Given recent habitat developments and water levels at Oshawa 2nd Marsh, this announcement seems in order. Water levels are high at the marsh, the vegetation has greatly expanded and there are no mud flats or other areas for Little Gulls or Bonaparte's Gulls to use as loafing areas. As a result there are few, if any, of these gulls coming to rest in the marsh as in the past. A few LIGUs, a half dozen at most, have been observed doing courtship displays above the marsh, but even this is not a "sure thing". We strongly suggest that anyone planning to come from afar to see dozens of LIGUs, reconsider their plans...as they will surely be disappointed. Designated trip leaders will be there....as it is unlikely this notice will reach all potential participants.
Chip Weseloh Richard Joos Tyler Hoar From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Apr 22 19:39:06 2005 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: [email protected] Received: from relais.videotron.ca (relais.videotron.ca [24.201.245.36]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 53C0C6462B for <[email protected]>; Fri, 22 Apr 2005 19:39:06 -0400 (EDT) Received: from marcel ([70.80.115.2]) by VL-MO-MR007.ip.videotron.ca (iPlanet Messaging Server 5.2 HotFix 1.21 (built Sep 8 2003)) with SMTP id <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> for [email protected]; Fri, 22 Apr 2005 19:50:13 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 19:51:40 -0400 From: Marcel Gahbauer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Message-id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> MIME-version: 1.0 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1441 X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1437 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-priority: Normal Subject: [Ontbirds]Amherst Island - Iceland Gull, Long-eared Owls etc X-BeenThere: [email protected] X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: Marcel Gahbauer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 23:39:06 -0000 Hello Ontbirders, Leslie Hunt and I birded Amherst Island the past two days while conducting Short-eared Owl surveys (*) and observed a total of 60 species. No rarities discovered, but some interesting sightings including: 1 Iceland Gull (flying west over KFN property) 1 Ring-necked Pheasant (south of Owl Woods) 2 Long-eared Owls (Owl Woods) 1 Rough-legged Hawk (southwest of Owl Woods) 3 N. Rough-winged Swallows (south shore, looking freshly arrived & tired) 7 Purple Martins (Stella) 10 Pectoral Sandpipers (one flock near southwest end of island) 1 Eastern Towhee (Owl Woods) Also in Owl Woods was a large dark-backed raptor that we each only caught the briefest of glimpses of ... most likely a second-year Goshawk, but neither of us saw enough to be certain. There were also literally hundreds of American Robins along the roads (mostly females, presumably still on the move north), and Red-breasted Mergansers seemingly all along the north shore. On the other hand, hardly any kinglets, and no warblers at all. Also of note, on Wednesday afternoon while heading to Amherst Island I saw roughly 6,000 Snow Geese in a field on the north side of Hwy 401 at km 823, between Cornwall and Quebec. (*) We are researching Short-eared Owls on Amherst Island, Wolfe Island, and eastern Prince Edward County for the Migration Research Foundation. We would appreciate hearing (privately) from anyone who has recently seen them in these areas, or does over the next couple of months. DIRECTIONS: Amherst Island is accessible by ferry departing from Millhaven, west of Kingston. Exit Hwy 401 at 593, head south to its end near the lake, turn right, and very shortly turn left again into the ferry loading area. Departures are at 6:20, and then every hour from 7:30 onward. Round trip cost is $5.00 (or 23 trips for $50, for those who plan to visit frequently - not sure whether this is a new option or not). The KFN property is at the east end of the island; Owl Woods is located along the trail departing from the "S-curve" in the midst of Marshall Forty Foot Road, which runs N-S, a few kilometres east of the Ferry Dock, and can be reached by driving east on Front Road. Good birding, Marcel Gahbauer Montreal QC [EMAIL PROTECTED]
