The Guardian
By David Archibald
The small sea birds blown ashore on northern P.E.I. coastlines in wild wind storms just before Christmas have been identified.
Fish and wildlife section manager Gerald MacDougall says the birds as dovekies. They are black and white, smaller than crows, and resembled small penguins with wings.
MacDougall, who used to collect and release the birds when he was a conservation officer, said the recent storms have brought about the largest influx in numbers of dovekies to P.E.I. he seen in his time with fish and wildlife.
Unable to take off from land and only feeding on marine food, the dovekies need to be collected and released at sea in order to survive.
“People say they can’t fly. Well you just can’t throw them up in the air and have them fly away, but they can fly,” said MacDougall. “It’s just a matter of picking them up and getting them back to the water as soon as possible.”
A number of dovekies were seen around Lakeside beach area and easterly towards Campbell’s Cove where more were located. Decreasing levels of ice on the shore could also be contributing to the increasing occurrence of grounded dovekies.
“Normally with the ice conditions they would be a lot farther out at sea. But with no ice there, they’re closer to land,” said MacDougall. “The lack of ice there to push them out farther could be why we’re getting more of them this year.”
In areas of heavy fog, the dovekie can also get disoriented and land unintentionally on land.
No comments:
Post a Comment