Hi all, This morning Mark Peck and I watched two Piping Plovers interacting around three nest scrapes they have made close to each other. The female was raising her tail and soliciting a copulation, then sitting down on the scrapes as if incubating. In addition, a third Piping Plover is also working on a scrape a few hundred meters away. We have passed this information on to Park Staff who will apparently be roping the areas off later today. Hopefully the exclosures will be big enough to give these birds the space they need, especially at this stage when they appear to be about ready to lay eggs. You can access the beach from the Beach One parking lot. I hope all birders, appreciating how exciting and sensitive this is, will avoid the nesting areas completely which are toward the back of the beach. Perhaps the best thing to do is watch them from near the waterline and stay off the mid and back parts of the beach all together. Birders can also help by reporting any dogs or harassment from people to park wardens immediately (613-475-4324).
This is the first nesting attempt at Presqu’ile in many years and is just wonderful to see. Rev. C.J. Young found two nests at Presqu’ile between 1914 and 1918. The late John Livingston told me that he and the late Jim Baillie saw them nearly annually in late May in the 1950’s and early 1960’s and, although he never found a nest, assumed them to be breeding. Beach raking (grooming) began in the early 1960’s, which probably finished them off as a breeding bird here. There were lots of other birds (the usual suspects) around today as well including a Whimbrel on Gull Is. Also this morning I got a call from Fred Helleiner saying that there is a Willet at the Brighton Constructed Wetland (Permit required from town office). Mark and I just checked it out and indeed the western Willet is still there plus a few griseus Sb Dowitcher, 1 Great and 25 Lesser Yellowlegs, 7 Semi Plover, 20 Least S/p. Cheers, Doug Presqu’ile Prov. Park is located south of the town of Brighton and is well signed from Hwy 401 or the former Hwy 2. The Constructed Wetland is located on Cty Rd. 64 in the south-east corner of Brighton. Doug McRae P.O. Box 3010 Brighton, Ontario K0K 1H0 613-475-5014 H 613-243-4161 C _______________________________________________ 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 Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
