The large, ice-free deep water quarry just east of Ingersoll continues to provide a major roosting and overwintering site for gulls and waterfowl.
A visit today yielded some excellent numbers and diversity - 5000 Canada Geese, 8000 Mallard, 400 Black Duck, two Northern Pintail, one American Wigeon, three Hooded Merganser and a single female Long-tailed Duck, with small numbers of Common Merganser and Common Goldeneye. The 400 Blacks sound good until compared to our historical max number of 4000 from December 1989! Gulls come in towards dusk, mostly from the Salford Landfill but probably from the London and Stratford dumps as well, judging by direction of flight and numbers. An early evening count of 9000 Herring Gull is exceptional for the county in mid-winter. This total likely represents a fraction of the true number, as birds continued to stream in by the hundred as I was leaving. Other species present included 7 Glaucous [mostly 1st / 2nd cycle], 3 Iceland [2 1st cycle, one basic adult], 2 Lesser Black-back [both 1st cycle] and 5 Great Black-backs, mostly adults. As with the Herring numbers, these numbers would no doubt go up a lot with a complete dusk count. This extensive and very deep quarry has become an absolute boon for local waterbirds in mid-winter [after most other sites have frozen], as it offers one of the very few ice-free roosting sites of sufficient size anywhere inland to accommodate such large numbers. All the typical, larger four-year gulls are regular, sometimes in surprisingly high numbers. Interesting, but in keeping with typical patterns, not a single Ring-billed Gull was among the 9000+ gulls counted. Despite being a fairly recently abandoned [and flooded] quarry, there must be sufficient food to entice overwintering of species like Long-tailed Duck, White-winged and Surf Scoter and various other divers - all of which have occurred in the past. Historically, many of Oxfords old records of mid-winter Killdeer come from adjacent quarries, so there seems to be a micro-climate effect, from the expanse of open water as well as the shielding from wind chills. >From Charles Street, take Pemberton north to the 35th Line, east to the north >curve. The quarry is posted of course, and ringed with razor-wire, so all >viewing must be done from outside the fences. Much of the quarry can be seen >from the 35th line, but you will need your HT's to get a decent view. Cheers, James Holdsworth, Biological Consulting Services 14 Marian St, RR#1 Woodstock, On, N4S-7V6 [519]537-2027 226-228-1428 [cell] - note - NEW jmholdswo...@rogers.com _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - 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
