next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects
I briefly stopped off in PORT GEORGE this afternoon - it was glorious to be out at the coast in brilliant sunshine in only a t-shirt in mid October. Calm and sunny, an incoming tide was just beginning to threaten the reef and the complaining seals. The first two Harlequin Ducks I have seen this fall, both males, were preening and splashing mightily near the lighthouse, right at the edge of the water. You have to look carefully to find them as they are often hidden by the rocks. There were no less than 25 seals on the reef and more in the water. Amazingly, no less than 20 of them were Greys and they were an extremely noisy group. It sounded like a barn yard. Lots of nose to nose, open mouth challenges were going on. The few much smaller Harbour seals looked very nervous at all the commotion around them. There were about 60 Surf Scoters in groups of roughly 15 birds each. There seemed to be 3 different sizes of Surf Scoters in each group. The largest were the familiar adult male "skunk-heads". Quite a bit smaller but still an impressive duck were the brown females. The third and largest group was still smaller, seemed to be not nearly as sturdily built and possessed distinct white cheek flashes which were obvious in the sun. I took them to be first year birds and they certainly seemed to follow the lead of the "adults". In each mixed group only 4 or 5 were clearly adults, 10 or 11 being the smaller sized birds. There were also 30 Common Eider - 2 Common Loon - 5 Red Throated Loons and a single Pied-billed Grebe that looked distinctly out of place. Dropping in at MARGARETVILLE on the way home I was stunned to see a single large raft of birds, all busily moving down the Bay while feeding as they went. There were 200+ Common Eiders and 300+ Surf Scoters. Again all 3 sizes were noted with 75-80% of the Scoters being the smaller "adolescents". This has to rate as one of the largest groups of Surf Scoters I have seen in this area. John Belbin - Hantsport.
next message in archive
next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects