The Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory is a

bird observatory A bird observatory is a centre for the study of bird migration and bird populations. They are usually focused on local birds, but may also include interest in far-flung areas. Most bird observatories are small operations with a limited staff, many ...

located in the Prince Edward Point National Wildlife Area, located on Prince Edward Point in the south-east corner of Prince Edward County,

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. The National Wildlife Area was established in 1978 covering 560

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s. The observatory was established in 1995 to monitor bird migrations across the point, continuing the work of the

Kingston Field Naturalists Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

who performed similar work in the 1970s and 1980s. The observatory was designated a Globally Important Birding Area in 1998 by the Canadian Nature Federation and

Bird Studies Canada Birds Canada (formerly Bird Studies Canada) is Canada's national bird conservation organization. Birds Canada began as the ''Long Point Bird Observatory'' in 1960, changing its name in 1998 to reflect the growing national scope of its research ...

. It is also an International Monarch Butterfly Reserve.

Role

The observatory's purpose is to observe the migratory bird populations. It does so through a combination of

bird banding Bird ringing (UK) or bird banding (US) is the attachment of a small, individually numbered metal or plastic tag to the leg or wing of a wild bird to enable individual identification. This helps in keeping track of the movements of the bird an ...

, daily censuses and observations. Funding for these activities comes from a variety of sources. In 2002, the Ontario Trillium Foundation awarded the observatory $150,000 to renovate the research station, stabilize the bird banding operations and develop

outreach Outreach is the activity of providing services to any population that might not otherwise have access to those services. A key component of outreach is that the group providing it is not stationary, but mobile; in other words, it involves meetin ...

activities. Smaller grants have included a $5,000 donation from the George Cedric Metcalfe Foundation for a modern bird banding facility and a $7,000 grant from the Helen McCrea Peacock Foundation to construct blinds and observation platforms.

Ecology

Prince Edward Point extends about 10 kilometers into

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

. Off the edges of the point there are both

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body ...

s and deeper waters. The point itself is limestone

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of bed ...

with a thin covering of unconsolidated Farmington loam topsoil. The point features an interior with primarily

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

and

scrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

. Also present are small amounts of wooded

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s, shrub-lined

pond A pond is a small, still, land-based body of water formed by pooling inside a depression (geology), depression, either naturally or artificiality, artificially. A pond is smaller than a lake and there are no official criteria distinguishing ...

mixed forest Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions. These ...

s and

alvar An alvar is a biological environment based on a limestone plain with thin or no soil and, as a result, sparse grassland vegetation. Often flooded in the spring, and affected by drought in midsummer, alvars support a distinctive group of prairie ...

s. Both sandy and rocky shores are found along the south beaches of the point, while the north beaches are prominent

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff or rock face is an area of Rock (geology), rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. ...

s. Some of the key species in the ecosystem of the point include fringed gentian, viper's bugloss,

butterfly weed ''Asclepias tuberosa'', commonly known as butterfly weed, is a species of milkweed native to eastern and southwestern North America. It is commonly known as butterfly weed because of the butterflies that are attracted to the plant by its color a ...

jewelweed ''Impatiens'' is a genus of more than 1,000 species of flowering plants, widely distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere and the tropics. Together with the genus '' Hydrocera'' (one species), ''Impatiens'' make up the family Balsaminace ...

black-eyed susan ''Black-Eyed Susan; or, All in the Downs'' is a comic play in three acts by Douglas Jerrold. The story concerns a heroic sailor, William, who has been away from England for three years fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. Meanwhile, his wife, Su ...

and small yellow lady's slipper. Rare

vascular plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes (, ) or collectively tracheophyta (; ), are plants that have lignin, lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They also have a specialized non-lignified Ti ...

s found on Prince Edward Point include Ontario aster, downy wood mint and clammyweed. Prince Edward Point is a concentration point of

bird migration Bird migration is a seasonal movement of birds between breeding and wintering grounds that occurs twice a year. It is typically from north to south or from south to north. Animal migration, Migration is inherently risky, due to predation and ...

s over the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

. Over 300 species of birds have been recorded at Prince Edward Point. Most of these birds are recorded in migration, however 74 species of bird have been recorded nesting on the point.

Bird species coverage

The site experiences heavy bird migration. Single-day totals of

greater scaup The greater scaup (''Aythya marila''), just scaup in Europe or, colloquially, "bluebill" in North America, is a mid-sized diving duck, larger than the closely related lesser scaup and tufted duck. It spends the summer months breeding in Iceland ...

long-tailed duck The long-tailed duck (''Clangula hyemalis'') or coween, is a medium-sized sea duck that breeds in the tundra and taiga regions of the arctic and winters along the northern coastlines of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It is the only member of ...

, and

white-winged scoter The white-winged scoter (''Melanitta deglandi'') is a large Merginae, sea duck. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek ''melas'' "black" and ''netta'' "duck". The species name commemorates French ornithologist Côme-Damien Degland. Descri ...

s have exceeded 1% of their total North American populations. Single-day totals of common birds exceed 10,000 individuals for species like

tree swallow The tree swallow (''Tachycineta bicolor'') is a migratory bird of the family Hirundinidae. Found in the Americas, the tree swallow was first described in 1807 by French ornithologist Louis Vieillot as ''Hirundo bicolor''. It has since been mov ...

s, long-tailed ducks, and

yellow-rumped warbler The yellow-rumped warbler (''Setophaga coronata'') is a regular North American bird species that can be commonly observed all across the continent. Its extensive range connects both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the U.S. as well as Canada an ...

s. The single-day count of

dark-eyed junco The dark-eyed junco (''Junco hyemalis'') is a species of junco, a group of small, grayish New World sparrows. The species is common across much of temperate North America and in summer it ranges far into the Arctic. It is a variable species, much ...

s has exceeded 70,000 birds. This table contains the spring bird counts, averaged over 1995–1999. The priority of various species depends on how well their breeding grounds are covered by surveys such as the

Breeding Bird Survey A breeding bird survey monitors the status and trends of bird populations. Data from the survey are an important source for the range maps found in field guides. The North American Breeding Bird Survey is a joint project of the United States Geo ...

, with birds whose breeding grounds are well surveyed being of lesser priority. The Mean DET is the daily estimated total number of birds migrating across Prince Edward Point, and the Mean Band is the number of birds banded in the season. This table includes only species with at least ten individuals counted per season, across not less than five days. Table of species

References

External links

* {{Ontario parks Parks in Prince Edward County, Ontario Bird observatories National Wildlife Areas of Canada