Greeting all, I spent several hours at the park today and saw several birds of interest:
1 juv. Hudsonian Godwit - same as previous few days - ranges entire beach length plus Gull Island 1 adult Little Gull - flying offshore from lighthouse 1 Red-necked Grebe - offshore from lighthouse 2 Black-t Blue Warbler - female at lighthouse, male at base of Owen Pt. 1 Black-t Green Warbler - at lighthouse 3 Blue-h Vireo - lighthouse The dead birds continue to wash ashore, with today being particularly bad, especially for R-b Mergansers. A complete census of the beach revealed the following dead birds: 32 Red-breasted Merganser 9 Ww Scoter 1 G Scaup 1 Rn Grebe 1 H Grebe 2 Com Loon 2 Rb Gull 1 Herring Gull As usual the gulls, grebes and loons are wasted, as were some of the scoters. The mergansers looked perfect and I could find nothing to suggest the cause (ie: no broken wings or obvious shot holes in the webbing, beak, etc.), yet they seemed relatively heavy which doesn't fit with the presumed botulism pattern. Hopefully analysis will reveal the cause of death. Cheers, Doug McRae Directions: Presqu'ile is best reached by taking the Brighton exit from Hwy. 401 then follow south into town. From Brighton watch for and follow the provincial park signs.
