Well it seems that there may be more to this. After discussions with
people over the last few days, in particular Tony Palliser and Dion
Hobcroft, I now have to admit that I don't know what I was looking at!
Were they in fact Providence Petrels? Dion - who was watching them
at North Head is adament that they were Gt-wingeds. However
Gt-wingeds are virtually unknown at this time of year in NSW. The
weather was not really right to force Providence Petrels on Shore.
The birds that were dots in the distance looked all dark. But the few
that came close by had obviously pale grey faces and really large
clear white patches on the underwing - pale primary shafts. However
with the late afternoon sun the body colouration of these close birds
was an orangy brown. So I don't think we'd have been able to see a
greyish body colouration if they were Providence. In summary the wing
pattern of all the close in birds fitted Providence. On pelagics I
have no trouble in distinquishing the two species but from land they
looked diferent. So I must retract my own records and record that
there were large numbers of Pterodromas off Long Reef on 17th. Any
other opinions out there? Chris Gladwin
==============================================
From Fri, 23 Jun 95 09:40 SAST
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 95 09:40 SAST
From: "PLOS, AL, ANDREA, MS" <>
Subject: (Fwd) seagull question
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 95 10:42:46 EDT
From: "Richard Reid-Smith" <>
To:
Subject: seagull question
Hi - I have a sort of question/inquiry about seagulls and was thinking of
throwing out on your Seabird-l list but it doesn't really fit in with what I
suspect is your list mandate - so I thought I'd check with you first.
If it's OK how do I go about it? If not can you suggest an appropriate site
to post this?
I'm a veterinary epidemiologist with a zoology background but relatively
little ornithology knowledge.
I'm looking for solutions for a friend who has no biology background
The inquiry is regarding how best to encourage a flock of seagulls to vaccate
the roof of his factory (in southern Ontario, Canada) which they have decided
is an appropriate nesting spot.
The flock is apparently "large" - I don't know the numbers; I also don't know
the species; they have been attracted to the roof by a large number of heat
vents; there is no associated food source; however, there is a nearby horse
racing track which is probably their food source.
They became established there about 5 years ago but it did not become a
problem until the numbers grew - now the combination of the weight of the
flock and the corrosion caused by the guano is endangering the structural
integrity of the roof.
Any ideas or even just information on flock behaviour (reaction to noise,
extinction of fear response, nesting behaviour) would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Richard Reid-Smith, BSc, DVM
Dept. Population Medicine
Ontario Veterinary College
U of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
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