In the pre-blogger blog, I mentioned a bit about how the current La nina episode could mean more storms and more storm-waterbirds this fall/winter. The pattern slightly mirrors recent records of Thick-billed Murre and Northern Fulmar records in Southern Ontario. (66.6% of records in 20% of the years that had La nina conditions).
Well another factor could make "seabirding" good in Ontario this fall (and future falls) - the melting sea ice in the arctic. I first heard about this theory a few years ago (I forget where) - but it was put forth to explain why there has been a HUGE increase in Slaty-backed Gull records:
Sea ice is melting more every year, allowing waterbirds to fly further north. The further north they get, the easier it is to "switch" continents or oceans when they begin to fly south. A few hundred km's in the far north could be 1000's at lower latitudes. Possibly why Newfoundland has had it's first 12 SBGU records from 2006-2009.
2009 brought Tufted Puffins to Greenland and the UK!!!
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A few days ago, another bird was found that could possibly prove that birds are going to be "crossing over" more and more, this apparent Juv. Great Black-backed Gull in Barrow, AK:
http://www.zbirdtours.com/barrow/biggull.htm
So what does this have to do with Ontario? Well we have very large bodies of water on our north coast - James and Hudson Bay. If only someone went up there to find these birds!
Top 10 "Firsts" you could find while seawatching on James/Hudson Bay:
10. Spectacled Eider
9. Tufted Puffin
8. Surfbird (poor habitat?)
7. Steller's Eider
6. Great Skua
5. Short-tailed Shearwater (difficult/impossible from below)
4. Sooty Shearwater (difficult/impossible from above)
3. Great Shearwater (1st "alive" ON)
2. Dovekie (not a 1st "alive"?)
1. Glaucous-winged Gull
With 10 the least, and 1 being the most likley! ..PS there's a Golden-crowned Sparrow in Ottawa.
Looks like a good fall/winter already. Looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteHeard about the Golden-crowned Sparrow as well.