Pileated Woodpecker (Seabrooke Leckie)

This monster of a woodpecker was a an exciting bird to band – a first for FBS! As I emerged from some dense pines en route to net 7 this Pileated Woodpecker began to struggle its way out of the net before I quickly corralled it into my hands. It left twelve small puncture wounds on my fingers before I could free its tangled feet and put him into a carrying bag – a very swift and powerful avian hammerhead! Seabrooke was delighted to receive it back at the station, it was the first she’d had in-the-hand for banding.

The rest of the morning was very much a continuation of the last visit on July 14 – dreadfully quiet! A total of seven birds were captured during the visit, one less than the previous record low of 8 at Blue Lakes on July 14 of this year! The site is so contrastingly empty of birds compared to our first few visits in June. The once common Yellow-throated Vireos, Chestnut-sided and Black-throated Blue Warblers, Veerys and Ovenbirds are all gone and the area is not attracting many dispersing birds of any kind. We remain undeterred by this curious development as it is vitally important to monitor both the highs and the lows.

Our last visit to Blue Lakes in 2010 will be held in early August, which should coincide with the peak of post-breeding dispersal for the region. Perhaps our first season at the station will end with a final flourish? Either way, we’ve had some fantastic birds there and will have better breeding seasons to look forward to….

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Seabrooke Leckie)

I have no idea where the last two weeks went! We’ve completed visits 4 and 5 to all of our MAPS sites and not a word was posted here about it – until now. Our fourth round of visits were done during the heat wave when the ghastly humidity forced to shut down a bit early at Maplewood and Rock Ridge. Temperatures were more moderate during visit 5 but we ended up with even lower capture totals despite logging more net hours at both stations!

I’ll start this summary of round five with the Rock Ridge (RRID) station in Frontenac Provincial Park. The weather was perfect and post-breeding dispersal was evident for the first time in 2010. Our first Yellow-billed Cuckoo of the year was banded along with small numbers of the usual suspects.

Early morning along the ridge (Derbyshire)

The day started off well with lots of young birds moving along the ridge – primarily Eastern Towhees, Yellow Warblers and Pine Warblers. The first half of the morning was quite productive, which was followed by the latter half ending with five consecutive empty net rounds – a record for us! We finished the visit with 17 total captures – 3 less than visit 4 when the heat and humidity were extremely high. On the bright side, we’ve somehow eclipsed last year’s pace at Ridge Ridge in terms of total birds banded and recaptured.

juv Pine Warbler (Seabrooke Leckie)

This juvenile Pine Warbler is the first we’ve captured at any of our MAPS stations! Pine Warblers nest in the tall pines on either side of the ridge near the banding station but they never seem to come down low enough to be captured. It makes sense that our first would be a dispersing youngster, which are less tied to the canopy foraging.

Adult Veery in moult (Derbyshire)

Our fifth visit to the Blue Lakes (BLAK) station was somewhat shocking as it ended up being the slowest day we’ve had since we started MAPS in 2009! The Black-throated Blue Warblers that were abundant earlier in the summer had vanished and the morning had this eerily quiet feel to it. The Veery, like the Black-throated Blue Warbler, was a dominant species earlier in the season but were noticeably missing during visit 5. We did recapture one Veery during the morning, an adult male in the midst of basic moult.

Chestnut-sided Warbler (Seabrooke)

Always nice to find Chestut-sided Warblers in the nets. This male was recaptured for the first time since it was banded in mid-June. Fortunately there are still a number of these holding territories on the shorelines of lakes and ponds in the area. We ended visit 5 with 8 birds captured in six hours of sampling – REALLY quiet. I’m looking forward to getting back there to see how the season unfolds.

Scarlet Tanager (Seabrooke)

We can always expect birds at Maplewood (MABO)! This is the most consistent station of the three in our MAPS network. At the end of the day we tallied up the results and noted that 22 birds were captured, which is a quiet day for MABO. We sampled the first real wave of young birds at the station in 2010, which included this juv Scarlet Tanager as well as American Redstart, Hairy Woodpecker and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

Other noteworthy records included our first captured Ruby-throated Hummingbird of the year and two more Scarlet Tanagers! Multiple Wood Thrushes are still singing at the site and at least one Wood Thrush youngster has been banded in 2010. The exodus of Veerys at Blue Lakes is being echoed at MABO where the species was not encountered at all during visit 5. The Veery is normally an abundant species at MABO but our results in 2009 and 2010 have suggested widespread breeding failure. The weather conditions in both years have been atypical and likely a factor impacting nest success for at least some species. It will be exciting to begin analysis of the data after a few more seasons, preferably with more ‘average’ conditions. I will be particularly interested in statistics on survivorship, productivity and recruitment for Veerys.

Spring Peeper (Pseudacris crucifer)

As we are already into visit 4, I thought I’d better wrap up visit 3 to MABO and RRID in one summary. The visit to Maplewood Bog on June 29 was a unique MAPS experience for me because for the first time I was all by myself! Our first priority is to perform net checks at frequent and regular intervals of no more than 25-30 minutes, which is a challenge without multiple personnel. I was able to do this during visit 3 but felt the fatigue of near constant motion for the six hours of the fieldwork!

The weather was damp and cool with intermittent drizzle, keeping bird activity low and giving me some extra time to race around the net circuit. I was somewhat shocked that I’d processed 27 birds that morning – a not too shabby total considering the conditions. I had no time for photos with the exception of an irresistible Spring Peeper that clung to the stem of a shrub near net 6. As usual, an excellent variety of birds were captured including a female Scarlet Tanager, the first juvenile Wood Thrush of the year and a second-year Veery that was banded as a young bird in August 2009!

Maplewood Bog – Visit 3 of 7

New birds banded (19 of 11 species)
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American Redstart – 1
Northern Waterthrush – 1
Red-eyed Vireo – 3
Song Sparrow – 2
Wood Thrush – 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 1
Scarlet Tanager – 1
Gray Catbird – 2
Eastern Towhee – 1
American Robin – 5
Blue Jay – 1

Recaptures (8 of 6 species)
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Northern Waterthrush – 1
Red-eyed Vireo – 1
Gray Catbird – 1
American Robin – 1
Veery – 2
Wood Thrush – 2

Black-throated Green Warbler (Seabrooke Leckie)

Our first ever Black-throated Green Warbler (Dendroica virens) was banded at Rock Ridge during visit 3 this past week. Black-throated Greens are regular breeders in Frontenac Provincial Park, particularly in areas with mature conifers and dense canopy cover. Overall, things are moving along nicely at this site as young birds are beginning to appear in numbers. Another male White-throated Sparrow was banded (below) while a tan-morph individual was spotted carrying food in an area of juniper scrub at the north edge of the station.

Red-eyed Vireo (Seabrooke Leckie)

Red-eyed Vireos are more commonly heard and captured than seen at Rock Ridge. There are a few pairs occupying young deciduous patches of Sugar Maple-Oak. Growth rates are very slow here so it might be more accurate to describe the forests as ‘low’ instead of young as many of the trees are probably 50-80 years old but appear much younger. Blue-headed Vireos also breed in this conifer dominated eastern edge of the park but we’ve not encountered any so far at Rock Ridge.

White-throated Sparrow (Seabrooke Leckie)

A total of 25 birds were captured during visit 3 – a very good sample of what is present. We captured several young birds including individuals of Eastern Phoebe, Black-capped Chickadee, Field Sparrow, Song Sparrow and American Robin – all early nesting temperate migrants. There has been little sign of productivity so far for any neotropical species at the three stations. The extraordinary amount of rainfall in the month of June may be influential to productivity indices in 2010 – visits 4-7 should be instructive.

Rock Ridge – Visit 3 of 7

New birds banded (17 of 12 species)
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Black-throated Green Warbler – 1
Common Yellowthroat – 1
Field Sparrow – 2
Black-capped Chickadee – 1
Chipping Sparrow – 1
Eastern Phoebe – 1
Red-eyed Vireo – 1
Song Sparrow – 2
White-throated Sparrow – 1
Hairy Woodpecker – 1
American Robin – 4
Common Grackle – 1

Recaptures (8 of 6 species)
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Common Yellowthroat – 1
American Robin – 1
Red-eyed Vireo – 1
Chipping Sparrow – 1
Black-capped Chickadee – 2
Eastern Towhee – 1

Yellow-throated Vireo (Seabrooke Leckie)

Visit three to Blue Lakes happened late last week. A definite highlight of the day was the capture of three adult Yellow-throated Vireos (2 new and 1 recap) and the discovery of a nest with young in the crown of a large Red Oak near net 1! We’ve banded the male and female tending the nest but also captured a new gravid female (carrying egg) in net 1 around mid-morning. We suspected at least a couple of pairs were in the area but the appearance of a gravid female so close to the nest of another pair seems rather curious. Very cool to have this species around and in numbers too!

Juv Downy Woodpecker (Derbyshire)

The morning’s work went smoothly and a steady trickle of birds were handled over the six hours. Despite that multiple territories of Black-throated Blue Warblers are present within the station boundaries, we have only managed to band and recapture the one male and female individual. We are starting to wonder if the other singing males are unpaired.

We’ve now completed nine visits to all three stations combined and are not even halfway through the season! The remaining visits to each station will be interesting as adults move or reestablish territories and this season’s crop of young birds begin to disperse. The month of June was extremely wet and it remains to be seen how this has affected nest success for landbirds in Frontenac County and beyond….

Blue Lakes – Visit 3 of 7

New birds banded (18 of 12 species)

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Field Sparrow – 1
Red-eyed Vireo – 1
Ovenbird – 1
Swamp Sparrow – 1
Yellow-throated Vireo – 2
Veery – 1
Downy Woodpecker – 2
Song Sparrow – 1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak – 3
American Robin – 2
Blue Jay – 1
Common Grackle – 2

Recaptures (6 of 5 species)
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Black-throated Blue Warbler – 2
Yellow-throated Vireo – 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 1
Downy Woodpecker – 1
Ovenbird – 1

Adult Male Prairie Warbler (Dan Derbyshire)

Our inventory of Prairie Warblers in Frontenac Provincial Park is now complete! Conducting the inventory required lots of hiking over rugged terrain and canoeing – 41 kilometres in all. The Prairies are occupying rock barren habitats in perhaps the most inaccessible part of the 5000 hectare park. I am relieved to report that it was well worth the effort as a surprisingly large number of Prairies were located. Prior to this season I had hopes that about ten pairs would be found in Frontenac but really had no expectations beyond the few pairs that were first encountered at Slide Lake last summer.

Another male (Derbyshire)

The second edition of the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas provides an excellent summary of the current provincial status of the Prairie Warbler. Incidentally, a bright male Prairie Warbler was chosen as the cover bird for this important work. The authors of the account note that the distribution has remained unchanged since the first atlas conducted in the early 1980′s, although many long standing colonies had been deserted due to habitat succession. Several colonies in the Frontenac region have disappeared including a large population of perhaps 20 pairs that inhabited the west side of Canoe Lake, which hosted birds from 1961-1987. Another historical colony resided at Devil Lake for more than 40 years from 1948-1988 (Weir 2008). The largest population remaining in Ontario occurs in the Georgian Bay region where 270 pairs were located in the 1990′s (Harris 1998). Outside of Georgian Bay, colonies of Prairie Warblers seem to be less concentrated, possibly due to habitat shortage, which could make them more susceptible to extirpation.

Data from the second atlas suggest that away from the Georgian Bay area fewer than 50 pairs occur and the total provincial population is unlikely to exceed 320 breeding pairs. (Cadman et.al. 2007)

Adult female (Derbyshire)

The population in Frontenac Provincial Park, inventoried for the first time this summer, includes a minimum of twenty territorial males! At least four of these males are paired with females. Additional males were likely encountered in two instances involving three males in territorial dispute but it was impossible to exclude potential overlap. The figure of 20 males is a conservative tally of birds with territories delineated by counter singing. I have yet to perform any analysis of habitat availability versus our coverage but strongly suspect that an upper limit of 30 pairs would be a reasonable estimate for the population. At 20-30 pairs It is quite possible that this population may be the largest known active colony outside of the Georgian Bay region.

I spent a lot of time looking for females and managed to find just four over several days of fieldwork in the rock barrens. Females were likely hunkered down on well hidden nests and not moving around much. I did find this female (pictured above) that was much more active. I watched her frequent comings and goings to a patch of dense shrub near an Eastern White Pine. She made half a dozen trips to the patch with beakfulls of “stuff”, either bugs or nest material. I didn’t approach the presumed nest site until the 7th trip when it was clear that food was being carried to the spot (approaching during nest building could have resulted in abandonment). I fully expected to find a nest with young in one of the shrubs but found this instead…..

Fledgling Prairie Warbler (Derbyshire)

This discovery of fledged young confirms successful breeding in Frontenac Provincial Park for this year and provides some indication that the colony is viable and productive! We now have a much better grasp on the current breeding status, habitat association and population density of Prairie Warbler in the park and can now begin setting more specific targets for future years. More to come in 2011….

Spruce Bog at RRID

After a quiet first visit on June 11th, the Rock Ridge station returned to form on June 20th as 23 birds were captured during the morning. We thought last summer was unusually wet but this season has been even more drenched with rain seeming to fall consistently on a semi-daily basis. Fortunately, we have completed all of our visits within the intended periods but only by a thin margin and with thanks to a bit of luck. The photos accompanying this update are all landscapes as Seabrooke had a Canon malfunction, which erased all of the avian portraits from the day. This week, on our way in and out of the station, we paddled past this bog/fen habitat with Black Spruce, Tamarack, Sundew and Pitcher Plants. Common Yellowthroat, Wilson’s Snipe, Swamp Sparrow and Red-winged Blackbird are a few of the species nesting within the wetland complex below the steep cliffsides of the site.

The morning started off slow with an eery dawn silence and nothing captured on the first net check. For a second I considered that winter survivorship may have been particularly poor for our resident breeders but this was instantly erased with a net round at 730am when fourteen birds were extracted – nine coming from a single net! We were also pleased to finally recapture some birds banded in 2009, three in all. The full summary of the birds captured is provided below. The list represents a good sample of the breeding birds present at the station with some notable exceptions. Scarlet Tanager, Pine Warbler, Purple Finch and Myrtle Warbler are also common but tend to stick to the high tops of conifers that line both sides of the gorge, making them difficult to catch for banding. These species will move down with fledged young in search for better feeding areas so hopefully we will band a few before the season wraps in early August.

Mixed forest along the ridge

Rock Ridge – Visit 2 of 7

New birds banded (20 of 11 species)
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Field Sparrow – 2
Black-capped Chickadee – 6
Red-eyed Vireo – 2
Hermit Thrush – 1
White-throated Sparrow – 1
Red-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Common Yellowthroat – 1
Chipping Sparrow – 1
Eastern Towhee – 2
American Robin – 2
Common Grackle – 1

Recaptures (3 of 2 species)
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Black-and-white Warbler – 1
Black-capped Chickadee – 2

Adult male Chestnut-sided Warbler (Derbyshire)

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Chestnut-sided Warbler (Dendroica pensylvanica)

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Nidiologicals – Peck and James (1987) and Richardson & Brauning (1995)
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Habitat – Early successional deciduous forest, regenerating clearcuts/fields and woodland edges
Microhabitat – Open cup nest built in crotch of understorey shrub, usually less than 2m from ground.
Spring arrival – Early to late May (Ontario)
Average nest height – .6m
Nest builder – Female only
Average # of broods/season – 1
Average egg laying date – 7 June-17 June (Ontario)
Average clutch size – 4 eggs
Incubation period – Average 11-12 days
Egg colour – White to pale greenish with variable markings concentrated at larger end.
Incubation – Female only
Brown-headed Cowbird host – Yes
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CSWA nest with eggs

The Chestnut-sided Warbler (CSWA) is a fairly common breeder here in Frontenac County and across much of the southern half of Ontario. This species was a North American rarity in the early 19th century before much of the forests were cleared and the young successional habitats became widespread. Populations of Chestnut-sides exploded and now occupy scrubby margins of woodland and overgrown fields from central Saskatchewan to Nova Scotia and south to Georgia along the Appalachian Mountains. In our region they are typically associated with woodland borders of small farms, roadsides, bogs and rock barrens.

This nest was discovered by the observation and tracking of a female carrying nest material on May 28, 2010 at our Blue Lakes MAPS station near Sharbot lake, ON. There are about ten pairs in the immediate area of the station that are occupying scrubby shoreline edges of lakes and ponds. At least part of the site was burned over at some point within the last century or so, which has slowed regeneration and created appropriate conditions for the species. The nest pictured above was less than half complete on May 28 and was finished by June 4 when three eggs were photographed.

Full clutch (Seabrooke Leckie)

A clutch of five eggs is unusual for this species. This picture was taken on June 8 during our first visit to Blue Lakes. We captured and banded two males and the female responsible for this clutch on that date. The males have an interesting song repertoire and vocal development biology. Two song classes are evident; an Accented Ending (AE) class and an Unaccented Ending (UE) class. The AE song (Please, please, pleased to meetcha) is given on arrival and is primarily used to attract females. The UE song is given later on in the breeding season and seems to be mostly employed for territorial defense and intraspecific aggression. Lab studies have indicated that AE songs are developed with little social interaction while UE songs are learned through direct observation of “tutor” males (Byers and Kroodsma 1992).

Chestnut-sided Warbler nest site

Here is a photograph of the nest site context along the shore of a small unnamed lake. The Chestnut-sided Warblers are nesting in this low, dense shrub layer beneath scattered clumps of young-mid successional oak and maple. Gray Catbird, Warbling Vireo, Yellow Warbler and Indigo Bunting also occupy this habitat type, although the latter is mysteriously absent from the site. We have about five more weeks of fieldwork in 2010 and a lot yet to learn about the “Chestnuts” at Blue Lakes. We are suspecting that the forthcoming post-breeding dispersal will consist of a large dose of young Chestnut-sided Warblers.

Young CSWA at MABO in 2009 (S.Leckie)

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Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

I’ve decided to summarize recent outings to BLAK and MABO in a single post because I’ve fallen behind on a large backlog of other material to touch on soon. Last week we visited the Blue Lakes MAPS site for the second time and had a very good morning. The weather was a highlight in that it wasn’t cloudy or threatening with rain – novel of late. We also captured a nice selection of birds including another Black-throated Blue Warbler (female with brood patch) and five Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, among others. A female Red-winged Blackbird was banded during the morning, which was a first for the FBS MAPS network!

Finally, while driving out at the end of the day we were stopped by the police, who had been lying in wait for us at the end of the road. Apparently, there was some concern that we may have been marijuana growers! That’s another first for FBS….

We will be returning to Blue Lakes by June 29, 2010. Full stats for visit 2 are summarized below the agelaius.

Female Red-winged Blackbird

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Blue Lakes – Visit 2 of 7

New birds banded (15 of 8 species)

Black-throated Blue Warbler – 1
Ovenbird – 1
Veery – 1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak – 5
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 1
Red-winged Blackbird – 1
American Robin – 4
Common Grackle – 1

Recaptures (4 of 2 species)

Black-throated Blue Warbler – 1
Veery – 3

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Northern Waterthrush (Seabrooke Leckie)

Our first visit to Maplewood Bog in 2010 was a little bit unpleasant due to the wet and ominous weather we endured. We were pleased to give MABO a proper go for visit 2 with clear, warm and dry conditions. The birds were much more active, although Seabrooke and I agree that breeding density seems lower for most species this year. This isn’t too surprising as our 2009 results suggested low productivity for last summer and numbers were way down at most migration monitoring stations this past spring. Visit 2 was all about the Red-eyed Vireo! A total of seven were captured, which included several returns from 2009. We also recaptured two Northern Waterthrushes, which have successfully returned to MABO from their winter haunts in either the Caribbean or Central America.

In all, 28 birds were captured during the six hours of operation. Without question, Maplewood still reigns as the “birdiest” of our MAPS sites….

Full stats for this visit to MABO are provided below Seabrooke’s stunning portrait of a female Eastern Towhee.

Eastern Towhee (Seabrooke Leckie)

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Maplewood Bog – Visit 2 of 7

New birds banded (17 of 12 species)

Black-capped Chickadee – 1
Ovenbird – 1
Red-eyed Vireo – 2
Song Sparrow – 1
Veery -1
Gray Catbird – 2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak – 1
Wood Thrush – 1
Eastern Towhee – 2
American Robin – 3
Hairy Woodpecker – 1
Blue Jay – 1

Recaptures (11 of 6 species)

Black-capped Chickadee – 1
Red-eyed Vireo – 5
Gray Catbird – 1
Rose-breasted Grosbeak – 1
Blue Jay – 1
Northern Waterthrush – 2

Nest guarding Ovenbird near Sharbot Lake

"The Look"

Veery nest in an old mossy stump (Seabrooke Leckie)

Female incubating the "stump nest"

Great Blue Heron nestlings at Blue Lakes

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Frontenac Provincial Park lies within the Grenville Province of the Canadian Shield. About 800 million years ago, the Grenville Province was a towering mountain range with peaks as high as the modern day Himalayas. Subsequent periods of erosion, sedimentation, glaciation and more erosion has created the current landscape as we see it today. The rock barrens, in their present myriad of forms and age, cover a significant portion of Frontenac Provincial Park. Geologically, the barrens are described by Christian Barber as a:

“football-shaped body of Diorite that rose up from great depths as a very hot, semifluid pluton.” (Barber 2005)

Three significant forest fires have occurred in the barrens since the mid-19th century. These fires and also the hard bedrock has limited soil generation and plant growth. Both geological and cultural histories have played a role in the creation and maintenance of these open rock barren habitats. The above picture is from the top of a ridge overlooking Slide and Buck Lakes, the most rugged area of the park that stretches from here in the south to our Rock Ridge MAPS site about 6km to the north.

This excursion involved a lot of exercise – over 10km of paddling and about 6km walking. Several pairs of loons would come over quite close to the boat and check me out. Not sure why they do this, maybe the paddling and noise stirs up prey under the surface? I’ll never get tired of seeing Loons.

These are the aforementioned rock barrens. The last fire burned this area over around 1930, which demonstrates the remarkably slow rate of succession in the barrens. The few scattered trees are no more than 5 or 6 metres tall. Eastern Towhee, Field Sparrow, Common Nighthawk and Prairie Warbler are attracted to these habitats for its absence of tree/canopy cover, presence of low shrubby growth and/or sparse ground cover.

During the morning I completed a brand new point count route through this area to boost our monitoring coverage of this unique habitat. I was also hoping to find and georeference Prairie Warblers, a recently de-listed Species at Risk that is still quite rare and isolated in Ontario. They occur along a narrow band at the southern edge of the shield – from the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve in the east to the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve in the west. Rock barrens can be found throughout the shield but they are most widely distributed and heavily concentrated along this ecotone in central Ontario. This photo shows a small stretch of habitat incised by a wetland that held five Prairie Warblers. The deciduous tree on the right seemed to be a prominent song perch, which three gorgeous males aggressively fought over.

By the end of the day, over a dozen Prairies were located and mapped, which was a terrific reward for such a long day. I have two more “inventory” sessions for Prairies in the area still to come so there should be more of these bright yellow “buzzers” out there. This inventory will set the basic population parameters for potential future research, which would involve a more in-depth look at demographics and habitat preferences. The Prairie is one of a host of species that depends on cyclic disturbance, natural or anthropogenic, to maintain stable and viable populations. It is likely that, without another significant fire, the Prairie Warblers in Frontenac Park will be extirpated as these rock barrens mature. This is definitely a fascinating context for a detailed study…