2 Oct 2007
Greetings all,
Today, from 0620-1820, Margaret Bain, Richard Pope and I did a big
sit on the tip of Owen Point, Presqu'ile Prov. Park. The weather
wasn't the best with SE winds that created a huge surf noise that
made hearing songbirds difficult, nor did it help that there seemed
to be almost no songbirds around to hear in the first place. So we
tanked in the passerine department but did alright with waterbirds.
We ended up with 55 species, plus 2 more that were washed up dead,
likely products of the ongoing botulism mortality that now kills many
hundreds of birds at Presqu'ile annually.
Highlights include:
3 Surf Scoter
2 Hooded Merganser (uncommon on the open lake)
200+ Horned Grebe
2 (dead) Red-necked Grebe
5+ Peregrine Falcon - a minimum of 5 different birds, quite possibly
two or more others; one adult male (tundrius?) had a metal band on
it's left leg.
All Shorebirds (ages given when known)
15j B-b Plover
2j Golden Plover
7j Semi Plover
1 Killdeer
4 L Yellowlegs
5 G Yellowlegs
1u Spotted S/p
50j Sanderling
1 Semi S/p
1 Least S/p
1j White-rumped S/p
2 Pectoral S/p
15 Dunlin
2 imm Parasitic Jaeger - chasing gulls south of High Bluff Island for
10 minutes then flew west.
75 Bon Gull - one flock of about 70 adults flew in a tight group west
over the park gate area; had the "look" of arriving migrants.
2 GBB Gull - one adult expired (probably botulism) while we watched,
going from healthy looking (as in it flew in looking fine) to dead in
about 2 hours.
1 dead imm. Sabine's Gull - this was a real shock to find this
beautiful gull dead near the tip of Owen Pt. It likely died
yesterday evening or very early today - specimen to ROM.
Cheers,
Doug McRae, on behalf of my fellow sitters.
Doug McRae Nature Services
P.O. Box 3010
Brighton, Ontario
Canada K0K 1H0
613-475-5014
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Directions: Presqu'ile is located on the north shore of Lake
Ontario, south of Brighton. Take the Brighton exit from Hwy. 401
south through town and follow the signs for the Provincial Park.
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