Haliburton Region - Mon, 30 Apr 2001

Hi Birders,

I was up in the area just south of Dorset (Hwy 35 & Hwy 117), where I 
volunteered to do a Red-shouldered Hawk & Woodpecker Survey route, and had a 
couple of interesting sightings.  By the way, I only had response from 1 
RSHA, then ironically saw one fly over my car 10 minutes after finishing my 
route!
First was the number of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, unbelievable, I never 
knew they were so common, I had somewhere in the neighbourhood of 40-50 
YBSAs in the 19km route, also had 7 Pileated Woodpeckers.
There were many Yellow-rumped Warblers up there along with 3 Blue-headed 
Vireos, 2 of which looked like a pair as they were staying very close to one 
another, one even seemed to feed the other, and I heard at least 5 Winter 
Wrens singing along the route.  Also seen were 1 Osprey, 1 Sharp-shinned 
Hawk, along with many Purple Finches, Evening Grosbeaks and Pine Siskins. 
Had a Broad-winged Hawk on the wires along Hwy 118.
One very interesting sighting/listening experience was that of a Blue Jay 
doing a perfect imitation of a Common Loon 'yodel', it was quite amazing to 
see and hear.  I knew Blue Jay repertoirs were extensive but had never heard 
nor heard of them imitating a Common Loon, it was doing this call with it's 
bill shut and so wasn't quite as loud as Blue Jays usually are, it made it 
sound like the bird was a very distant Common Loon, any comments on this or 
other sounds BLJAs make would be appreciated.

PS - added Spotted Sandpiper to my GO train (Richmond Hill/Toronto) list 
this morning, I believe my list is up to 35 over the past 4 1/2 months.

Good birding all,

Frank Pinilla
Richmond Hill, ON
frankpinilla@hotmail.com

South East Haliburton County - Sun, 8 Apr 2001

Well the warmth and some open water has returned to the Eels Lake/ Gooderham
area of Haliburton County.
River/creeks are all ice free. Some small wetlands are also partially ice
free. All Lakes appear  to be locked in with ice for another 2-3 weeks. The
snow cover ranged from none to 2+ feet in the forests.
Last night the first Thunderstorms of the year arrived after midnight. Most
dirt roads are very soft and muddy currently.

Birds species seen

Small numbers of Brown Creepers, White-winged Crossbills, Pine Siskins and
Purple Finches in the area.
Lots of American Gold Finches, Golden-crowned Kinglets, American Robins,
Common Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds.
Waterfowl: Buffleheads, Hooded Mergansers, and small flocks of Canada Geese.
Other newly arrived migrants Turkey Vultures, Song Sparrows, and Swamp
Sparrows

Mammals

Red Fox,  and Fisher observed along roads after dark.

Tyler Hoar
thoar@home.com