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--Apple-Mail-308--284136552 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed > Subject: [ValleyNature] 6690 peeps, Evangeline Beach, + Marnoon & > shark-tagging, July 31/13 > > Sorry this is long, but you all are used to that! Cheers from Jim > in Wolfville > > JULY 31, 2013 - Daytime high tide was 8:30 a.m., and I arrived at > Evangeline Beach too late at 10:05, because already there was a > nice flock of about 800 peeps right out in front of the canteen > parking lot, flying about and landing on the edge of the 50-metre- > wide flats. > > Weather today was perfect for most people, but awful for me -- > clear sky, nice temperature, but blindingly too bright for proper > viewing, even with good sunglasses, which I detest when birding. > Thus immediately I was missing small flocks as they passed by, > mostly as usual heading from the east toward the west -- vast > mudflats are in the mouth of the Cornwallis River to the west of my > viewing spot. > > At about 10:11, 30 peeps + 300 + 25 + 1 + 10 more; > At 10:20, 500 flew by + 25 more; > THEN, at 10:25, a big bank of WHITE FOG moved in with the breeze > from the east and obscured everything. > > After a few minutes of that, I put my folding chair back in the car > and decided to walk, partly for exercise, at the top of the beach > toward the east and to the end of the trees (about a 20-minute > walk), with frequent scanning for peeps when the fog allowed -- and > the fog mostly lifted or blew away, so that the shoreline was again > visible. > > Here I will throw in the fact that Pat Hawes walked the top of the > beach toward the west yesterday with a friend, and reported seeing > about 10 "sea mops" of squid egg-sacs (of long-finned or Peale's > squids). They also saw good numbers of unidentified swallows there > yesterday, so I must check that out sometime quickly. > > I didn't see any swallows today, but I did find 15 "sea mops" of > long-finned squid egg-sacs, and 4 or 5 of those were not very fresh > (I had seen none there on July 27 during a short walk). > > At 10:40, still in the fog, I heard peeping calls from unseen peeps > flying westward past me, and, just after that, from the forested > land on the bluff I heard what sounded like a peregrine falcon. I > was unsure of the latter, but on my return walk, just west of the > Merks/Jackson house, I flushed 2 large and very noisy peregrine > falcons, and a third big falcon flew over me in the same direction > as the other two (a family group?, perhaps from the locally nesting > ones? (location not to be divulged to others). > > At the high tide line, accumulated skeletons of animals called > bryozoans, Flustra foliacea, looking like tan seaweeds, were > stranded there (living leaflike colonies are at the extreme low- > tide line and mostly subtidal). Under these stranded bryozoans > were numerous tiny and fast "beach-fleas", so named from the > jumping ability but really amphipod crustaceans. I found lots more > of these sand-hoppers under stranded haylike vegetation in one spot > to the east. > > At 10:55, a large elongate grouping of about 1500 peeps was spread > out but densely so and feeding, north of the big rocks west of the > Merks/Jackson house. > > At 11:00, fog was still a problem, waxing and then waning. > > At 11:05, a group of 4 or 5 bald eagles, not necessarily a family, > flushed from the trees and flew off in all directions (at least 2 > adults & 2 immatures). > > At 11:10, still walking east, I noted a big elongate feeding flock > of about 3500 peeps, northeast of the Merks house and north of the > east end of the forest. > > (I flushed the 2 + 1 peregrine falcons on my return walk toward the > canteen.) > > At 11:31 I was a bit surprised to notice that the big feeding flock > of about 2500 peeps put on an aerial show of flying back and forth, > splitting and rejoining, and flashing bellies, then backs, then > bellies, and so on. This was great to see, but it would have been > invisible to people on the shore without binoculars, since the > water line was so far out from shore. This happened north of the > west edge of the big rocks west of Merks house. > > I added up the numbers of peeps later in Wolfville and came up with > 6690 TOTAL PEEPS as a minimum number along Evangeline Beach today. > I'm sure my total would have been considerably higher with better > visibility, although we can never be sure that some of the counted > birds came back from the west, after first passing by from east to > west. > > My walk ended back at the parking lot at 11:50 a.m., just in time > to hear Maritime Noon on CBC Radio. The first item on the show was > about SHARK TAGGING and tracking off Nova Scotia with a sport- > fishing company that was specially trained to help the research > team of Dr. Warski? of Dalhousie University. > > I think the show's host, Carmen Klassen?, was talking with Dr. > Warski on the fishing boat, live, as they were catching, tagging, > and releasing blue sharks, Nova Scotia's most abundant offshore > shark. The fishers were implanting pinger tags??, and then the > Ocean Tracking Network can track the movements of such sharks from > their positioned tracking stations in lots of locations. It was > mentioned that some of the blues migrate to waters near Sable > Island, where the attractant is lots of young seals. > > Also mentioned was that Massachusetts researcher colleagues have > caught, tagged, and released numbers of great white sharks, which > then migrate north and often into Nova Scotia waters (I remember > reading about them in the Chronicle Herald a few months ago). > > Carmen also mentioned that somehow their Web site at www.cbc.ca/ > maritimenoon/ contains live feeds from the fishing boat, photos on > the Facebook site, twitters, etc. And check the Web site later > today or tomorrow for the broadcast or the podcast of the whole show. > _______________________________________________ > Nature mailing list > Nature@blomidonnaturalists.ca > http://blomidonnaturalists.ca/mailman/listinfo/ > nature_blomidonnaturalists.ca --Apple-Mail-308--284136552 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset=US-ASCII <html><body style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; = -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><blockquote = type=3D"cite"><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Helvetica" = size=3D"3" color=3D"#000000" style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: = #000000"><b>Subject: </b></font><font face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" = style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica"><b>[ValleyNature] 6690 peeps, = Evangeline Beach, + Marnoon & shark-tagging, July = 31/13</b></font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><br></div> = Sorry this is long, but you all are used to that! Cheers from Jim = in Wolfville<div><br></div><div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font = face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: 12.0px Tahoma"><b>JULY 31, = 2013</b> - Daytime <b>high tide was 8:30 a.m.</b>, and I arrived at = <b>Evangeline Beach</b> too late at 10:05, because already there was a = nice flock of about 800 peeps right out in front of the canteen parking = lot, flying about and landing on the edge of the 50-metre-wide = flats.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 12px/normal Tahoma; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = 12.0px Tahoma"><b>Weather today</b> was perfect for most people, but = awful for me -- clear sky, nice temperature, but<b> blindingly too = bright </b>for proper viewing, even with good sunglasses, which I detest = when birding. Thus immediately <b>I was missing small flocks</b> = as they passed by, mostly as usual<b> heading from the east toward the = west </b>-- vast mudflats are in the mouth of the Cornwallis River to = the west of my viewing spot.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal = normal normal 12px/normal Tahoma; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = 12.0px Tahoma">At about 10:11, 30 peeps + 300 + 25 + 1 + 10 = more;</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" = style=3D"font: 12.0px Tahoma">At 10:20, 500 flew by + 25 = more;</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" = style=3D"font: 12.0px Tahoma">THEN, at 10:25, a big bank of WHITE FOG = moved in with the breeze from the east and obscured = everything.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: = 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 12px/normal Tahoma; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = 12.0px Tahoma">After a few minutes of that, I put my folding chair back = in the car and <b>decided to walk</b>, partly for exercise, at the top = of the beach<b> toward the east </b>and to the end of the trees (about a = 20-minute walk), with frequent scanning for peeps when the fog allowed = -- and the fog mostly lifted or blew away, so that the shoreline was = again visible.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: = 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 12px/normal Tahoma; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = 12.0px Tahoma">Here I will throw in the fact that <b>Pat Hawes walked = the top of the beach toward the west yesterday</b> with a friend, and = reported seeing about<b> 10 "sea mops" of squid egg-sacs (of long-finned = or Peale's squids)</b>. They also saw good<b> numbers of = unidentified swallows</b> there yesterday, so I must check that out = sometime quickly.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal = normal normal 12px/normal Tahoma; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = 12.0px Tahoma">I didn't see any swallows today, but I did find <b>15 = "sea mops" of long-finned squid egg-sacs</b>, and 4 or 5 of those were = not very fresh (I had seen none there on July 27 during a short = walk).</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 12px/normal Tahoma; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = 12.0px Tahoma">At 10:40, still in the fog, I heard <b>peeping calls from = unseen peeps flying westward </b>past me, and, just after that, from the = forested land on the bluff I <b>heard what sounded like a peregrine = falcon</b>. I was unsure of the latter, but on my return walk, = just west of the Merks/Jackson house, I flushed 2 large and very<b> = noisy peregrine falcons</b>, and a third big falcon flew over me in the = same direction as the other two (a family group?, perhaps from the = locally nesting ones? (location not to be divulged to = others).</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 12px/normal Tahoma; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = 12.0px Tahoma">At the<b> high tide line</b>, accumulated skeletons of = animals called <b>bryozoans</b>, Flustra foliacea, looking like tan = seaweeds, were stranded there (living leaflike colonies are at the = extreme low-tide line and mostly subtidal). Under these stranded = bryozoans were numerous tiny and fast <b>"beach-fleas"</b>, so named = from the jumping ability but really amphipod crustaceans. I found = lots more of these sand-hoppers under stranded haylike vegetation in one = spot to the east.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal = normal normal 12px/normal Tahoma; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = 12.0px Tahoma">At 10:55, a large elongate grouping of about 1500 peeps = was spread out but densely so and feeding, north of the big rocks west = of the Merks/Jackson house.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal = normal normal 12px/normal Tahoma; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = 12.0px Tahoma">At 11:00, fog was still a problem, waxing and then = waning.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 12px/normal Tahoma; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = 12.0px Tahoma">At 11:05, a group of 4 or 5<b> bald eagles</b>, not = necessarily a family, flushed from the trees and flew off in all = directions (at least 2 adults & 2 immatures).</font></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Tahoma; = min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font = face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: 12.0px Tahoma">At 11:10, still = walking east, I noted a big elongate feeding flock of about 3500 peeps, = northeast of the Merks house and north of the east end of the = forest.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 12px/normal Tahoma; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = 12.0px Tahoma">(I flushed the 2 + 1 peregrine falcons on my return walk = toward the canteen.)</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal = normal normal 12px/normal Tahoma; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = 12.0px Tahoma"><b>At 11:31 I was a bit surprised to notice that the big = feeding flock of about 2500 peeps put on an aerial show</b> of flying = back and forth, splitting and rejoining, and flashing bellies, then = backs, then bellies, and so on. This was great to see, but it = would have been invisible to people on the shore without binoculars, = since the water line was so far out from shore. This happened = north of the west edge of the big rocks west of Merks = house.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal = 12px/normal Tahoma; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = 12.0px Tahoma">I added up the numbers of peeps later in Wolfville and = came up with<b> 6690 TOTAL PEEPS</b> as a minimum number along = Evangeline Beach today. I'm sure my total would have been = considerably higher with better visibility, although we can never be = sure that some of the counted birds came back from the west, after first = passing by from east to west.</font></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal = normal normal 12px/normal Tahoma; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; "><font face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: = 12.0px Tahoma">My walk ended back at the parking lot at 11:50 a.m., just = in time to hear <b>Maritime Noon</b> on CBC Radio. The first item = on the show was about <b>SHARK TAGGING and tracking</b> off Nova Scotia = with a sport-fishing company that was specially trained to help the = research team of Dr. Warski? of Dalhousie University.</font></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Tahoma; = min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font = face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: 12.0px Tahoma">I think the = show's host, Carmen Klassen?, was talking with Dr. Warski on the fishing = boat, live, as they were catching, tagging, and releasing<b> blue = sharks</b>, Nova Scotia's most abundant offshore shark. The = fishers were implanting pinger tags??, and then the <b>Ocean Tracking = Network</b> can track the movements of such sharks from their positioned = tracking stations in lots of locations. It was mentioned that some = of the blues migrate to waters near <b>Sable Island</b>, where the = attractant is lots of<b> young seals</b>.</font></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Tahoma; = min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font = face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: 12.0px Tahoma">Also mentioned = was that <b>Massachusetts</b> researcher colleagues have caught, tagged, = and released numbers of<b> great white sharks</b>, which <b>then migrate = north</b> and often into Nova Scotia waters (I remember reading about = them in the Chronicle Herald a few months ago).</font></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Tahoma; = min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font = face=3D"Tahoma" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: 12.0px Tahoma">Carmen also = mentioned that somehow their Web site at <b>www.cbc.ca/maritimenoon/</b> = contains live feeds from the fishing boat, photos on the Facebook site, = twitters, etc. And check the Web site later today or tomorrow for = the broadcast or the podcast of the whole show.</font></div></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; = ">_______________________________________________</div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px; ">Nature mailing list</div><div style=3D"margin-top: = 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a = href=3D"mailto:Nature@blomidonnaturalists.ca">Nature@blomidonnaturalists.c= a</a></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><a = href=3D"http://blomidonnaturalists.ca/mailman/listinfo/nature_blomidonnatu= ralists.ca">http://blomidonnaturalists.ca/mailman/listinfo/nature_blomidon= naturalists.ca</a></div> </blockquote></div><br></body></html>= --Apple-Mail-308--284136552--
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