PIPING PLOVER ENVIRONMENT WEEK PROJECT UPDATE by Ben Hoteling 
     
     & Dan McAskill 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Prince Edward Island Section of the International Census has been 
     
     successfully completed. All the beaches appropriate for nesting were surveyed 
     
     during the period of June lst to June 9th. In total, the participants walked 52 
     
     beaches outside the P.E.I. National Park. These beaches varied in length from 
     
     0.5 kilometers to 18 kilometers. The volunteers identified 27 to 30 pairs of 
     
     Piping Plovers and nine single Piping Plovers. This tremendous success was due 
     
     entirely to a team of enthusiastic volunteers dedicated to the preservation of 
     
     this endangered species. Combined with the national park counts, the Piping 
     
     Plover census total for the province during the June lst to 9th census period 
     
     was between 50 and 54 pairs with 9 single birds. The Society is currently 
     
     reviewing the observers behavioral observations to determine whether any of the 
     
     single birds really represented a pair of birds. 
     
    

    
     As most of you have heard from television and radio, a major storm with a 
     
     tidal surge wiped out many of the north shore nests on June 14, 1991. Spot 
     
     checks suggest that most pairs appear to be renesting. 
     
    

    
     The landowner contact portion of the Society's Environment Week project is 
     
     ongoing. A number of residents who live near plover nesting beaches have 
     
     already been contacted and the identification of the level of public knowledge 
     
     about the plover will soon be tested. Work done by the Society in 1988 showed 
     
     that the public's knowledge of the Piping Plover was poor despite’almost 14 
     
     years of public discussion of its plight. Jennifer Cameron and Helene Deacon 
     
     students at Montague Junior High prepared a Science Fair exhibit on the Piping 
     
     Plover. They examined the knowledge level of 14 and 15 years olds regarding the 
     
     Piping Plover and showed that 90% of these individuals didn‘t know that Piping 
     
     Plovers existed. w 
     
    
   
   
    
     ALL SHADES 0F BLUE BIRDS by Dan McAskill 
     
    
   
   
    
        
     
    
   
   
    
     This spring has yielded an unprecedented number of sightings of blue fflig 
     
     coloured birds on Prince Edward Island. The sightings came from across the {via ¥k 
     
     province and included reports of Indigo Buntings, Bluebirds, and the first Imwnmm. _ 
     
     record of a Blue Grosbeak. The males of these three species are various shades 
     
     of blue but each has distinct markings which distinguish it from the others. 
     
    

    
     The most spectacular sighting was reported by Lydia and Ralph MacDougall 
     
     of Mount Albion who recorded a male Blue Grosbeak at their feeder in April, 
     
     1991. Lydia mentioned the sighting to Sue Stephenson at the Bird's Eye Nature 
     
     Store and provided a copy of a photograph of the bird to Geoff Hogan. The 
     
     bright chestnut wing bars which mark this species were evident in this picture 
     
     and the birds was subsequently seen at their feeder by Dan McAskill. 
     
    

    
     The most common blue bird sightings of the spring were those of male 
     
     Indigo Buntings. The male of this species is blue all over and is slightly 
     
     smaller than a house sparrow. There were sightings in South Lake, Souris, 
     
     Georgetown Royalty, Mt. Buchanan, Bunbury, Sherwood, Parkdale, and Ellerslie by 
     
     Francis Stewart, Eileen MacLaren, Martinus Rose, Barbara and Ken Coles, Jean 
     
     and Reg Thompson, Ray Cooke, Hilda LeClair and Loretta Wagner respectively. 
     
    

    
     Tom and Jean Klewin reported a male Bluebird singing in a p0plar tree in 
     
     their yard during the last few weeks of May. They described the distinguishing 
     
     orange breast of the male Eastern Bluebird. As they had Tree Swallows nesting 
     
     in their yard, the possibility of another Eastern Bluebird nest was raised. 
     
     Unfortunately, the bird disappeared on June lst. Should you be in the area, it 
     
     would be worth a look and listen. 
     
    
   
   
    
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