Wednesday, October 01, 2014

PEI 13





















PEI 13

I photographed a few species of birds while in PEI including cormorants, plovers, seagulls, and great blue herons.
 
I noticed a lot of cormorants on a beach as the ferry left Pictou in Nova Scotia and many more on the dock as we arrived in Wood Islands in PEI.  Then, on my first walk on a beach near Morrell, I photographed a large flock of them on the beach.  I've photographed cormorants in Florida but there were usually small numbers of them not huge flocks.  I checked it out on the Internet and found that cormorants were considered a problem in PEI because there were so many of them and they were eating so many fish that it was affecting the fishery.  Apparently the government initiated a cull of the birds a few years ago and are considering another.  I have photographed cormorants here in Newfoundland but have never seen more than a few at a time.

I saw a small flock of plovers on the sandy beach and made a couple of photos before they flew off.  I am not sure if these are piping plovers, but they certainly look like the photos in my  identification books.

A lone seagull flew very close to us and landed within 7 metres (21 feet),  I thought it was unusual behaviour and noticed that there was something wrong with its leg.  It hopped along on one foot.  It allowed me to approach within a few feet.  I made a few photos and continued my walk along the beach.  A few minutes later it flew by us and landed nearby again.  It did this two or three times before flying off for good.  It was probably looking for food and when it didn't get any, it gave up on us.


I saw a few great blue herons in PEI but couldn't get close to them, even with a telephoto lens.  I included a couple of images of one that took off as soon as I headed its way.

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