This is Jean Iron's fifth report by satellite phone for the period 7-13
August 2010 from Longridge Point, Ontario, on southern James Bay. The
Red Knot and shorebird survey are led by Mark Peck of the Royal Ontario
Museum. Partners are the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Trent
University and the Canadian Wildlife Service.

SHOREBIRD OBSERVATIONS: For most species only the high count day is
given below in checklist order. Date for the first juveniles are noted.

Black-bellied Plover: 163 molting adults on 9 August, some mostly in
alternate plumage, others well molted to basic plumage.

American Golden-Plover: 9 molting adults on 8 August.

Semipalmated Plover: 237 mostly adults on 9 August, first juvenile on
8th. No banded birds.

Killdeer: 39 on 9 August.

Spotted Sandpiper: 1 juvenile on 10 August.

Solitary Sandpiper: 2 juveniles on 9 August.

Greater Yellowlegs: 130 on 9 August, 60 percent juveniles. Slow shift
from adults to juveniles.

Lesser Yellowlegs: 572 mostly juveniles on 9 August. Rapid shift from
adults to juveniles.

Whimbrel: 52 adults on 6 August with numbers dropping off.

Hudsonian Godwit: 970 molting adults on 9 August. James Bay is the most
important southbound staging area for Hudsonian Godwits.

Marbled Godwit: 8 juveniles on 7 August and 7 on 9th. Small numbers
breed on Akimiski Island and in the prairie-like marshes of southwestern
James Bay.

Ruddy Turnstone: 604 mostly adults on 10 August, first juvenile on 5th.

RED KNOT: 1382 molting adults on 6 August, adult numbers dropped off
with 178 on 7th increasing to 672 on 13th. First juvenile knot on 9
August, 8 on 13th.

Sanderling: 36 molting adults on 13 August.

Semipalmated Sandpiper: 4715 mostly juveniles on 10 August. Rapid shift
from adults to juveniles.

WESTERN SANDPIPER: 1 adult was seen by Doug McRae.

Least Sandpiper: 264 juveniles on 9 August, 1 adult on 13th. Rapid shift
from adults to juveniles.

White-rumped Sandpiper: 7541 molting adults on 10 August. Juveniles are
late migrants.

Baird's Sandpiper: 1 juvenile on 8 August was the first and another on
13th.

Pectoral Sandpiper: 695 adults on 9 August, first juvenile on 8th.

Dunlin: 127 mostly adults on 13 August, first juveniles (2) on 10th.

Stilt Sandpiper: 2 molting adults on 9 August.

Short-billed Dowitcher: 12 juveniles on 9 August. Rapid shift from
adults to juveniles.

Wilson's Snipe: 10 on 10 August.

Wilson's Phalarope: 4 juveniles on 7 August and 6 juveniles on 8th.
Small numbers breed in the prairie-like marshes of James Bay.

Red-necked Phalarope: 8 on 7 August included 5 molting adults and 3
juveniles.

OTHER BIRDS: This is not a complete list. Brant, 1, probably summered on
James Bay. Canada Goose. Gadwall. American Wigeon. American Black Duck.
Mallard. Northern Shoveler. Northern Pintail. Green-winged Teal. Greater
Scaup. Lesser Scaup. Surf Scoter. White-winged Scoter. Black Scoter,
1042 mostly molting males on 10 August was only day with high numbers.
Bufflehead. Common Goldeneye. Common Merganser. Red-breasted Merganser.
Double-crested Cormorant. American Bittern, 2 on 10 and 11 August. Great
Blue Heron. Bald Eagle. Northern Harrier. Merlin, family group of 2
adults and 3 juveniles hunting shorebirds. American Kestrel, 1 juvenile
or female on 13 August. Yellow Rail, last heard actively ticking on 10
August. Little Gull, 1 that has almost completed its molt to second
basic plumage. Bonaparte's Gull, 1647 molting adults on 9 August and
only 10-12 juveniles, the low number of juveniles suggests that many are
still on the breeding grounds or have migrated south. Common and Arctic
Terns feeding juveniles with a ratio of 13 Common to 8 Arctic. Caspian
Tern, 5 or 6 most days. Parasitic Jaeger, 2 light morph adults on 10 and
11 August. Long-eared Owl, 4 on 6 August were probably a family group.
Short-eared Owl is seen regularly over the marshes. Common Nighthawk, 1
on 9 August. Black-backed Woodpecker, 1 on 13 August. Western
Meadowlark, 1 probable on 8 August, photos taken which will be examined
later. Le Conte's and Nelson's Sparrows, singing has dropped off
noticeably to almost no song now. White-winged Crossbill, 49 on 9
August. Common Redpoll, 8 on 7 August.

HUDSON BAY REPORT: The following report is from Ken Abraham of the
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. "The melt was very early this
year. The phenology of goose nesting seems to have responded accordingly
with a very early laying and hatch. Nest success in our study areas was
below average because of very high predation rates. I wasn't in a
position to get any evidence of duck or swan reproduction this year. We
did not do a survey of molting scoters this year, so I have no
explanation for the lack of scoters off Longridge Point. We've been
speculating about possible differences in weather patterns, winds or
water temperatures, but we don't have any data. I was on Southampton
Island from July 20-30. I spent a week at East Bay and a few days in
Coral Harbour doing vegetation surveys and trying to evaluate the role
of geese in the changes that have occurred there in the last 30 years.
All four species of geese (snows, cackling, brant and Ross's) seemed to
have a good year with nest success in the 60-80% range for the first
three and relatively early hatching; brood sizes ranged from 1-5 but
seemed to average about 2. We had a couple of broods of Red Knots with
half grown chicks at the beginning of that period. We also saw several
broody White-rumped Sandpipers and Ruddy Turnstones. Those broods would
probably have fledged sometime near the end of July or the first week of
August. The King Eiders had broods, but the number of young in the
creches seemed to be fairly low. We saw a few flocks of Whimbrels but
according to the crew who had been there, they were the first of the
summer so they may have been post breeding."

MAMMALS: Beluga, 2 adults on 13 August, Mike McMurtry took a tissue
sample from dead young Beluga for DNA and toxicology analyses. A
melanistic Red Fox on 11 August. Few small mammals are being seen, but
sightings of Northern Harriers, Short-eared and Long-eared Owls, suggest
that voles and/or shrews are present in sufficient numbers or they're
also eating birds. Red Squirrel.

BUTTERFLIES: New species since the last report are Orange Sulphur,
Pink-edged Sulphur, Palaeno Sulphur, Bog Copper and Summer Azure. Don
Sutherland reports that butterfly diversity is low this summer, which he
attributes to variable and wet weather.

DRAGONFLIES: A sample: Cherry-faced Meadowhawk, Black Meadowhawk, Canada
Darner, Sedge Darner.

Southern James Bay map shows location of Longridge Point
www.jeaniron.ca/2010/longridgemap.jpg

Next report will be about 10 days when Jean is home. The crew was to fly
out to Moosonee on 15 August, but the helicopter was delayed in Ungava.
They are now expected to be picked up on the 17th depending on the
weather. The next day they take the 5 hour train ride from Moosonee to
Cochrane where they will overnight. Then on the third day it's a 10 hour
drive to Toronto and Peterborough. Their trip reminds me of the 1987
comedy movie "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" starring Steve Martin and
John Candy.

Ron Pittaway
Minden, Ontario
Canada