" Record Spring Dbi rd disfribufion

BY ROSEMARY CURLEY

The Francis Bain Birdathon was estab— lished in the mid-1970's to record spring bird distribution. Participants select an area of choice and spend as much time as they wish to

chalk up a species tally.

Initially the event was used as a fund— raiser and more recently the counts can be in- corporated into the Maritimes Breeding Bird Atlas project (MBBA). The Birdathon is always held on the last Saturday of May and this year

May 30th was the big day.

Sunny skies prevailed through most of the in day as 13 birders plus 20+ students of Geoff Mmev Hogan's non-credit bird class at UPEI explored areas radiating from Souris, Miscouche,

Charlottetown and Valleyfield.

The evening tally revealed that only 79 species were reported, but some

interesting finds were recorded,

Here now is the bird list: Great cormorant uble—crested cormorant eat blue heron erican bittern llard erican black duck een-winged teal ue-winged teal American wigeon Ring-necked duck Common merganser Red-breasted merganser Northern.harrier Kildeer Black-bellied plover Common snipe Spotted sandpiper Willett Greater yellowlegs Lesser yellowlegs Greater black-backed gully Herring gull Ring-billed gull Common tern Rock dove Ruby-throated hummingbird Belted kingfisher Northern flicker Yellow-bellied sapsucker Hairy woodpecker

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including a mink at Harmony Junction.

Downy woodpecker Eastern kingbird

Least flycatcher

Tree swallow

Barn swallow

Blue jay

Northern raven

American crow Black-capped Chickadee Red-breasted nuthatch Gray catbird

American robin

Hermit thrush Swainson's thrush Ruby-crowned kinglet European starling Red-eyed vireo Black'and white warbler Northern parula warbler Yellow warbler

Magnolia warbler

Cape May warbler Yellow-rumped warbler Black—throated blue warbler Black—throated green warbler Blackburnian warbler Bay-breasted warbler Ovenbird

Mourning warbler

Common yellowthroat