[NatureNS] Raptors and Shorebirds, Eastern Shore (Belated Report)

Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2016 16:13:35 -0300 (ADT)
From: "plchalmers@ns.sympatico.ca" <plchalmers@ns.sympatico.ca>
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Importance: Medium
Precedence: bulk
Return-Path: <naturens-mml-owner@chebucto.ns.ca>
Original-Recipient: rfc822;"| (cd /csuite/info/Environment/FNSN/MList; /csuite/lib/arch2html)"

next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects


<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head>
    <meta content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"/>
 
 </head><body style="">
 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">(Apologies for the late posting.&#160; I found this stuck in my &#34;drafts&#34; folder.)<br/></span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">&#160;</span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">On Labour Day&#160;Monday afternoon (5 Sept.)&#160; Susann Meyers and I travelled down the eastern shore, as she surveyed shorebirds during a falling tide at&#160; Rocky Run, Shorebird Cove (near Three Fathom Harbour), and the West Chezzetcook Marsh.&#160; The day was sunny, warm, clear, not at all humid, and with light breezes to keep away biting insects - perfect survey conditions, enhanced by the buzzy sounds of crickets and other grassland insects, and the low chuckling notes of the sandpipers.</span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">&#160;</span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">I don&#39;t have all of Susann&#39;s numbers for the day, but among the thousands of Semipalmated Sandpipers on the exposed mudflats at West Chezzetcook, there were also <span style="font-size: 12pt;">White-rumped Sandpipers, </span>Semipalmated Plovers, 9 Black-bellied Plovers, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Short-billed Dowitchers, and a couple of Willets.&#160; There were dozens of Great Blue Herons and 140 Green-winged Teal.&#160; Noteworthy shorebirds included a small number of Red Knot, and a juvenile Stilt Sandpiper<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span>.&#160; </span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">&#160;</span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">Shorebird Cove held a smaller number of birds and less variety, but hosted the only <span style="font-size: 12pt;">Ruddy Turnstone</span> of the day.<br/></span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">&#160;</span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">We were amused at Rocky Run to watch a juvenile Merlin chase a Crow, which then turned around and chased the Merlin.&#160; The two took turns, and it looked for all the world like play, although perhaps it was just a brash young&#160;raptor learning what was &#34;chaseable&#34;.<br/></span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">&#160;</span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">The most memorable sight was in West Chezzetcook.&#160; While Susann was looking through her scope, I heard the raspy croaking calls of Great Blue Herons.&#160; I turned to see two of the big birds in flight, legs dangling and looking ungainly and off-balance, as they were chased by a juvenile Peregrine Falcon.&#160;&#160; The herons protested raucously and flailed about as they were repeatedly dive-bombed.&#160; Eventually the Falcon veered off (bored, perhaps?) and the herons regained their composure and glided on over the marsh. </span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">&#160;</span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">Susann and I both thought it was one of the most amazing sights we have ever seen.</span> 
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br/></span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">&#160;</span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">Patricia L. Chalmers<br/></span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">Halifax<br/></span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">&#160;</span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   <span style="font-size: 12pt;">&#160;</span>
  </div> 
  <div>
   &#160;
  </div>
 
</body></html>

next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects