Outdoor Ontario

Birding Reports => Toronto Reports => Topic started by: jjmb on May 23, 2010, 09:41:25 PM

Title: Sat May 22 - Leslie Street Spit - Whimbrels
Post by: jjmb on May 23, 2010, 09:41:25 PM

My best sighting of Saturday morning on the Spit was 11 Whimbrels clustered together on 1 of the islands in the first big pond. I got to watch them for quite some time, and then they got spooked and flew off as a tight knit group.

Lots of other good stuff, but the Whimbrels stood out for me.

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Post by: Matthew Strimas-Mackey on May 24, 2010, 01:10:43 AM

I saw the Whimbrels as well today. Very cool, usually I only see them flying. Also, tons of Killdeers, including one on a nest in the parking lot.

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Post by: dizzy on May 24, 2010, 11:36:33 AM

I saw them at about 1:30 pm at Leslie spit on Saturday. There was a flock of about 30 circling for about 5 mins just above Cell 2 where the terns where. Eventually they landed in cell 2.  I took some photos, but the fog didn't help. One of them has an antenna on its back. Nonetheless, a beautiful site indeed.

Mike

(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4001/4635339977_f9b790e209_b.jpg)

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Post by: Tyler on May 24, 2010, 11:57:43 AM

"One of them has an antenna on its back. Nonetheless, a beautiful site indeed. "

A even better shot with that attenna visible!
 That bird may of been one of 2 that left Virginia the night before.
Whimbrels have been getting radio and satillite transmitters put on them to track their migration.
 Currently there are 3 radio receivers stations on Lake Ontario tracking for the radio signal birds. The antenna whimbrel probably is a satellite tagged bird.

The satellite tagged whimbrels should be up on wildlifetracking website soon, so people can follow where these birds are passing through.
http://www.wildlifetracking.org/index.s ... ect_id=369 (http://www.wildlifetracking.org/index.shtml?project_id=369)

last year one whimbrel was located by the toronto receiver 9 hours after it left virginia.

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Post by: Matthew Strimas-Mackey on May 24, 2010, 12:45:33 PM

@dizzy: That's a great pic even with the fog. Cool that you got that transmitter. I'm surprised that doesn't impede the flight of the bird.

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Post by: Andreas Jonsson on May 24, 2010, 04:07:18 PM

@dizzy

Did you see them take off later, or do you reckon they could still be there? Thanks.

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Post by: dizzy on May 24, 2010, 05:51:45 PM

Sorry actually, i meant to say that I saw them yesterday as opposed to Saturday. Today feels like Sunday, since I'm working tomorrow. With the fog, it was difficult to see. I believe most of them landed where the terns were. They kept circling just above cell 2, and were attempting to land where the terns where. After several attempts, they eventually one by one landed in cell 2. Fog was heavy coming in from the east. They may have stayed as I was heading north for the exit.

I hope this helps.

Thanks Matthew for your comment.

Mike