In Search of the Other Ivory Bird
January 16,2006
An Ivory gull has been seen for the past week between Point Pelee National Park and the harbour at Wheatley Ontario. We decided to make the one hour drive along the north shore of Lake Erie in the hopes of seeing the bird.
Birders had been coming from long distances to see the bird. One couple we spoke to was from West Virginia and they had driven through a snow storm that morning to get to Wheatley. Many came from New York, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio and Illinois.
Others had flown in from Arizona and Louisiana. On Friday Arizona watched the bird for an hour from a distance of 30 feet, on Saturday, Louisiana didn’t see the bird.
After spending several hours on the pier in -15 Celsius (5 Fahrenheit) temperatures with a 60 k (37 mph) wind we decided to check other local sites where the gull might be but it was no where to be seen.
When we returned we went to the west side of the channel and sat in our warm car for two hours watching the bird watchers watch.
The plan was that if they all pointed in the same direction at the same time and jumped to their scopes the Ivory Gull would be near.
It was a good plan and it worked! The bad news is the watchers didn’t all point look and jump to their scopes. They just milled around stamping their feet and holding their hands over their faces in a vain attempt to keep warm.
I have no doubt the bird was sitting on the flat roof of a nearby warehouse laughing at all the foolish humans.
Ah, the joys of bird watching.
An Ivory gull has been seen for the past week between Point Pelee National Park and the harbour at Wheatley Ontario. We decided to make the one hour drive along the north shore of Lake Erie in the hopes of seeing the bird.
Birders had been coming from long distances to see the bird. One couple we spoke to was from West Virginia and they had driven through a snow storm that morning to get to Wheatley. Many came from New York, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio and Illinois.
Others had flown in from Arizona and Louisiana. On Friday Arizona watched the bird for an hour from a distance of 30 feet, on Saturday, Louisiana didn’t see the bird.
After spending several hours on the pier in -15 Celsius (5 Fahrenheit) temperatures with a 60 k (37 mph) wind we decided to check other local sites where the gull might be but it was no where to be seen.
When we returned we went to the west side of the channel and sat in our warm car for two hours watching the bird watchers watch.
The plan was that if they all pointed in the same direction at the same time and jumped to their scopes the Ivory Gull would be near.
It was a good plan and it worked! The bad news is the watchers didn’t all point look and jump to their scopes. They just milled around stamping their feet and holding their hands over their faces in a vain attempt to keep warm.
I have no doubt the bird was sitting on the flat roof of a nearby warehouse laughing at all the foolish humans.
Ah, the joys of bird watching.
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