>From yesterday, May 3: While anchored off Middle Island, mid-day, yesterday, we were entertained by a magnificent fly-over of 15 American White Pelicans. I was able to get documentary photos (not high quality) of some of them. They broke up the flock and reformed several times, once at a time when I believe they were joined by three more, but of the 15 I am absolutely certain, and there probably was 18 in total. Some landed on the water. Parks Canada was shooting birds on the island so although the pelicans looked like they might want to land there (the two ends of the island and some of the shelf-limestone around the edge would be suitable roosting/nesting habitat.the sand spit is almost, entirely submerged.about three to five meters just breaking the surface. On one close fly-by we could clearly see the nuptial knobs on tops of some of the birds' beaks.
Besides Parks Canada staff another possible impediment to the pelicans roosting or nesting there was a magnificent Coyote, on the island. It is a large, healthy-looking animal, seen for ten or more minutes on several occasions in very plain view, and has a dark pelage. The boat captain had seen the one there last year, said it was the same colour, and that there had been no ice connecting Middle to Pelee Island, or the mainland, last winter, so we assume it was the same animal (its winter diet possibly augmented by locals providing food?...hard to see how else it could make it through the winter unless there is a population of Microtus voles on the island, possibly augmented by round gobies???). The egrets don't do well with the shooting but we did manage to see two flying away, one trailing lovely long nuptial plumes. I saw no night-herons although my two non-birding companions (both familiar with the species) say they saw one or two. Great Blue Herons, although not targeted for killing, continue to decline rather steeply as a nesting species and we saw a lot fewer of them than previous years, and also fewer Herring and Ring-billed Gulls and Canada Geese. The small list was rounded off with Barn and Tree Swallows, a Northern Cardinal heard singing from the island, Common Grackles, Gadwall, Bufflehead and several Common Mergansers, Canada Geese (down in numbers from the last few years) and Mallards. Last night one Chimney Swift seen flying over the centre of Kingsville. It was raining this morning at Hillman's.no birders present and none of the rarities recorded there recently were visible to me at the first cell (I went no further.sketching from the shelter), but nice views of fish transference by courting Caspian Terns amid a cluster of Bonaparte's Gulls. Barry Barry Kent MacKay Bird Artist, Illustrator Studio: (905)-472-9731 http://www.barrykentmackay.ca mi...@sympatico.ca Markham, Ontario, Canada _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
