which resembles the dull protective camouflage plumage of the female. Later in the males will moult again and the bright breeding plumage will return. Identification of waterfowl becomes more challenging in the absence of the male colours.

The Birdwing group visited the Callander lagoon on August 25 during its evening bird walk and spent time distinguishing the male and female mallards present. The plumage of the birds were virtually identical. The distinguishing feature was the colour of the bill. The male bill is a greenish shape and the female’s prime bill colour is orange.

Swallow populations are showing a marked decline in Ontario and across northeastern North American over the past decade. The exact cause of this decline is unknown. Mike Cadman of the Canadian Wildlife Service is part of a initiative to determine why the declines are happening. The initial stage of the study in Ontario is to collect information on pre-migration and migrating flocks of swallows in Ontario. He is collecting information on flocks of over 100 swallows. The information required is location, number of swallows, date and time of day, and information on the behaviour of the swallows and the habitat they are using. Historic information on swallow roosts would be appreciated as well.

Information large concentrations of swallows can be sent to Cadman at Mike.Cadman@ec.gc.ca or ourselves. We will pass any information received on to Cadman.

This weekend the Birdwing group will be holding their August bird bash. If you wish to participate send your list of species observed in a period of no greater than 24 hours to rtafel@aympatico.ca. The average number of species observed in the past five August bird bashes has been 114.

We welcome your observations of the fall migrants for future columns. Please submit your observations to mkparker@ontera.net