By Jeremy Hatt
The love of Laridae was in the air, but alas, no larids in weather unfair. Yes, the Windsor Feminist Bird Club’s first ever Gull-entine’s Day was met with wintery road conditions, cold temperatures, sleet, and mist, and virtually no gulls, but our small, intrepid group of six made the most of it!
I was honored to host Gull-entine’s Day for the Windsor Feminist Bird Club (WFBC), an LBGTQ+-friendly event created by WFBC’s coordinator, Kate Derbyshire. The Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club (ECFNC) continues to promote and support 2SLGBTQIA+ events in the region, a mission to ensure safe and welcoming events to the community in a time when they are more important than ever. In particular, recent attacks on the Trans Community have made it imperative for ECFNC to strengthen their support and provide visibility to 2SLBGTQIA+ voices.
We held the outing on February 15th, just one day after Valentine’s Day, at Lakeview Park Marina, where just two weeks prior, gulls of multiple species were present in the hundreds. This was due to the polar vortex freezing up all open waters of Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair and concentrating gulls to the Detroit River mouth, which stays open all winter due to the strong river current. Unfortunately, mild temperatures following the vortex opened up areas of water on Lake Erie at the Lower Detroit River mouth and gulls seemed to prefer this location for feeding and roosting.
We saw exactly three(!) gulls during the event: two Ring-billed Gulls (an adult and first winter) and an adult American Herring Gull. I felt particularly bad for a visitor from Lansing, Michigan, who drove all the way to learn about gulls, but I did still go through identification of several of our regular species; it just wasn’t quite the same without the study subjects to admire.
Thankfully, Lakeview Park Marina always delivers on ducks, and this day was no exception. We got to enjoy large numbers of several species of overwintering waterfowl, many of which were close to the marina, providing great views and photographic opportunities. We went through identification tips for males and females of each species (Mallard, American Black Duck, Canvasback, Redhead, Greater and Lesser Scaup, Common Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, Common Merganser, and Ruddy Duck). Several Mute Swans also put on an entertaining show chasing each other around for fish.
After Lakeview Park Marina, a few of us went over to the Little River Pollution Control Plant to see what waterfowl were present on Little River, which stays open during the winter due to warm water effluent form the control plant. Here we were offered great looks and photos of a continuing Mallard x Northern Pintail hybrid swimming in the cement pools of the plant.
A beautiful Mallard x Northern Pintail hybrid showing aspects of each species – photo by Corinne Allsop
There are plans for another gull event down the road with WFBC so stay tuned. You can follow their Instagram page @ windsor.fbc to look out for upcoming events. WFBC’s mission is “Promoting inclusivity in birding for women, BIPOC, & LGBTQ+ folks. Everyone is welcome outdoors.”
Also save the date for two other upcoming events celebrating the 2SLGBTQIA+ Community. The first is Birding With Pride at Point Pelee on May 3rd, an event run by the Ontario Field Ornithologists during the Festival of Birds. This is a chance for members of the community to socialize and attend guided bird hikes from Northwest Beach. The next is ECFNC’s annual Pride Walk at Ojibway led by Jennifer Nantais and Jeremy Hatt. This popular nature walk will be held during Pride Month on June 15th as we explore the Ojibway Prairie Provincial Park and Tallgrass Prairie Heritage Park.
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