NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/rec/birds/2298

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-22 | 3.4 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!newsflash.concordia.ca!nstn.ns.ca!ac.dal.ca!nextug
From: [e-mail]
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Birdwatching at Night
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 22 Jan 93 00:24:12 -0400
Organization: Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Lines: 57

Some of the most enjoyable experiences I have had observing
and studying birds have been at night. A particularly
memorable several nights were ones which I spent on Kent Island
(in the Bay of Fundy on Canada's east coast) which has
colonies of Common Eiders (Somateria mollissima), Herring Gulls
(Larus argentatus), Great Black-backed Gulls (Larus marinus),
Black Guillemots (Cepphus gyrlle) and Leach's Petrels
(Oceanodroma leucorhoa).
    During incubation (which lasts for 40-50 days!) one of the
parent's forages during the day and returns late at night to
the burrow. There follows an elaborate song & dance as male &
female meet, are fed and trade places on the nest. On Kent Island
thousands of birds arrive and their errie calls as they
approached the nest, and elaborate burrow calls (we were studying
breeding behavious and lowering microphones into the burrows)
produced one of the most haunting and evocative experiences of
my life.
    At other times, while anchored off the coast of Nova Scotia
on a research vessel during foggy nights scores of Petrel's
would flock around the vessel, apparently attracted to and
confused by the lights. They would collide with the bridge and
knock themselves senseless. Another researcher and I would
collect them and put them in boxes for the night to keep them
from continuing to flail at the lights. In the morning we
released them. I still recall with fondness our hourly "petrols"
(please excuse the pun) round the decks throughout the night.
We observed and measured each one looking in vain for a
Harcourt's Petrel (O. castro).
    On another research project I assisted a woman who was
studying the nocturnal feeding patterns of shorebirds during
migration on the upper reaches of the Bay of Fundy. Hundreds
of thousands of Semipalmated Sandpiper's (Calidris pusilla),
Least Sandpiper's (C. minutilla) and many other species of
shorebirds pass through this area in July & August enroute to
wintering grounds in Central & South America. They stop for
ten days or so to feed on the prolific life of the tidal mud
flats of this area. In any event, equipped with special infared
binoculars & telescopes we went out on the mudflats. To my
astonishment I could see as clearly as during the day and we
observed the shorebirds feeding much as normal. We were able to
approach the birds very closely. We also watched animals like
mink feeding on the shoreline, apparently utterly unconcerned
about our presence!
    At other times I have caught and banded Saw Whet Owl's
(Aegolius acadicus) in the forest at night, located breeding
Yellow Rail's (Coturnicops noveboracensis) in marshes in the wee
hours of the morning and waded out into the middle of lakes
in Iran to capture and band sleeping Common Cranes (Grus grus),
Greater Flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber) and Ruddy Shelducks
(Tadorna ferruginea)! In short there are as many (well, maybe
not quite as many) opportunities to observe and learn about
birds during the night as there are during the day. All it
requires is some imagination and a good flashlight (or infared
binoculars)!
    Good luck!
    Christopher Majka
    [e-mail]