Sunday, July 26, 2009

First Reports of Red and Red-necked Phalaropes at Grand Manan

See the pictures and subscribe at http://ilovequoddywild.blogspot.com

Anyone out there have sightings from Head Harbour Passage,Grand Manan Channel or Cobscook ? Art

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Date: Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:21:06 -0300
From: Roger Burrows, NatureNB
Subject: first Red-necked Phalarope of the summer July 25

I saw my first Red-necked Phalarope of the summer(a moulting adult) from the White Head ferry this afternoon.
Roger Burrows
Ingalls Head Grand Manan

Date: Sun, 26 Jul 2009 09:26:33 -0300
From: Laurie Murison Subject: Re: first Red-necked Phalarope of the summer

We have been seeing small groups of red-necked phalaropes for the last couple of weeks on our trips but yesterday had larger groups sizes (30s to 60s) and included red and red-necked phalaropes - first reds of the summer for us.
Laurie Murison

Image Credit and Copyright: Art MacKay

1 comment:

  1. On Sun, Jul 26, 2009 at 9:35 PM, Danielle Dion wrote:

    I saw the piece on the net, was just hoping we could post it on the blog.

    Hey, I know most of my seabirds in the area but we are seeing some flocks on HHP, some small and some with atleast 30+ birds, and they are white on the underside and light brown (sandy coloured) on the back....flying quick....quite small and quick flyers and they were doing that hypnotic fly (what I see from the sandpipers at Mary's Point) that looks like a blanket as well.

    Any ideas?

    Cheers,
    Danielle

    Good Morning ...Happy Fog Day!... Again!!

    Sure post whatever you like.

    If the sandpipers are flying away from the shore, they could be phalaropes. However, they could be other species too. But, if they are sitting on the water and twirling and feeding by dipping their beak into the water, then they ARE phalaropes. Your colours are right for fall red-necked. The males arethese dull colours, but the female has a rufus coloured band around the neck.

    When I started out in the "olden days", there were estimates of over 2 million in HHP most years. Can you imagine! It was really impressive. They feed on Calaus finmarchicus too so they are sort of the forerunner for rights. If large numbers were in, the rights would follow.

    Dick Brown of the CWS noted that they were struggling for feed which was too deep in the water ... in the years before they left (1970s). So they are a sign of the ecosystem returning to its normal state. Really neat stuff.

    Art

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