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Date Posted: 05:06:06 10/02/03 Thu
Author: Dennis
Author Host/IP: NoHost / 208.178.226.51
Subject: Re: Point Pelee Field Trip Report: Blue Jay Buffet
In reply to: Eric Durbin 's message, "Point Pelee Field Trip Report: Blue Jay Buffet" on 14:12:04 09/29/03 Mon

Thanks Eric for leading a very exciting trip!

>Any fall visit to Point Pelee National Park can be
>rewarding. On the other hand, regardless of good
>timing and careful planning, luck can turn against you.
>
>In the case of the September 27th trip to the tip,
>good timing, good planning and good luck prevailed.
>Meeting at the Visitors Centre in the predawn, the TNA
>group hiked the two kilometers to the tip before sun
>rise—beating the tram-riding riff raff by better than
>an hour. The sun rose out of Lake Erie with a sizzle
>and the waves bust into flames all along the horizon;
>golden rays pierced the clouds in every direction.
>Tremendous flights of Double-crested cormorants, long
>skeins of black birds hugging the waves, beat down the
>east side of the point to dive and swim in the surf
>churning around the submerged sandbar at the tip.
>Dennis Johns made an effort to count them and
>estimated 100,000! Several thousand Monarch
>butterflies draped the trees near the tram stop, and
>hundreds more flitted through the woods. A stiff
>southwesterly wind apparently diminished the number of
>small birds moving down the point, but gangs of noisy
>Blue jays charged back and forth in the tree tops and
>occasionally ventured out over the lake.
>
>The last weekend of September is supposed to be the
>peak of falcon migration, and on this blustery
>morning, the falcons did not fail us. Several
>Peregrines spent two hours putting on a fantastic
>display of aerial acrobatics and hunting prowess.
>
>The Blue jays suffered the brunt of the onslaught.
>Despite the jays’ shrill cries and panicked plunges
>into the trees, the falcons plucked the jays out of
>the air almost at will. Only a single jay, after an
>exciting pursuit and capture by a young Peregrine—all
>just over the heads of the TNA group—was observed to
>slip from the talons of its captor, plummet toward
>the ground, take wing and just barely dodging a
>further pursuit, escape to the woods.
>
>Otherwise, successful Peregrines flew up and down the
>beach triumphantly displaying their kills, or crouched
>over their breakfasts, in the trees, on the beach or
>the trail, rending the little bodies and sending puffs
>of blue and grey feathers streaming away in the wind.
>
>Besides the Peregrines, a Merlin, Kestrels, a low and
>close immature Bald eagle, Turkey vultures, Cooper’s
>hawks, and many Northern harriers and Sharp-shinned
>hawks added to the show. A turn around the Marsh
>Boardwalk later in the morning produced great looks at
>American bittern (spotted by Todd Haggard) and
>Wilson’s snipe (found by Martha Johns).
>
>All in all, it was memorable morning of birding in a
>great park.

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