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July 31, 2014
Vol. 14, No. 30
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Eagles nest on Sharbot Lake By Jeff Green he nest on an small island on Sharbot Lake, which had reportedly been used in the past by Ospreys, has been a good spot for this bald eagle, judging by the size of the young, who should be flying within weeks, or even days. Bald Eagles, which had been almost wiped out in Southern Ontario by 1980, have made a comeback. They are still more common in northwestern Ontario, but nests have been identified on lakes in Frontenac, Lanark, and Leeds and Grenville in recent years. Bald Eagles are designated as a Species at Risk by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), but their designation on that list is as a “Species of Special Concern” which is defined by the ministry in the following way: “Lives in the wild in Ontario, is not endangered or threatened, but may become threatened or endangered due to a combination of biological characteristics and identified threats.” The MNR has four categories of Species at Risk: Extirpated, Endangered, Threatened, and Special Concern. Bald Eagles were listed as Endangered in Southern Ontario in 1980 and have seen steady improvement. Still, active nests are not common sightings, judging by the number of nests reported in the latest Southern Ontario Bald Eagle Monitoring Program report by Bird Studies Canada in the spring of 2012. That report identified 57 active nest sites in Southern
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Ontario, the bulk of which are in the vicinity of Lake Erie. Of those, 41 were successful, and 67 chicks survived at least to the fledgling stage (the point when they were able to fly and leave the nest). That study identified only three nests in Frontenac County, on Bobs, Wolfe and Kashwakamak Lakes, and one in Lanark County, on Christie Lake. The Bobs Lake nest was the only successful one, bringing two chicks to the fledgling stage. There were very likely more successful nests in the two counties in 2011, based on the regular sightings of Bald Eagles each year, but they were either in more obscure locations or they were not reported to Bird Studies Canada. Marcus Saunders, from Clarendon, an avid bird watcher who did the research in Northern Frontenac and Lanark Counties for the most recent Bird Studies Canada Atlas of Birds of Canada, said that he sees Bald Eagles locally “just about every month of the year.” He said he was aware of a nesting pair on Crotch Lake a number of years ago, and he thinks there may be nests on or near other lakes. Bud Andress spent 20 years working on the restoration of Bald Eagles in the Thousand Islands region, which included building eagle nesting platforms. He also was part of a team that attached a radio transmitter to six fledgling birds, three of which survived. “The three birds travelled a spectacular distance. They went as far as James Bay,
Labrador, West Virginia and Washington, DC..” The travel patterns of adult Bald Eagles are not well known, Andress said. There are a number of birds that over-winter in the Thousand Islands region, where their largest food source is white-tailed deer. Unlike Osprey, which survive almost exclusively on fish that they kill themselves, Bald Eagles are opportunistic feeders, happy to steal fish from Osprey or scavenge for food in any way they can.
Kids of Steel Triathlon at Oso beach
Winners in the female ages 14-15 category, l-r Ella Kuvas of Milton (3rd), Erika Rankin of Pontypool (1st) and Sara Borrens of Ottawa (2nd)
O
ver 130 youngsters aged 3-15 participated in this year’s Kids of Steel (KOS) Triathlon event, which took place on July 27 in Sharbot Lake. The race was hosted by the Bytown Storm Triathlon Club and attracted racers and their families from all over Ontario some from as far away as Ottawa, Toronto, Kingston, Milton, Peterborough, Windsor, Cornwall, Pembroke and Petawawa. The KOS is one of the five qualifying races for Triathlon Ontario’s Youth Cup point se-
ries. The event included numerous races, all triathlon events and each with swim, bike and running portions of varying lengths depending on the age group. The shortest event, for participants aged 6 and 7, included a 100 metre swim, 5 km bike ride and 1 km run, and the longest event, which was for racers aged 14 and 15, included a 400 metre swim, 10 km ride, and a 4 km run. New this year was a draft legal event, one of just three events offered in Ontario for par-
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ticipants aged 14 and 15. Greg Kealey of Bytown Storm Triathlon and the event’s race director said Sharbot Lake offers up the “perfect” venue. “Not only is there clean water and a great beach-front park and plenty of parking but it’s a very condensed course allowing racers to loop around numerous times, which gives parents and onlookers a great chance to watch the kids race. ” Historically, the event is one of the oldest races for kids in Canada. It was originally founded over 30 years ago by Sharbot Lake residents Rudy and Joan Hollywood and Joan was the head official at the race again this year. The event and venue is also a historic one for triathletes of all ages for another reason - famed Canadian triathlete Simon Whitfield, who won Olympic gold in the inaugural Olympic triathlon event in 2000, raced and won some of the earliest races here. Whitfield has been immortalized with a bronze plaque in his honor at Oso Beach Park. Fifteen-year-old Liam Donnelly of Campbellville, Ontario who placed first in his event, said he enjoyed the course and he recalled the exact moment in the race where he was able to move into the first place position. “I was in second place out of the first transition
and caught Kyle (who placed second) and attacked at that point not wanting Kyle to draft off me.” Donnelly paid homage to Whitfield, who he said is one of his heroes. He had a chance to meet the famed triathlete when Whitfield was racing in Toronto a few years ago. “I ran right beside him for the last 600 metres of his race and we talked afterwards... He is such a nice guy and definitely is the inspiration for the majority of Canadian triathletes. He even gave me a shout out on Twitter,” Donnelly recalled. Donnelly will be taking part in the third provincial race in the series in August and said he feels “totally ready for it.” In the female ages 14 - 15 event, Erika Rankin, who also won here last year, surprised herself by taking first place again. Rankin also plays soccer and was not able to train much prior to the KOS due to numerous injuries. She said she was thrilled with her win. Unfortunately she will not be able to qualify for the cup since she missed the earlier races in the series. Racers looking to win the Triathlon Ontario Provincial Youth Cup have to compete in at least four of the five qualifying provincial races and their top four scores will determine tthe winner
Phone Book Error Please note there is an error on page 75 of the Frontenac News Community Telephone Directory. The listing for Royal Bank Sharbot Lake has the wrong number. The correct number is 279-3191
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“What we don’t know,” said Andress, “is if the nesting pairs we see in the summer stay here in the winter or travel elsewhere, and we don’t know if the pairs stay together all year or just meet up in the breeding grounds in the spring.” Bald Eagles do nest in the same location year after year, not necessarily in the same nest but in the same vicinity. One male in the Thousand Islands area where Andress lives has had 37 chicks since 1999, likely with two different mates.
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