Whimbrel were moving west along the central Lake Erie shoreline throughout this afternoon at Port Glasgow, Port Stanley and Port Bruce. Four flocks totaling 175 birds were seen this afternoon: 40 at Port Glasgow at 1:50 p.m., 7 at Port Glasgow at 2:05 p.m., 80 at Port Stanley at 5:00 p.m., and 28 at Port Bruce at 5:47 p.m. The Port Stanley flock had 10 Short-billed Dowitchers which paled in size compared to the Whimbrel. At Port Glasgow, the flock of 7 circled and attempted to land many times over a 15 minute period but never did settle in. Given that we spent only 10 to 15 minutes at each port scanning over the lake and saw 1 or 2 flocks each time and given what has already been reported from elsewhere, we can assume that the Whimbrel flight through southern Ontario must have been considerable today. We saw no other shorebirds flying by or on the beaches. On the west beach at Port Stanley there were 1000+ Bonaparte's Gulls including about 100 adults in full breeding plumage, mostly in pairs. We were able to pick out one juvenile Little Gull from this mob. Rather strangely, we saw only four terns today along the lake. Four Forster's Terns were sharing a picnic table on the beach at Port Glasgow marina. The three Lake Erie ports are in central and west Elgin County and have great look-outs for migrant gulls, shorebirds and waterfowl. Port Bruce is south of Aylmer at the terminus of Hwy 73. Port Stanley is south of St. Thomas at the lake end of Hwy 4. Port Glasgow marina is south of Rodney at the end of Furnival Road. Dave Martin and Linda Wladarski [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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