At 2:00 p.m. today at Port Bruce, in the driving rain and wind, I had a
very brief look at a very dark storm-petrel (species unknown) The bird was
200 + metres out from shore in the vicinity of several Bonaparte's Gulls.
It was about 1/2 the size of the Bonaparte's. I only had a one or two
second head-on look as it balanced with wings up atop a wave but never saw
the rear end before it disappeared, so will have to be satisfied with
"storm-petrel".
It wasn't a good day for identifying rarities. At 3:30 p.m. a dark morph
jaeger (species unidentified) also blew by. Jaegers of any species are
extremely rare in Elgin County.
I watched 1000 + Bonaparte's and 100s of Ring-billed Gulls, Herring Gulls
and Common Terns moving west along the shoreline. Other interesting birds
included 8 Little Gulls (5 adults, 1 2nd yr, 1 juvenile), 1 Caspian Tern, 6
Sanderlings and 1 American Wigeon [the only duck].
The winds intensified throughout the afternoon until about 4:00 p.m. At
that point a steady stream of 100s of Bonaparte's Gulls were passing by
every couple of minutes. I could have used a few more eyes. Who knows
what else went by? When I left at 5:00 p.m. the winds were still fairly
strong but very few birds were moving. Although I've spent many days over
the years "sea-watching" at Point Edward and Kettle Point I don't remember
seeing such a steady stream of wind-driven birds go by as in today's 5 hour
marathon.
Port Bruce is on Lake Erie in the east end of Elgin County at the mouth of
the Catfish Creek and about 10 minutes south of Aylmer at the lake end of
Imperial Road (Hwy 73).
Dave Martin
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Harrietsville, on
Dave Martin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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