On July 4th, Paul Martin posted a sighting of an unidentified albatross
species that he had seen flying low over the parking lot between the smoke
stack and the helicopter pad at Kingston General Hospital near the end of
Barrie Street at Lake Ontario. The bird was at the lake shore, but flew over
land the entire time observed, as low as 10m above the ground and very close
to the walking trail along the water edge (but on the hospital side). The
bird passed back and forth 3 times, sometimes with Ring-billed Gulls in
pursuit. The bird was last seen circling upward above the smoke stack
drifting eastward. The bird was not seen again.
An update to that post. Yesterday, the Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre in
Napanee took in a Yellow-nosed Albatross, more than likely the same bird
seen two weeks earlier. A gentleman found the bird in an emaciated
condition on Wolfe Island at Brown's Bay and brought it to the mainland
where it was picked up and delivered to the Centre. According to Sue Meech
of the Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre, the bird is very weak and may not
survive. It will not be possible for birders to see this bird while it is in
recovery.
Terry Sprague
Picton
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