BIRD IONOGRAPES: by Donald Wilkinson

EVENINC CflDSBlIK (Coccothraustes vospertinus)

Order: PASSERIFORMES , Species: 28-67-126

Family: FRINGILLIDAE - Canaries, siskins, Finches

Distribution: A narrow band across Canada and parts of northern U.S.A. from B.C. to Haritimes and Newfoundland. Winters irregularly and locally to south from southern California to northern Florida.

Nest: A shallow cup built of twigs and lined with rootlets mainly in fir, pine, spruce or other conifers; sometimes in various deciduous trees 2 m to 21 m (6 to 70 ft) above the ground from sea level to 2,750 m (9,000 ft). Habitats - northern coniferous forest in spring through autumn and general woodland in winter.

Eggs: 3 or 4; blue or blue-green.

Diet: Their main food is buds and seeds of maples and conifers; the berries of chokeberry and cherry, apples; buds of various other trees; insects, beetles, budworms, and cankerworms in summer. Very fond of sunflower seeds from feeders; maple sap, salted sand and gravel.

Song: Common call is a "pest peet kreek'

size: 18 to 22 cm (7 to 8.5 inches).

Note: Also classified as Hesperiphona vespertina.

SECOND ANNUAL AUTUMN BIRDING CLASSIC: J. Dan MCAskill

Boomer's forecast looked good two days before the Natural History Society’s Birding Team was to kick-off the Second Annual Autumn Birding Classic to raise funds for the Island Nature Trust’s land management program. The night before, it still looked good. Sleep came quickly after lunch, equipment, checklists, and field guides were packed and alarms were set to arise for the 4:15 pick-up of the second team member. The sound of window panes rattling under the assault of wind driven rain showers brought a harsh awakening in the middle of the night. It sounded most ominous!

The first trip to the truck to move out equipment started with water droplets being driven by the wind. By the time I traversed the 30 meters to the truck, the very cold droplets became hail stones. And we didn't think it would be cold yet again on another count.

By the time the team was assembled and sipping coffee (Tim's potent brew of course), the rain had started to clear in Brackley. The team members included Ray Cooke, Linda Thomas, Roberta Palmer, and myself. We decided to head east for owl calls along the area between Route 2 and the north shore, a good area in the past. We soon caught up with the storm clouds as they too headed east. Our first stop near Red Head Harbour yielded difficult hearing conditions for playing owl calls and obtaining responses. However, the weather was improving slowly and the clouds cleared to reveal a 3/8 moon.

The first bird recorded for the day was a Great Horned Owl that called spontaneously but it was only heard by a few members of the team. Playing of the Northern Saw—whet Owl yielded first a very faint response to the northwest and, several repetitions and minutes later, the shadowy movement of a bird silhouetted against the sky and then disappearing into a stand of spruce. Another playing of the tape yielded an immediate response from this area and the saw-whet crossed the road shortly thereafter. By dawn, we were three owling stops into the day and, with the addition of a Barred Owl, we had obtained responses of the three owls we expected. We had also seen our first Great Blue Heron silhouetted against St. Peter’s Bay.

Black Pond was our next stop and the ducks were plentiful and varied. A Pied- billed Grebe added to the diversity as did a Yellow-rumped Warbler and Spotted Sandpiper. Onward we wandered, stopping next at East Point. This stop excited our imaginations as it has yielded many hawks over the years and was where we had a spectacular display of a Peregrine and Merlin grasping the same bird last year. Birding often brings the unexpected and this day was no different. A single glimpse

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