Due to auto-correct, my previous emails got a little screwed up, but I think the point got across. Today, the juvenile Wood Stork was being seen in flight from about 10:30 until 2:15. I saw it around 11:20, when it flew 20-25 feet off the ground right over a group of ~5 of us on the Tip. Afterwards, it periodically passed over and a few more people got lucky with it, while some just narrowly missed it. It was reported to have flown towards Pelee Island then back again on at least one occasion. All in all, we were kept hopping trying to locate the bird!
After Point Pelee, I checked out the east Essex Sewage Lagoons, where I found 2 Wilson's Phalaropes and 4 Red-necked Phalaropes. Two more lifers for the day! They were swimming in the SW cell close to the dike separating the two most southern cells. They are hard to miss once you are looking in the right area. In the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons, a nice surprise was to be had. Instead of the 4 Wilson's Phalaropes I was thinking could have been a possibility, I found 8 in the second cell from the gate on the right hand side. They favoured the side closest to the dike separating the cell closest to the gate on the right. One seemed to like being by it's lonesome while the other 7 were found together with Lesser Yellowlegs and a Stilt Sandpiper. No White-rumped Sandpipers were found, but they have been reported. Point Pelee is in Leamington and can be accessed off Point Pelee drive. Essex Sewage Lagoons (eastern) can be accessed off of CR-8. There are two entrances, one on a dirt road leading off CR-8 and another by turning onto Lakeshore Rd. 211 and parking at the gate. To get into the lagoons a gate must be climbed. Blenheim Sewage Lagoons can be accessed off of Talbot Trail buy turning down Lagoon Rd. A permit is required, and those can be picked up for free at the post office in Blenheim. Good birding, Quinten Wiegersma https://birdsbugsbotany.blogspot.ca/ London, Ont [email protected] _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
