Yesterday Linda Wladarski, James and Mary Holdsworth and I birded along
the Lake Erie shoreline in Elgin County from Port Bruce to Port Stanley.
Unsurprisingly given the fine weather, it was relatively quiet until we
arrived at Port Stanley where we observed 27 Turkey Vultures.
The first bird we found was in flight and not so surprising. But we soon
found three others perched in a tree on a steep slope. Then we noted
several others riding the updrafts produced by the southwest winds along
the village's east bluffs. We stopped to watch what became a steady
stream of vultures moving towards the lake in twos and threes. The end
total for the hour was a minimum 27 birds -surely some sort of
provincial or Canadian record for this species in January!
We drove around the village and up and down Kettle Creek for another
hour looking for others and come across another perched group of 15
birds that may have been part of the group we had seen earlier in
flight. Birds were coming to and leaving this perch site as we watched.
And, as we left the village there were still birds riding the updrafts
on the east side of the valley.
We were surprised to see this many birds but had heard that the St
Thomas CBC [January 26] had a unprecedented count of 82 Turkey Vultures.
We assumed that the count-day birds were most likely a group of very
late migrants that were finally moving out because of the weather front
moving through that day that brought with it some major snow.
Apparently though, at least 27 vultures are still present and with the
mild winter we're having may well tough it out along the beaches in the
sunny south of Elgin County.
Directions:
Port Stanley is on the Lake Erie shoreline in central Elgin County about
15 km south of St Thomas and 30 km south of London. One access route is
to follow Hwy 4 / Sunset Drive south from Exit 177 on Hwy 401.
Dave Martin
[email protected]
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ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial
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Send bird reports to [email protected]
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