Zodiac report form Oct 10, 2011

My Dad and I did some offshore birding last Monday. I'll let ebird give the rundown:



Canada Goose 30
Gadwall 10
American Wigeon 100
American Black Duck 75
Mallard 200
Northern Shoveler 8
Northern Pintail 150
Green-winged Teal 25
Greater Scaup 600
Lesser Scaup 50
Surf Scoter 10
White-winged Scoter 750
Long-tailed Duck 1500
Common Goldeneye 10
Ruddy Duck 15
Common Loon 15
Red-necked Grebe 3
Double-crested Cormorant 20
Bonaparte's Gull 25
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Pomarine Jaeger 2
Parasitic Jaeger 1

All in all, not a bad list. The really strange part though, is we were WAYY offshore. And I mean WAAY offshore. So what the heck were all of those puddle ducks doing out there? Check out this photo:

Mallards and Pintails and Wigeon, oh my! But seriously, we were 10-15km offshore. What the heck? We even had some oddities like Ruddy Ducks out on the deep blue:

The Jaegers were the other bonus. The two Pomarine's were seen separately, way the heck offshore. The first bird was found when we heard a gull screaming for its life, and located the source of the commotion. I managed to get a really bad video, of just a few seconds of the chase... The Pom really lays a beatdown on the gull:

To see anything, you MUST click on the video multiple times until you can watch it on youtube. Then you'll have to watch it on "full screen". It may not even be worth the trouble really..... 

The next Pom was a similar situation. Miles out on the lake, chased a few gulls, but was very difficult to follow and eventually lost. I managed a few photos off all 3 Jaegers we had, which I'll have to post some other time. 

The last Jaeger (Parasitic) was brought in late in the day during some bread throwing fun. It was unique, in that it was our first PAJA to actually "hang around" the boat for longer than 15 seconds (a few minutes for this one)... I took several pics, but the light was gawd-awful... Finished the day photographing some Ring-bills and Herring Gulls (and Bonaparte's, which were more numerous than usual on the lake), before heading in at dusk. 

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Ever wonder what it is like being out in a tiny zodiac, miles offshore in Lake Ontario?!?! Wonder no longer!!! All the fun and excitement captured in this never before seen footage: