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--=====================_351877656==.ALT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed 2 August 2009 I just received a message from Donelda of Donelda's Puffin Tours, at Englishtown in Cape Breton. We went out with her July 10 to the Bird Islands, and on that trip, in addition to the two Dovekies that we saw, we counted 60+ Bald Eagles, adults and immatures, loitering around both islands, eyeing the young kittiwakes and cormorants. This concentration of eagles is most unusual, and suggests that their regular fare, larger fish, were not available to them. We were concerned for the fate of the just-hatched kittiwakes and cormorants. Donelda's update is that there are still plenty of Bald Eagles around, but that the kittiwakes (1400 nesting pair, according to a count by DNR), left the colonies a month early, not having fledged a single chick. The Razorbills did manage to get their young fledged and off the colonies, but as they nest within rock crevasses and burrows, they were out of the reach of the eagles. She didn't provide an update for the cormorants, but I've asked her to comment. And the eagles are now staking out the entrances to the puffin burrows, preventing the puffins from entering to feed their young. I've asked her for an update on these as well. She is still seeing the two Dovekies from time to time, but they are harder to spot with lots of young gulls in the water, and plenty of seals. I wonder how other cormorant and kittiwake colonies fared on Cape Breton Island this year? Blake Maybank ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blake Maybank maybank@ns.sympatico.ca 902-852-2077 Editor, "Nova Scotia Birds" http://nsbs.chebucto.org author, "Birding Sites of Nova Scotia" http://tinyurl.com/birdingns Downloadable Nova Scotia Maps for inside front and back covers: http://maybank.tripod.com/BSNS/BSNS.htm#maps White's Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada --=====================_351877656==.ALT Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" <html> <body> 2 August 2009<br><br> I just received a message from Donelda of Donelda's Puffin Tours, at Englishtown in Cape Breton. We went out with her July 10 to the Bird Islands, and on that trip, in addition to the two Dovekies that we saw, we counted 60+ Bald Eagles, adults and immatures, loitering around both islands, eyeing the young kittiwakes and cormorants. This concentration of eagles is most unusual, and suggests that their regular fare, larger fish, were not available to them. We were concerned for the fate of the just-hatched kittiwakes and cormorants.<br><br> Donelda's update is that there are still plenty of Bald Eagles around, but that the kittiwakes (1400 nesting pair, according to a count by DNR), left the colonies a month early, not having fledged a single chick. The Razorbills did manage to get their young fledged and off the colonies, but as they nest within rock crevasses and burrows, they were out of the reach of the eagles. She didn't provide an update for the cormorants, but I've asked her to comment. And the eagles are now staking out the entrances to the puffin burrows, preventing the puffins from entering to feed their young. I've asked her for an update on these as well.<br><br> She is still seeing the two Dovekies from time to time, but they are harder to spot with lots of young gulls in the water, and plenty of seals.<br><br> I wonder how other cormorant and kittiwake colonies fared on Cape Breton Island this year?<br><br> Blake Maybank<br><br> <x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br> Blake Maybank<br> maybank@ns.sympatico.ca<br> 902-852-2077<br><br> Editor, "Nova Scotia Birds"<br> <a href="http://nsbs.chebucto.org/" eudora="autourl"> http://nsbs.chebucto.org<br><br> </a>author, "Birding Sites of Nova Scotia"<br> <font color="#0000FF"><u> <a href="http://tinyurl.com/birdingns" eudora="autourl"> http://tinyurl.com/birdingns<br> </a></u></font>Downloadable Nova Scotia Maps for inside front and back covers:<br> <a href="http://maybank.tripod.com/BSNS/BSNS.htm#maps" eudora="autourl"> http://maybank.tripod.com/BSNS/BSNS.htm#maps<br><br> </a>White's Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada </body> </html> --=====================_351877656==.ALT--
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