| ELGIN COUNTY | Recent Birding Reports |
Eared Grebes- Aylmer Lagoons - May 19, 2002
Sighting reports originating from the ONTBIRDS mail server network are repeated courtesy of the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO).
Hi Birders, There weretwo Eared Grebes at the Aylmer Sewage Lagoons today at noon. They were hanging out with a small group of Ruddy Ducks at the time in the 3rd pond. Other birds were few, a group of Dunlin, Least Sandpiper, Black Bellied Plover and Shovellers. About 1200 very hungry swallows, mostly Banks. Dress warm. Directions: From the 401 take #73 or Imperial Road south towards Aylmer. Just before Aylmer turn right on Glencolin Line. Proceed to first road which is Rogers Road and turn left. Lagoon ahead on right. Ross Snider Ingersoll, Ont. ross_snider@hotmail.com
Marbled Godwit, Aylmer Wildlife Management Area - April 30, 2002
Sighting reports originating from the ONTBIRDS mail server network are repeated courtesy of the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO).
Hi All! I just received a phone call from Dave Martin who has just seen a Marbled Godwit at the Aylmer Wildlife Management Area. The Glossy Ibis and the Ross Goose are still there. Good Birding Ellen Smout London eas9999@yahoo.com Directions: From HWY 401 take #73 (Elgin Road which becomes Imperial Road in Elgin County) south towards Aylmer. Make a left on Ron McNeil Road towards Springfield and a right at Hacienda Road. Go south straight to the 2nd entrance for the Aylmer Wildlife Management Area behind the Police College. Follow to viewing stand.
Ross's Goose and Glossy Ibis -Aylmer - April 30, 2002
Sighting reports originating from the ONTBIRDS mail server network are repeated courtesy of the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO).
Ross's Goose and Glossy Ibis at Aylmer Wildlife Management Area This morning at 8:30 a.m. the Ross's Goose and Glossy Ibis were still present at Aylmer WMA. The Ross's Goose was in the company of Canada Geese. Last night it was spotted in corn stubble to the north of College Line which forms the northern boundary of the WMA property. The Glossy Ibis could be seen feeding in the grassy margins looking north east from the tallest viewing stand. There were still 4 Tundra Swans, lots of Green-winged Teal, Blue-winged Teal, Black Ducks, 1 N. Pintail, several American Wigeon, Greater Yellowlegs and Lesser Yellowlegs. Directions: From HWY 401 take #73 (Elgin Road which becomes Imperial Road in Elgin County) south towards Aylmer. Make a left on Ron McNeil Road towards Springfield and a right at Hacienda Road. Go south straight to the 2nd entrance for the Aylmer Wildlife Management Area behind the Police College. Follow to viewing stand. Dave Martin and Linda Wladarski Harrietsville ON dave.martin@odyssey.on.ca
Ross's Goose and GlossyIbis -Aylmer - April 29, 2002
Sighting reports originating from the ONTBIRDS mail server network are repeated courtesy of the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO).
Hi, Tonight at about 7:45 we had a Ross Goose on College Road N of the Aylmer Police College. It was feeding with Canada Geese at the extreme east end of the corn field which borders the north side of the road. May well endup in the Police College Ponds for the night. Also present in the ponds was the Glossy Ibis that was reported yesterday. Directions: From the 401 take #73 south towards Aylmer. Make a left on Ron McNeil Road towards Springfield and a right at Hacienda Road. The first road is College. The Goose was left. Go straight to the 2nd entrance for the Aylmer Wildlife Management Area behind the Police College. Follow to viewing stand. Ross Snider Terry Ricker Ingersoll, Ont ross_snider@hotmail.com
another good loon migration day - April 21, 2002
Sighting reports originating from the ONTBIRDS mail server network are repeated courtesy of the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO).
April 21, 2002 Another good loon migration over Elgin/Middlesex Counties Today, 75 Common Loons flew over our loon watch in north-central Elgin County between 7:30 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. If not for the extraordinary 373 loons counted yesterday today's count would have beat our previous high of 60 loons in one morning. Andrew Ross counted 46 loons going over his place in London between 7:30 and 8:30. [Our other two loon watchers thought it was too cold for loons today and so didn't get out]. The loons going over our place are on a southeast to northwest heading from Lake Erie to Lake Huron. A line on a map drawn from Long Point Bay on Lake Erie to Kettle Point on Lake Huron passes almost directly over our loon watch and over London. Note that Alf Rider's earlier email to Ontbirds points out that loons started arriving on Lake Huron this morning, in a very narrow band north of Kettle Point but not south of the point, from points inland at 8:00 a.m. - about 1/2 hour after passing over our location. Given that the loons are flying at about 60 mph and it is 30 miles as a bird flies line from our place to Ipperwash it makes sense that the birds we start seeing at 7:30 reach Alf Rider's vantage point at Ipperwash about 30 minutes later. Other Reports: Ron Kingswood called from just west of Port Bruce on Lake Erie this morning to say that he had witnessed a tremendous migration of loons all flying west along the shoreline this morning from 6:30 a.m. onwards. He didn't see any loons heading inland at his vantage point. At 6:30 a.m. he estimated that over 100 loons passed him in less than a minute. At 6:45 he did a sweep of the lake and counted 108 loons in the air at once. At 7:45 he counted a group of 35 passing west. Follow up on yesterday's (Apr 20) huge migration. John Miles emailed that he had "103 go over heading west and north west in a 10-15 minute span while doing the census around 8:30. The flight started about 7 am and was still underway at 10 am." Alf Rider reported that "Carole Buck reported 60 + at 7 a.m. around Camlachie" (which is near Lake Huron north of Sarnia). He didn't notice any loon movement at Kettle Point. Dave Martin & Linda Wladarsk Harrietsville, ON dave.martin@odyssey.on.ca
Astounding Common Loon migration - April 20, 2002
Sighting reports originating from the ONTBIRDS mail server network are repeated courtesy of the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO).
April 20, 2002 Astounding Common Loon Migration over Elgin/Oxford Counties This morning between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m. there was an outstounding loon migration over northeast Elgin County and southwest Oxford County. At our loon watch (our back deck) near Harrietsville we counted 373 loons. About 10 km farther east at Ingersoll, Ross Snider counted 168 loons between 7:30 and 9:00 a.m. [and he has a much more restricted view of the sky than we do]. The total loon migration at these two inland locations was 537 loons. All of us were pretty burnt out by 9:30 when we curtailed our watch but the loon migration must have continued. At 11:30, when we were in Centreville doing some business we noticed another flock of six. At times the sky was literally dark with loons strung out in large, loose groups. Ross had 38 loons in one 10 minute period ending at 7:50. We started our watch at 7:20 but only saw two loons until 8:05 and were almost ready to give up the watch as a slow day when they started pouring over in flocks of 10 to 30 birds. In thirteen years of watching 20 mornings or so each spring our highest number in one flock previously was 17 birds. This morning we saw five groups that exceeded this previous high: 19 birds at 8:12, 34 birds at 8:32, 29 birds at 8:34, 17 birds at 8:44 and so on. From 8:30 to 8:35 a.m., a five minute stretch, we counted an astonishing 93 loons. To put this in perspective a typical good day for us at our watch in spring is 20 to 30 birds and a great day would be over 40 birds. Our highest ever one day spring count was 60 birds. To give even more perspective our highest ever count for the ENTIRE SPRING was 248 birds in 1996!! Why so many loons today? The last day with a visible flight was April 12 when we had 29 birds. On April 13 there was heavy rain through the night and into the morning, on April 14 intense fog, on April 15 fog again and on April 16 south winds and heat. We speculate that the loons prefer northerly winds to get better lift and reduce energy expenditure. Another part of the puzzle that we haven't solved is that yesterday morning (Apr 19) there was a good number of grounded loons around Oxford and Middlesex Counties. James Holdsworth reported 38 birds at Pittock Lake in Woodstock, Ross Snider reported 16 birds at Strathroy lagoons in Middlesex, Linda and I saw 11 on Fanshawe Lake in London. How and when did they get there? We had only seen 1 loon on our loon watch that morning. Our question for the day is.... Do loons also migrate through the night? Would this explain why loons are sometimes found in numbers in early morning on inland lakes and end up in parking lots where the dark, wet pavement looks like water [James stayed around long enough at Pittock on April 19 to observe that all the 38 loons he was watching had taken off to resume their flight by 11:00 a.m.] Dave Martin, Linda Wladarski, Ross Snider with input from others Harrietsville and Ingersoll, ON dave.martin@odyssey.on.ca
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