»Only one other "Hoodie" has been banded here,

NEWSLETTER NO. 33 OCTOBER, 1978

NEXT MEETING

Time: 8:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 3, 1978 Place: Provincial Health Building, 3rd Floor, Room 47. Program: The Canadian Nature Federation Conference

will be highlighted with the aid of slides; taken by Margo Guignion and David Cairns at the Conference.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

HAWK WATCH Thanksgiving Day, October 9th. Meet at the Y.M.C.A. at 8:30 a.m. for the trip to Diligent Pond near East Point. The hawk migration will be on. Bring'a lunch, preferably turkey and pumpkin pie.

MARITIME NEST RECORDS CARDS should be returned now to the address on the cards.

MEMBERSHIP. Our fiscal year is the calender year. New members may pay dues this fall to become members for the remainder of 1978 and all of 1979. A few members in 1977 did not renew for 1978 and we are obliged to remove their names from the newsletter mailing list.

Deroche Point

Plans to raise $50,000 to buy property at Deroche Pt. are under— way. Involved in the drive are the Natural Areas Advisory Committee, Ducks Unlimited (Canada), the Environmental Advisory Council, the P.E.I. Wildlife Federation, the Natural History Society of P.E.I., and the Nature Conservancy of Canada. As pledged to Executive Council on June 28, 1978, the groups are willing to raise the money to ensure that the Deroche area, including the ponds, the surrounding crown lands, and additional developable lands purchased by the P.E.I. government, will remain for all time as wildlife habitat.

Campaign plans will be discussed at the October meeting.

Hooded Mergansers Nest on P.E.I.

This year during the P.E.I. Fish and Wildlife Division duck banding program, a brood of 4 Class III (large flightless young) Hooded Mergansers were encounted at Warren Grove Creek, August 17, 1978. From this brood a single female was captured and banded by Karin Thorburn and myself.

According to Earl Godfrey, author of The Birds of P.E.I. and Birds of Canada, "Hoodies" are rare visitants to the Island. He saw an adult female and a flying immature bird at Black Pond, July 30, 1952. The P.E.I. Field Check—list of Birds lists them as being rare in spring and autumn and seen occasionally in winter and summer. a male at Whitlocks Pond, September 11, 1972. It was hatched during the same summer, but since it was flying at the time, there is no reason to suppose that it