The annual spring migration of Lapland Longspurs, from winering grounds in and around the Texas panhandle, going NE up the St. Laurence valley onwards to their summering grounds in Greenland is underway. 5 flocks were noticed going east over Selkirk Provincial Park this mourning. These flocks usually comprise of 10 to 20 individuals and can continue to move until about mid May. However flocks of up to 500 birds have been found in corn stuble fields as late as Mother's Day weekend. The birds usually are a couple of hundred feet up and are heard before being seen. Once heard if you can locate them before they come over you they are stricking in full breeding plumage. These flocks seem to like moving several hundred metres north of the Lake Erie shoreline. These longspur flocks have a very charactoristic formation. Several birds fly about 15-20 feet apart in a horizontal line. Depending upon the number of birds in a flock there can be several lines each as far apart as the birds are in the horizonatal line. Also there can be lines stacked on top of each other. Again each line of birds are separated about the same distance above each other as the birds are horizontally.
John Miles Jarvis, On 1-519-587-5223 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Haldimand Bird Observatory www.geocities.com/haldimandbirdobservatory
