Greetings Ontbirders, I saw an immature Parasitic Jaeger this morning from Owen Pt. between about 8:15 and 8:30, when I left. It first flew in very casually and landed in the water about 25 m offshore from Owen Pt. It then chased some Common Terns and Bonies then settled down on the water again off beach 4.
There seems to be an accelerated die-off of wildlife at the park, perhaps suggesting the Botulism outbreak has reached Presqu'ile. On the 300m long beach between the campgrounds and Owen Pt. there were 10 dead cormorants, 1 adult female W-w Scoter (plus one live one seen), 1 Red-necked Grebe, 2 Sanderling (one of which might have been a raptor kill) and a Least Sandpiper. Shorebirds comprised about 125 birds of a typical selection but with nothing unusual (best finds were juv. Red Knot and Golden Plover on Gull Is.). The park has again started to pile mounds of algae along the shoreline like it did last year. In addition to the disturbance to gulls, terns and shorebirds from the increased heavy equipment use , these mounds or burms block visual sight lines rendering the beach useless for birds. It was observed that there was virtually no use of the beach by birds from Oct-Apr last year/this spring because of these burms. The Presqu'ile IBA have brought this to the Park's attention but to no avail. Cheers, Doug McRae Directions: To reach Presqu'ile, take the Cty Rd. 30 exit from Hwy 401, then proceed south to the town of Brighton. Follow the park signs from there.
