Frigatebird odds for Lake Ontario just went from 0.2% to 2.8% !!!

Yesterday (Sept 30) was just one of those days.

The morning started out very birdy in the woods, turning up some late-ish migrants (13 Warbler Sp's etc). Highlighted by no fewer than 5 Orange-crown's (not late)...

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In the afternoon, I got my beautiful girl out in the boat. From 4:30ish to 6:30ish.. A rather short-lived trip but the results were over the top.

First up was 6 Red-necked Phalaropes just offshore (inside the wave tower). The water was coated in tiny flies, which made the pharlies happy. Unfortunately we were throwing bread, which had the Ring-bills around, and they chased them frequently before we were able to get too close for views.

--- After confirming the ID (was hoping for Reds) were were getting ready to bread-toss again when a juv. female Peregrine Falcon came cruising across the lake. She lined up the poor little pharlies on the water, and gave the flock heck for 30 seconds. She eventually picked one individual out, and chased it upwards to a great height (200+ ft?) before we lost track of them. Was pretty exciting!


-  Bread tossing then resumed, as we traveled out into the lake. First up was juv. Parasitic Jaeger which chased our entire feeding frenzy away. Photos were difficult, and the bird stuck to the distant edges of the group. After 5  minutes of distant passes, it finally headed for the horizon - just as a second juv. Parasitic Jaeger made a fly-by behind us.

After the 2-Parasitic chase, we were left with a small and nervous bunch of gulls. Numbers eventually built back up in time for our 3rd Paraisitc (light adult) to chase them all away again. It was joined by a juv. Parasitic within a few minutes, but again they didn't really come close enough for any really good photos. Not bad for a short visit!

--- The final highlight came in the form of a striking juv. Sabine's Gull which spent a good deal of time in the area, and eventually came right into the boat and ate some bread. This incredible gull was nice enough to pose for some photos, and gave Jenn some over-the-top views for her first SAGU experience.

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Hopefully more pelagic fun this weekend. It's really all I want to do! Still hoping for Red Phalarope, and Arctic Tern. I photographed 11 Terns yesterday from the boat, all of which were Commons.....

taken yesterday