Black Is The In Colour for This Spring - Part 2

There was another unusual black bird along the Niagara River this winter in Fort Erie, the Fish Crow. In January there were two of these new black birds. The Fish Crow has not been seen in the Niagara area before. They are usually found only within a few kilometers of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico shore from New York City south to Florida. There are no tidal flats in Southern Ontario. There is ice on our shores in the winter. Not really the habitat for Fish Crows. 

© Larry Meade

So to carry on with this mystery of the Fish Crow, there was a Fish Crow in Bronte on March 16 and on March 30^th. Fish Crows have also been seen hanging out at the University of Guelph. What is going on? Where is the ocean? These are the first Fish Crows for the Hamilton area. Does this mean I do not need to go to Florida again?  Recently Fish Crows have been expanding their range in the U.S.A. Some populations of Fish Crows are showing up in areas not connected to their normal range. These new populations are sort of leapfrogging as they move away from the ocean. The closest of these new ranges is found in Ithaca, N.Y. There, the Fish Crows started to show up in the 1980’s and now they seem to be a permanent group. Is Ontario the next leap?

Now you and I are going to have a little problem telling a Fish Crow from an American Crow which is a little larger. Well, it is all in the song. If you don’t hear the call of the Fish Crow it is really really hard to tell the two birds apart by sight but by ear that is a different story. What does a Fish Crow sound like. Just think of when you heard a crow calling at a seaside salt marsh in Georgia. Click here to hear the sound.

Last fall and winter, Ravens were also seen almost weekly flying through the Grimsby and Upper Stoney Creek area.  Ravens are larger than American Crows and have a very different call, a croak rather than a caw. In 2011 a pair of Ravens successfully nested in Flamborough.  The first pair of Ravens, a bird found normally much further north, was not seen in the Hamilton area until 2001.

Something is happening with black in our bird world. We have new species making a presence in Southern Ontario. Will they start to make their home in Hamilton? (The Raven has...)

So is it climate change? Maybe. Is it is habitat change? Maybe.  Every  species of bird seems to have a few adventurous members that are always exploring where the species has not gone before and some may find a new area suitable for their life. 

The changes in these birds do one thing for sure and that is wonderful for those of us who enjoy nature. They are providing us with new wonderments every day. No year is the same.

So look very carefully at the next big black bird you see. It could be your brand new neighbour.

Bruce Mackenzie 

Manager Customer Service and Operations

Hamilton Conservation Authority

Black Is The In Colour for This Spring - Part 1

Our warm March has certainly kick-started the spring bird migration through the Niagara Peninsula and the city of Hamilton. Something exciting is happening with the colour black in birds in 2012.

Birdwatchers are seeing some new species and in new ways in the Hamilton area. This spring for the first time ever on March 22, two Black Vultures were seen migrating together at Beamer Memorial Conservation Area. And better still, a renowned nature photographer, Mr. Tom Thomas, was there to record the event of the two birds at Beamer flying overhead. Now to add to those excitement just days earlier another Black Vulture was seen migrating towards Hamilton on March 16. 

Between the years 1961 - 2000 only 15 Black Vultures have been seen in the Hamilton area as noted in Bob Curry’s book, Birds of Hamilton. In the past decade a Black Vulture has been seen only every couple of years in the Hamilton area. To have three of these magnificent birds in less than a week is just phenomenal to the birding world. 

© Nick Chill

In Hamilton we are used to seeing Turkey Vultures flying through our skies from March until November. Over 10,000 vultures, migrate in the spring alone. It was not that long ago when Turkey Vultures were rare. They started to nest in the Kelso area on the Niagara Escarpment in the 1940’s. In 1975 only 53 were recorded in the spring migration at Beamer. In 2011 there were over 6700 recorded by the Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch at Beamer. To the end of March of this year there have been 3400 Turkey vultures seen already. This is an increase of 72% over the 1980 vultures seen to the end of March in 2011. WOW!

 In the fall migration of an estimated 100,000 Turkey Vultures leave Ontario on their southward migration each year. Not bad for a bird that was almost nonexistent here 70 years ago.

Tom Thomas

Now to most of us a vulture is a vulture. The difference is that Turkey Vultures have red heads, are a little larger than Black Vultures and the back half of their wing is light gray along the entire length. They seldom flap their wings. They just seem to float through the air. 

© Gerrit Vyn

The Black Vulture has a black head and light gray wingtips. It flaps its wings more often and with its short tail the flight is very reminiscent of a bat in flight. And have legs and feet that are almost white.

In the Eastern United States there are thousands and thousands of Black Vultures from Southern Pennsylvania south to Florida and Central America but they are not as migratory as the Turkey Vulture. 

Birders had high hopes for these sightings of Black Vultures this spring for there were five Black Vultures wintering along the Niagara River around Lewiston N.Y. last winter. This has not happened before either. We have no way of telling whether or not the three migrating  birds seen at Beamer were part of the wintering five. Remember the mild winter. It was the likely reason that that these Blacks survived the winter along the Niagara River area.

This is not the first time some new bird species have shown up in Southern Ontario and stayed. The Cardinal did not appear in Hamilton area until 1923. Now it is in every neighbourhood and across all of

© Jim Paris

Southern Ontario. The now common Red-bellied Woodpecker did not show up in the Hamilton area in any number until the mid 1960’s. The same kind of story goes for the Mockingbird and the Carolina Wren as well.

Remember the Turkey Vulture was not a bird our parents saw. It has recently set up camp and is now in the thousands in migration.

So is it climate change? Maybe. Is it is habitat change? Maybe.  Every  species of bird seems to have a few adventurous members that are always exploring where the species has not gone before and some may find a new area suitable for their life. 

The changes in these birds do one thing for sure and that is wonderful for those of us who enjoy nature. They are providing us with new wonderments every day. No year is the same.

So look very carefully at the next big black bird you see. It could be your brand new neighbour.

Bruce Mackenzie

Manager Customer Service and Operations

Hamilton Conservation Authority