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This afternoon between 4:15 and 4:40 pm I counted 1,375 American Robins flying
west into the brisk westerly wind along the north shore of Wildwood Lake just
east of Highway 7. Unbelievable!
Equally interesting was a distinctly (but only slightly) darker-mantled Herring
Gull-sized gull about 400-500m out on the reservoir (with close to 2,000
Ring-bills and Herrings). The gull was too large to be a HERGXLBBG and too
small and not dark-mantled enough to be a HERGXGBBG or Slaty-backed Gull. It
was also too distant for anything but grainy photos with my camera, but the
light was good and I was able to observe it at length and make verbal notes
into my iPhone. My notes, thoughts and grainy photos can be found in eBird
here:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S32813694
I welcome thoughts from others -- please e-mail me privately at
jjal...@yahoo.com. I'll be back tomorrow afternoon for the daily
late-afternoon gull congregation here. Hopefully the bird will be back and
I'll be able to get some closer photos (these would have been possible from the
Wildwood Lake Sailing Club -- not sure about public access).
Also, almost 500 Common Mergansers on the reservoir (annual late fall
gathering), various other waterfowl, and an adult Bald Eagle sending everything
into a frenzy.
Happy birding!
Jarmo
Wildwood Lake Conservation Area is at Highway 7 (a.k.a. Perth Road 119) at
Perth Road 9 (SW of Stratford, E of St. Mary's).
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