Manx sighting near Lakeland Pool.

scotto

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I wondered why there was so many people with large cameras and telescopes at Lankland Pool.
Posted with full permission from the Hamilton Spectator.
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Manx sighting 'mega rarity for Ontario,' says birdwatcher
By Daniel Nolan
The Hamilton Spectator(Sep 2, 2006)
Ontario birdwatchers are flocking to Van Wagners Beach to get a glimpse of a North Atlantic Ocean bird that is off course and has found a temporary home off the beach.

The Manx Shearwater was spotted Thursday by birdwatcher and retired Stelco electrician Barry Cherrier off the shore of the Lakeland Centre on Van Wagners Beach Road.

Since he's posted photos of his discovery on the Ontario Field Ornithologists website, birdwatchers have descended on the beach to try to see the bird. Yesterday afternoon, there was a line of about four dozen people carrying cameras and binoculars behind the centre, including people from Niagara Falls, Etobicoke, Kitchener, Stratford and London, Ont. (The photos are at www.ofo.ca/photos/ and scroll down to August 2006.)

According to OFO president Chris Escott, the only other specimen of a Manx Shearwater seen in Ontario was in 2001 when a dead carcass was discovered in the Ottawa area. Cherrier's discovery is the first live sighting of the bird, which is found in Newfoundland and New England.

"It's a mega rarity for Ontario," said Escott, who came in from Toronto to see the bird for himself (he did). "I was here at dawn. I'm sure I will never see another one in Ontario."

It's believed the bird came down the St. Lawrence and was carried to the beach area by the wind. The brown gull-like creature feeds on ocean life, so birdwatchers don't expect it to live very long along the Lake Ontario shoreline. The Manx Shearwater is also found in the British Isles.

Cherrier said he first sighted the bird at about 2 p.m. and waited another four-and-a-half hours to get a photo of it. He's ecstatic.

"I couldn't believe it," he said. "I made history. It's the first time one has been seen alive. This isn't something you expect."

Cherrier believes, however, the bird has been seen farther afield than Ontario. He recalls a report of one being seen in Michigan a few years back.

Ken Clarke, a psychologist from Stratford, came to the beach last night when he heard about the sighting. He's been a birdwatcher 25 years and began his hobby when he lived in Newfoundland.

"I'm used to seeing birds like this in their natural habitat," said Clarke, who saw the bird with his binoculars from the Lakeland Centre tower. "Even on the ocean coast, you're not going to see it that much because it's out on the ocean. I think it's cool to see these birds in this place."

dnolan@thespec.com

905-526-3351
 

scotto

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Strong winds blow rare ocean bird into town
Shearwater's sighting by Van Wagner's Beach a first in Ontario
Richard Leitner, Stoney Creek News

(Sep 8, 2006)
Tropical storm Ernesto's wake may have spoiled many Labour Day weekend plans, but the weather system that preceded it brought the rarest of treats for Barry Cherriere.

The longtime bird watcher made the first-ever Ontario sighting of a live manx shearwater, an open-water dwelling bird usually found in the North Atlantic.

The feathered visitor was blown way off course by strong northeast winds and spotted by Van Wagner's Beach last Thursday and Friday. The size of a small gull, manx shearwaters are dark or black on top and white on their underside.

"I probably couldn't live two more lifetimes to find something that rare," said Mr. Cherriere, 54, who has been an avid birder since he was 10.

"Most bird watchers are well aware any time we get east winds you go to Van Wagner's Beach," he said.

"I was there for a week prior to (the sighting) and I saw all kinds of goodies. Something like that, it's not even on the back of your mind. You just don't expect it."

His joy over the discovery is tempered by the grim knowledge the wayward bird is doomed.

The only previous manx shearer to be spotted in Ontario -- in Ottawa -- was dead. A similar fate often awaits other ocean birds, like jaegers and kittiwakes that stray off course.

"He comes down here by the conditions, but he won't be able to find anything to sustain himself," Mr. Cherriere said.

"That lake doesn't offer any food that it's looking for, so they almost always perish, trapped at our western end of Lake Ontario," he said.

"They're saltwater birds. We don't have any squid or shrimp or the microorganisms that are on the surface of the ocean that all these birds are scanning for. None of that exists, unfortunately."

Mr. Cherriere said he walked the beach on Saturday and Sunday to see if the shearwater washed up on shore, but only found a kittiwake.

His pictures of the shearwater can be viewed on the Hamilton Conservation Authority's Web site at www.conservationhamilton.ca.

According to the site, other rare bird sightings in the area include a Pacific loon and western grebe that stayed by Fifty Point for about two weeks two years ago.
 
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