Thursday 17 November 2011

Excellent forecast

I just checked the forecast for Leamington. Tomorrow is supposed to be a high of 7 degrees C with southwest winds at 50km/h! If anyone knows about lakewatching at Pelee, strong winds from the southwest are often the best for bringing in rare "pelagic birds" or water birds. Things to look for this time of year include jaegers (should still be Parasitics and Pomarines around this time of year - its a good year for Poms especially, it seems), Black-legged Kittiwake, Franklin's Gull, Northern Gannet, Pacific Loon, Cave Swallows, King and Common Eiders, Harlequin Ducks, etc.
Saturday's forecast is almost as good - strong southwest winds at 35 km/h and a high of 10 degrees Celcius. Sunday has a forecast of strong southwest winds at 45 km/h and a high of 13 degrees Celcius. With all these strong, increasingly warm winds from the southwest, who knows what birds may show up. Last year around this time an Ash-throated Flycatcher was seen just north of the tip.
I can't make it out to Pelee tomorrow unfortunately, but I should be there for the whole weekend if the forecast is still good by tomorrow night. Certainly looks like half decent conditions for Cave Swallows.

Despite many days with forecasted southwest winds at Pelee this fall, little has been seen by the regulars at the tip. Maybe this will be the weekend when loads of birds are seen???? (or maybe not....)

edit: Almost forgot - there is some very interesting news from across the lake in Ohio. Yesterday, Craig Holt found a state-first Black-tailed Gull along the lakeshore at the Ashtabula power plant. I don't know of any photos posted of this bird yet, but check out the Ohio birding listserv for more info. Who knows, maybe its the same bird that graced our side of the lake 2 winters ago...

1 comment:

Blake A. Mann said...

Hey Josh,
I've gone to Pelee several times on promising winds this fall and got skunked. King Eider was nice last Sunday though.
Hopefully this weekend will be the charm--perhaps I will see you there at some point.