September 6 2011. Long Point, ON. I was thinking back to a day, some 16 months ago, that stands in vivid contrast to this early January day, which is rather still, grey and not-cold-but-not-mild-either. Probably the most frantic action around here today will be the gift-returns desks at the nearest shopping mall.
But back in September 2011, I was on two weeks bird banding and watching at a bird observatory in the middle of Lake Erie. It was late summer, most days were warm, if not hot, although a last minute August hurricane had stirred up the atmosphere and we had many days of strong winds and malevolent clouds.
This particular day was really stormy. We usually opened the mist nets before dawn, around 6.00 am. But that morning we were still being bashed by some nasty storm weather. We were unemployed that day. My field notes say: “Blew hard all night. At 06.30 cloud cover heavy and wind had moved to N.E. V. active storm scudded over half the morning but started to scatter and open up to blue sky. Noon Force 6 NE. 16°. No nets opened.”
One of the less appealing characteristics of this shoreline world was the millions of Stable Flies. They look just like houseflies and seek decaying vegetation and other less than agreeable sites as places to feed and breed. They also like to find warm-blooded animals for a quick lick of salt or better yet a meal of blood. Flies made life difficult, but because they were wind-averse you could usually escape much of the torment. The worst places were warm, calm and sheltered, but relief came where it was windswept; so this stormy day had its advantages.
I tell you all this about Stable Flies because Sanderlings and Ruddy Turnstones loved to feast on them, picking them from the rolls of wave-tossed waterweed that lined the shores in deep spongy wads. But on this particular day the blasting wind stirred up the lake so violently that the usually placid shoreline was no place for flies, Sanderlings or turnstones.
On the leeward side of the peninsula it was somewhat sheltered and I hiked along the shore, the lake to my left and the sandy bank to my right. A scattering of shorebirds was working the water’s-edge and I was pleased to see among a group of Semi-palmated and Least Sandpipers, a Bairds Sandpiper. Bairds, while somewhat longer than other look-alike sandpipers, are difficult to identify, they’re so ordinary; I was quite pleased to have spotted this one and managed to get a reasonable picture too.
Better fun though was watching several Sanderlings, which usually like to chase the very edge of breaking surf, running up the warm and sheltered sandy bank to feed on the Stable Flies which had chosen the bank for their safe haven out of the wind. When you have Sanderlings you have entertainment – and on this occasion Bird of the Day.
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