Unfortunately this post is for yesterday. For some reason my email was not letting me deliver message yesterday and this is the first chance I have had to get it out today. The highlight of my afternoon (yesterday) was observing a first year Golden Eagle flying west. The bird was first seen around 1:10 p.m. west of Highway 25 on Concession 12-13 (just south of Highway 89). I followed it south and west a number of concession blocks were it perched in a maple about 200m west of the road and afforded me nice looks in the scope. After about 5 min it took off and continued flying southwest. Of interest, to me at any rate, is the fact that I saw a Golden Eagle about 10-15 m south of here last Oct 27, 2005 while visiting another job site in this vicinity. These are the only Goldens I have seen in Ontario. Brett Woodman Waterloo, ON
____________________________________________________________________________________ Sponsored Link Mortgage rates near 39yr lows. $510k for $1,698/mo. Calculate new payment! www.LowerMyBills.com/lre From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Wed Nov 22 15:25:30 2006 Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Delivered-To: ontbirds@hwcn.org Received: from tomts43-srv.bellnexxia.net (tomts43-srv.bellnexxia.net [209.226.175.110]) by king.hwcn.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9835E63BCC for <ontbirds@hwcn.org>; Wed, 22 Nov 2006 15:25:30 -0500 (EST) Received: from jean-bapu1sw48i.sympatico.ca ([69.158.104.50]) by tomts43-srv.bellnexxia.netESMTP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> for <ontbirds@hwcn.org>; Wed, 22 Nov 2006 15:25:30 -0500 Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 7.0.1.0 Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 15:25:42 -0500 To: ontbirds@hwcn.org From: Jean Iron <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Subject: [Ontbirds] Black Guillemot: possible eagle predation, age, subspecies X-BeenThere: ontbirds@hwcn.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 20:25:31 -0000 The Black Guillemot in Massey west of Sudbury was last seen on Tuesday morning, 21 November, about 8 a.m. by Erwin Meissner. When Erwin saw the guillemot it was flying upriver about 6 km from the bridge in Massey, where it was seen by about 100 people on Saturday and Sunday. As the guillemot flew by a perched adult Bald Eagle, the eagle stooped and in two flaps was close behind it with its legs extended. Erwin didn't see the outcome. About 10 birders, including us, searched the river yesterday, but we could not relocate the Black Guillemot. Today (Wednesday afternoon) Erwin had not seen it as of 3:15 p.m. For current information, please phone Erwin at 705-865-1970. Age and Plumage: In Monday's post, we incorrectly aged it as a winter adult in definitive basic plumage. However, it is a young bird in juvenile/first basic (first year) plumage. We have since examined four excellent photos taken by Joe Houle which show dark mottling and barring on the mostly white wing coverts, which we did not see in the field. Adults have pure white wing coverts. Also, its leg colour is orangish (brighter red in adults) indicating a yearling bird. First year birds are more likely to wander than adults. See photos http://www.jeaniron.ca/2006/BlackGuillemot1.htm Subspecies: We are tentatively identifying it as the Eastern Arctic subspecies 'Cepphus grylle ultimus' rather than the Atlantic subspecies 'C.g. atlantis' because of its extreme whiteness. The big Sibley Guide (2000) on page 245 shows a comparison between Arctic and Atlantic birds. The Massey bird agrees more closely with the whiter northern birds. The subspecies 'ultimus' is most likely in Massey because it breeds south to James Bay (Godfrey 1986, The Birds of Canada). Ross James (1991, Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Ontario, ROM) assigned the Toronto specimens to 'C.g. ultimus'. See photos showing overall whiteness of this individual http://www.jeaniron.ca/2006/BlackGuillemot1.htm Previous Inland Ontario Records: There are two specimen records for Toronto and two sight reports for Kingston. There is an old report for Hamilton which was accepted by Bob Curry (2006) in the recently published "Birds of Hamilton and surrounding areas." Black Guillemots seen on Lake Ontario could originate from either Hudson Bay and James Bay or from the St. Lawrence River estuary where they also breed. Although not an inland report, Doug McRae and Alan Wormington saw one or two birds on five days between 23 October and 14 November 1981 at Netitishi Point (not far from Moosonee) on southern James Bay (Speirs 1985, Birds of Ontario). Breeding Record: No breeding evidence was found during the two Ontario Breeding Bird Atlases. There is very little suitable rocky coastal nesting habitat in Ontario. The only breeding record for Ontario was on the Hudson Bay coast published by Harry Lumsden (1959) in the Canadian Field-Naturalist 73(1):53-55. However, it breeds south to North Twin Island (Nunavut) in central James Bay. Photos on OFO Photo Page http://www.ofo.ca/photos/ Acknowledgements: Erwin Meissner, who first reported the bird to OFO, and Cameron McGregor have been very helpful to us and visiting birders. We thank Joe Houle for use of his excellent photos. We are grateful to Michel Gosselin of the Canadian Museum of Nature and Mark Peck of the Royal Ontario Museum for information. Jean Iron & Ron Pittaway Toronto ON [EMAIL PROTECTED]