This winter brought Tundra Swans very close to us, just south of Georgetown during April. The agricultural fields southeast of Mountainview and 10th Side Road also hosted Canada Geese, Caspian Tern, and nearby Ring necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Bufflehead, Ruddy Duck, Coot, Mallard, Redhead, and 7 Hooded Mergansers were seen on one visit by Dave Williams. Who needs Lake Ontario when the birds will come to us!
Hairy and Downy woodpeckers frequent backyard feeders at this time of year. Though different sizes – the hairy larger, the downy smaller – their colouration and patterning is well-nigh identical. The bills tell the tale. Hairy woodpeckers brandish large dagger- like beaks; the beaks of Downys are smaller and more chisel-like.
I’ve always assumed that downy and hairy woodpeckers were about as closely related as two species could be – that sometime in the relatively recent past, their lineages diverged from a common ancestor.
This happens when a species of animal or plant becomes geographically isolated through some mechanism, such as an ice age. Each group then proceeds on its own evolutionary trajectory to become a different species.
Interestingly, gene sequencing has proven that this process is not responsible for the similarity between downy and hairy woodpeckers. It turns out that they aren’t closely related at all. They are both, most assuredly, woodpeckers, but they peck on separate branches in the woodpecker evolutionary tree.
One startling theory suggests that mimicry – like the mimicry that explains the similarity between monarch butterflies and viceroy butterflies – is at work. Just as viceroys benefit from their resemblance to toxic monarchs, downy woodpeckers may benefit from looking like hairy woodpeckers.
To explain how, a study in 2012 proposed that the look-alike downys are able to claim space and resources because hairy woodpeckers mistake them for other hairys. The reasoning continues that since hairy woodpeckers know that fighting each other is potentially dangerous – recall the dagger beak — they leave the similar looking downys alone as well.
I don’t think the last words have been written on this topic. For me the idea that downy and hairy woodpeckers developed their striking similarity as a result of mimicry strains credulity, but then the natural world is nothing if not astonishing.
Read more by Don Scallen at his blog, Notes from the Wild
Personally I prefer their old name, Oldsquaw, but sadly it has been replaced by a more prosaic one. Nonetheless, this bird has always been a favorite of mine, a winter visitor elegantly attired at all times, and as with all the winter ducks, apparently unfazed by cold water and icy winds.
Don Scallen and I had stopped off at the Travelodge Hotel in Burlington to see what the lakeshore had to offer and we enjoyed watching a large group of Long-tailed Ducks diving for food. They swam away from the rocky wall on our approach, but not for long. They returned close to shore to dive under large chunks of rubble and rocks, staying underwater for several minutes at a time. We thought they were probably gleaning mollusks, and in fact this is their main source of food in winter. In summer these ducks also eat aquatic insects, other aquatic invertebrates, and some plant material. They usually feed within 30 feet of the water surface, as they were today, but these ducks can dive more than 200 feet deep at times. Like most ducks they propel themselves with their feet when diving, but they also may swim with their wings partly open. They fly low, with stiff wing-beats, sometimes tilting from side to side. During migration and when flying over land they fly very high in large flocks.
These ducks establish pair bonds in winter or during migration. They nest near water, using a great deal of down that the female supplements as she lays her eggs. Females first breed at two years of age, laying 6 to 11 eggs and incubating for 24- 29 days. The young swim and dive soon after hatching, but are tended by the female who may dislodge food items for them. They start to fly about a month later.
by Fiona Reid
President, Halton/North Peel Naturalist Club
The 22nd annual Christmas Bird Count took place on December 27, 2012. The fresh fall of snow overnight hindered or even prevented the participation of some count volunteers. Overall, there were 18 participants that took part in the field observations.
Generally, the Count produced close to average results based on comparisons with previous counts. The total number of species reported was 51 and the total number of birds was 10,082. The long-term averages for those are 49.9 and 9760 respectively. The results for the individual species are presented in the attached table. A new species for the Count was Cackling Goose seen in Count Week at Fairy Lake in Acton (See report in this issue of the newsletter). Also not previously reported was a Scaup sp. but this may not be entirely new as Lesser Scaup was recorded in 2011. New high counts were reported for Cooper’s Hawk (6), Merlin (2), Hairy Woodpecker (29), Bohemian Waxwing (180) , Dark-eyed Junco (693), and Northern Cardinal (101). Higher than average numbers of Canada Goose (3755), Mallard (682), Cedar Waxwing (159), American Tree Sparrow (591), and American Goldfinch (269) were recorded. Seventeen species had lower than average numbers and this offset the higher numbers mentioned above.
Thanks to the following participants: Ray Blower, Mark Cranford, Betty Ann Goldstein, Megan Kenzie, Lou Marsh, Meryl Marsh, Irene McIlveen, W.D. McIlveen, Fiona Reid, Dawn Renfrew, Teresa Rigg, Don Scallen, Dan Shuurman, Rick Stroud, David Sukhiani, Janice Sukhiani, Patrick Tuck, and Dave Williams.
Many thanks once more to Larry May for arranging access to the Maple Lodge Farms property and to the Halton Regional Police Service for use of the community boardroom for the wrap-up session.
On December 23, 2012, Bradley Bloemendal posted the sighting of at least three Cackling Geese at Fairy Lake in Acton was on the ONTBirds hotline. Next day, I went to check out the report. At that time, there was still a fairly large area of open water on the lake. I counted 330 Canada Geese, 32 Mallards, one American Black Duck, 6 Common Mergansers, and 8 Ring-billed Gulls. I could not distinguish any Cackling Geese among the birds there but they could easily have been present among the geese lined up on the ice off to the west side of the lake. Many had their heads tucked in and size differences were impossible to determine under those conditions. On December 26, I went back and found that much of the formerly-open water had frozen. The Canada Goose count was now down to 130 and those were present in the last open water close to the point in Prospect Park. Among them were four Cackling Geese. As can be seen in the accompanying photo, the Cackling Geese are much smaller than the regular Canada Geese and their bills are stubbier. Their presence was therefore confirmed for Count Week for the Halton Hills Christmas Bird Census that took place on December 27, 2012.
The taxonomy of birds that most people would recognize as Canada Geese has been in debate for many years. Splitting into various races was mentioned by Tavener over 90 years ago. Over the years, the number of recognized races or sub-species has stood at ten to twelve different forms. Distinction between these is blurred at best but size is one of the main features. There is much overlap and intergrading between the races as well as hybridization, not to mention size differences caused by diets and food supply, and thus distinction in the field is nearly impossible. It was no surprise though that American Ornithologist’s Union’s Committee on Classification and Nomenclature decided to split Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) into two species: Canada Goose (B. canadensis) and Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii). This became official in 2004 in the 45th supplement to the Check-list of North American Birds. Greater Canada Goose contains six subspecies, namely canadensis [Atlantic], interior [Interior], maxima [Giant], moffitti [Moffit’s], parvipes, fulva [Vancouver], and occidentalis [Dusky]. The smaller Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii) group includes the subspecies hutchinsii [Richardson’s], [Bering], leucopareia [Aleutian], taverneri [Taverner’s], and minima. The asiatica are already extinct.
The Cackling Goose was first recognized as a separate species when Sir John Richardson collected a specimen in 1822 north of Hudson’s Bay. He named it Branta hutchinsii after a man by the name of Hutchins who was employed by the Hudson Bay Company. For this reason, it is sometimes referred to as Hutchins’s Goose but now it is identified as the Richardson’s subspecies of Cackling Goose. The geese at Fairy Lake appear to be of this subspecies as their breasts are light coloured, unlike the Cackling Cackling Goose (minima) which usually has a much darker breast.
Nomenclature of Canada and Cackling Geese is far from settled and we can expect further changes. There has even been a recent proposal that the group be divided into six species with 200 subspecies. This classification would be quite unworkable for field biologists even though DNA analysis might justifiably distinguish that many true species. It is simply not feasible to recognize that number of subspecies without access to DNA laboratory testing. We are only now just learning to separate out the Cackling Geese. Let’s not go too far in the taxonomic splitting exercise. There is always a possibility that while there may be genuinely different genetic groups, the differences may not be enough to separate the species and in the end, we might still be looking at one large but diverse species of Canada Goose.
by W.D. McIlveen
Halton/North Peel Naturalist Club
A small group of club members joined me for an outing to La Salle Park back in November. We were fortunate to have very good weather – so often it is extremely cold on the lakeshore! We saw all the more common ducks and swans, and were happy to watch a large group of Ruddy Ducks and with them were some White-winged Scoters, a nice bird to see up close.
I spotted two Yellow-rumped Warblers, quite late to be around foraging for insects in the willows. After we all had a look at the warblers we went over to see the Trumpeter Swans up close on the beach. We almost missed a juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron perched above our heads!
La Salle always seems to have something good to offer and this day was no exception.
by Fiona Reid
President, Halton/North Peel Naturalist Club
In mid-July I watched a flock of bobolinks at Forks of the Credit Provincial Park. They were gathering prior to their incredible 10 000 km journey back to the pampas of Argentina.
The bobolinks of Forks of the Credit Provincial Park are good news for a species in sharp decline in Ontario and beyond.
Breeding Bird Survey data indicate an alarming 52% drop in Ontario’s bobolink population over the last fifteen years. In part this is because of their penchant for nesting in hayfields – hayfields that are often cut in June when bobolink young are still in their nests.
At the Forks bobolinks needn’t worry about whirring blades. But alas, even here, the future of bobolinks may be in jeopardy.
Forks of the Credit Provincial Park is gradually returning to its primeval state – forest. Ash, maple and choke cherry are reclaiming the meadowlands cleared by intrepid farmers long ago. Left alone, trees will prevail and the bobolinks will be gone.
Bobolinks though, are only one patch in the quilt of the glorious grassland ecosystem that exists at the Forks. Many other birds such as meadowlarks and a wealth of sparrow species including savannah, grasshopper and clay-colored will disappear as the trees return. And the extensive milkweed stands will vanish along with their famous patron, the monarch butterfly.
Park officials here (and I’m sure in other jurisdictions in Eastern North America) face difficult choices in the management of former agricultural lands in their care.
Should they honour the natural inclination of the land and allow trees to return along with the birds, animals and wildflowers that depend on them? Or should they intervene and kill the trees to save grassland and the myriad species it supports?
We need to start a conversation about the future of the grasslands at the Forks and elsewhere.
This story appeared originally in Notes from the Wild at inthehills.ca/blogs
by Don Scallen
Vice-President, Halton/North Peel Naturalist Club
The 21st annual Christmas Bird Count for Halton Hills was held on December 27, 2011. The weather that day was marked by a fairly constant snowfall that restricted viewing of birds and generally made for a dull day with temperatures just above the freezing mark.
The results for the 2011 Count are summarized in the attached table. For comparison, the average and high numbers recorded for the previous 20 years are also included in the table. The total number of species recorded for the day plus Count Week was 56 and that is just below the maximum count of 57 species. The species count was bolstered by five new species including Northern Shoveller, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, and Red- breasted Merganser observed at the Maple Lodge farms sewage lagoons. The Mute Swan was seen at an estate on the 10th Line near Terra Cotta but although it was counted here, caution needs to be exercised in case it is really a captive bird. With the new additions, the cumulative number of species for the Count Area rises to 101. Two species (Great Blue Heron and Easter Screech Owl) were found in Count Week and not on Count Day. The total number of birds (10777) is somewhat higher than the long-term average count of 9744. Considering the weather, the day has to be viewed as very successful.
New high numbers of Common Goldeneye (18) and American Robin (266) were encountered and this might be attributable to conditions prevailing during or slightly before the count period for 2011. New high numbers of Red-bellied Woodpecker (11) are likely due to increases in the local resident population for the species is known to be increasing substantially across Southern Ontario. Both Green-winged Teal and Bufflehead with two birds each increased from the previous high count of only one. Black-capped Chickadee matched the previous high of 465 birds. Other species were present in numbers within previously established ranges for the respective species.
In total, 23 people participated in the count, either as observers or as feeder watchers. Thanks to the following participants: Anna Baranova, Judy Biggar, Brad Bloemendal, Ray Blower, Mark Cranford, Betty Ann Goldstein, Charles Hildebrandt, Larry Martyn, Diane McCurdy, Irene McIlveen, W.D. McIlveen, Michael Pearson, Fiona Reid, Valerie Rosenfield, Don Scallen, Dan Shuurman, Chris Street, Rick Stroud, Janice Sukhiani, Jake Veerman, George Wilkes, Marg Wilkes, and Dave Williams.
Many thanks to Larry May for arranging access to the Maple Lodge Farms property and to Halton Regional Police for use of the community boardroom for the wrap-up session.
by W.D. McIlveen
Halton/North Peel Naturalist Club
