NOMINATIONS CALL! 
     
    
   
   
    
     V The terms of the current Executive Committee expire at the January meeting in 2004. If you would be 
     
     interested in serving on the Executive or any Society Committees, please contact the Nominating Committee 
     
     Chairperson, Ben Hoteling (675-2036). Thanks. 
     
    
   
   
    
     FIELD CHECKLIST OF BIRDS OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND: 
     
    
   
   
    
     The latest issue of the Field Checklist of Bird of Prince Edward Island arrived at the Conservation and 
     
     Management Division of the Department of Environment in September. A copy of the new checklist is enclosed. 
     
    
   
   
    
     PICKEREL FROG DISCOVERED: by Bob Harding 
     
    
   
   
    
     You may have already heard a rumour to this effect, but the Pickerel Frog is alive and well in the bonnies of Kings 
     
     County! Stumbled upon one a couple of weeks back (in August), and a week or so later Rosemary Curley, Don 
     
     McAlpine and I re-visited the site. We were lucky enough to find another! 
     
    
   
   
    
     THE 2003 NEIL BENNETT AUTUMN BIRDING CLASSIC: by Dan McAskill, Dave Seeler, Dwaine 
     
     a") Oakley, and Bill Bowerbank 
     
     Q\ 
     
    
   
   
    
     The morning started cool with 2° Celsius and increased to 15 ° in the afternoon. We commenced birding at 
     
     5:30 am and tried tape responses for owls. We were lucky enough to hear a Northern Saw-whet Owl at Red Head 
     
     and later picked up a Great Horned Owl at St. Peter’s. By dawn, we were picking up crows, nuthatch, Great Blue 
     
     Heron and others. Travelling east to Souris, we picked up a variety of gulls including Bonaparte’s and Iceland 
     
     Gulls. The tide was fairly good and shorebirds were present in good numbers with Black—bellied Plover, Lesser 
     
     Yellowlegs, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper and more. Stops by the Rollo Bay Wildlife 
     
     Management Area brought Blackburnian and Magnolia Warblers amongst others but Canada Geese were in small 
     
     numbers and no strange geese were present. 
     
    

    
     Surprisingly, we picked up a Hermit Thrush at Harmony Junction and White-throath Sparrow. Efforts for 
     
     creepers or other high forest species at Townshend Woodlot were unsuccessful but a pectoral Sandpiper and 
     
     Northern Flicker were seen at North Lake and East Lake respectively. East Point was one of the quietest days 
     
     we’ve spent at this site with no raptors, relatively low species counts for pelagic birds and sea ducks but we did see 
     
     three Ruddy Tumstones. By early afternoon, Bill and I finished our day with some areas around town while Dave 
     
     and Dwaine continued birding to the National Park, Souris, and St. Margarets. At day’s end, a total of 77 species 
     
     were recorded and the group travelled 479 lqn by vehicle and about 2 km by foot. 
     
    

    
     Dave Seeler, Dwaine Oakley, Bill Bowerbank and I made up the Natural History Society’s 2003 Autumn 
     
     Birding Classic field team. Thanks to the various contributors, the Trust’s pledge collectors, and the team 
     
     members $640 was raised in this year’s Neil Bennett Autumn Birding Classic. Since the origin of this event, over 
     
     $8,460 has been raised. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Pied-billed Grebe American Black Duck Surf Scoter 
     
    

    
     Northern Gannet Mallard White-winged Scoter 
     
     Double-crested Cormorant Blue—winged Teal Black Scoter 
     
    

    
     Great Cormorant Northern Pintail Hooded Merganser 
     
     Great Blue Heron Green-winged Teal Red-breasted Merganser 
     
     Canada Geese Ring-necked Duck Osprey 
     
    

    
     Gadwall Greater Scaup Bald Eagle 
     
    

    
     American Wigeon Common Eider Northern Harrier