Folks I was shocked to see a second winter Glaucous Gull today at the Sault Landfill (not open to the public). This is several weeks earlier than my previous earliest date locally. Does anyone know of records this early in Southern Ont.? I haven't even had a Kumlien's Gull yet and they usually arrive a couple weeks or more before any Glaucous. I had a single second winter Thayer's on Oct. 1st across the river at the Dafter Landfill in MI. We continue to see lots of LBB Gulls with at least 2 juveniles today one a new bird with extremely fresh plumage. Very conservatively I would say we have had at least 3 adult and 7 juvenile LBB Gulls this fall so far with multiple sightings to the west of us in the UP of MI. In the 6 years previous to this I have had 4 and never more than one in a season. I would love to know were these juveniles are coming from. Several Great Black-backed Gulls hanging around as well.
We have definitely seen some movement with Gray Jays and Boreal Chickadees with multiples of each species showing up in atypical locations clearly on the move. I have not seen any Black-backed Woodpeckers nor have I seen any reported from Whitefish Point which usually has a few at this time of year. The neighbourhood where I live is a good area for Black-backed and Three-toed Woodpeckers and it is prime right now as there are hundreds of dead Spruce thanks to the Spruce Budworm. I average one a year in my yard but nothing yet and I haven't noted any scaled trees to suggest they are around. I had 3 "Gambell's" White-crowned Sparrows in my back yard today and a female type "Oregon" Junco yesterday along with the usual crowd of Zonotrichia and Fox Sparrows. No further sign of the Harris's Sparrow seen last week. Hopefully the start of an interesting winter. Kirk Zufelt_______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list ONTBIRDS@hwcn.org For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
