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Well the weather may still be cold on the lakes but I just received my first mesquito bite of the year. And on Tuesday Wind Horse leaves the slip for the first time since the New Year. Fair Winds to all the Association members.
Mike M
SV Wind Horse
#375
Galveston, Tx
Mike M
SV Wind Horse
#375
Galveston, Tx
Offline
Well most of the ice is gone from the harbour, but we're not in mosquito season yet, as you can see from the background to this <a href="http://www3.sympatico.ca/dweatherston/other/DSC_0012fm.jpg">little fellow</a>, photographed yesterday, 18 Mar. I'm not a birdwatcher, but these little birds, which migrate through Toronto at each end of the sailing season, have always delighted me.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Offline
David,
It appears to be a Long-Tailed Duck (my wife is a birder). It summers on Ellesmere Island so it must be used ice in the water. Masybe I can talk her into heading up to Canada to bird watch... hmm maybe during the class championships. That could be interesting.
Mike M
SV Wind Horse
#375
Galveston, Tx
Mike M
SV Wind Horse
#375
Galveston, Tx
Offline
I think you're right about the bird. I always thought they were buffleheads but my new bird book (I'm not a "birder" - funny word that, I would have thought "birdwatcher" made more sense - but I like to know what I'm looking at) makes clearer distinctions. Kath Timmis is peeved that new "sensitivities" have deprived that bird of its original name of oldsquaw.
Do not mislead your wife about "popping over" to see the breeding range on Ellesmere. That's 2600 miles north of here (go to http://gc.kls2.com/ and check 80° N 86° W - YYZ); Galveston is only 1300 miles south. And she won't see much in Toronto during the summer other than seagulls, Canada geese and cormorants. Supposedly we have an "urban wilderness" on the landspit that forms the outer harbour, but birders' protests have stymied attempts to restrain the population growth of seagulls and cormorants so the latter, in particular, are destroying the trees that other birds want as habitat.
Spring and fall are a different matter. Three weeks ago, there was a bald eagle on Toronto Island that attracted droves of people (I think I may have seen it, or perhaps it was a low-flying airliner with flapping wings) and a couple of years ago I got <a href="http://www.troubleshootingphotos.com/about/format.html" target="blank">him<a> (a merganser?), scooting out from under a dock.
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Last edited by (2007-03-20 23:23:29)
David Weatherston
Towser, Toronto
C&C 27 Mk IV
Offline
I was hoping to get her as far as Toronto and then deal with any low bird turn out problems as I watched the races. But we will have to get to the Arctic in the next few years just the same.
Right now the news here has been about incoming flights of migrants. They are visable on the radar so you will be getting them soon. I love a lazy weekday sail and looking up the mast to see a Frigate Bird soaring overhead.
Mike M
SV Wind Horse
#375
Galveston, Tx
Mike M
SV Wind Horse
#375
Galveston, Tx
Offline
Hmmm.. Now they're flying in from Mexico? Guess that fence isn't going to help. If you want to see most of the species migrating into Canada, visit Point Pelee Park south of Windsor (it's the southernmost part of Canada). Right now, looking out my window onto Lake St Clair, there are about 200 Canadas (a given any time), about 50 tundra swans (huge birds), and a couple of hundred lesser scaup diving for vegetation. Sometimes the flocks of ducks and geese travelling down the centre of the lake are so big that it looks like a five mile line of dark smoke from shore.
Gord Richardson, Aurora 75 MKIII, South Port Sailing Club
Mike;
If you are thinking of coming this far to watch any of the Association Races, let me know and I'll arrange a "bird's eye" view for you.
Cheers-Larry- "Yogi Bear"
[Don't forget, Mike - "bird's-eye" rhymes with "Shang-hai". He'll probably make you drink Canadian beer, too. - Admin]
Last edited by (2007-03-24 09:29:14)
Larry,
Thanks for the offer. I'm not sure that I can pull off the scheme this year, but we will see.
Back in my younger days I was quite a fan of Moosehead and Molson's. It would be nice to sample some of the local beers that do not travel this far south.
Mike M
SV Wind Horse
#375
Galveston, Tx
Mike M
SV Wind Horse
#375
Galveston, Tx
Offline
Whenever, the offer doesn't end this year, I've always got cold Molson's and Moosehead can be got readily.
Cheers-Larry
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