American Golden Plover in Peninsula Harbour

In the Marathon area, where shorebird habitat is widely dispersed, sixteen is a good count for any particular species. That was the total of two flocks of American Golden Plovers I found resting on the rocky shore of Peninsula Harbour today.

Other new arrivals include American Pipits and Orange-crowned Warblers.

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Out-of-season Long-tailed Duck in Peninsula Harbour

For the first time in a few months I walked along the shore of Peninsula Harbour this afternoon hoping to turn up a few shorebirds. There were a few Lesser Yellowlegs and a Killdeer. Less expected were an American Coot - only the third I've seen on the north shore - swimming off the break wall beside the decommissioned paper mill, and nearby, a male Long-tailed Duck, beached beside a Red-breasted Merganser family.

Last summer, a male Long-tailed Duck similarly spent the summer here.

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Thin ice on Peninsula Harbour

Young Peregrine

Many thanks to Bobby Lowndes for sharing these shots of a young Peregrine on the rocks at Cummings Beach, taken on October 7, 2010. The nearest Peregrine aerie is about 7 km to the west, at the Red Sucker Cove Provincial Nature Reserve.

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Some Superior birds

There was a good mix of birds in Peninsula Harbour this morning. Horned Larks and Rusty Blackbirds were new arrivals. The only shorebird present was a Semipalmated Plover.

As I photographed a flock of Horned Larks, a young Sharp-shinned Hawk scattered the group and engaged one bird in an erratic, twisting chase just off shore. The Horned Lark eluded the accipter, which flew back to shore and landed about 6 m. from where I was sitting. Nice.

There also were several high-flying, southbound flock of Canada Geese, totaling ~120 birds. A lone Snow Ross's Goose accompanied one of the "V"s (thank you, Alan Wormington, for the correction).

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Western Kingbird at Marathon

I swung by the boat launch in Jellicoe cove this afternoon to look for shorebirds. While I panned my binoculars across the open water a songbird flew across my field of view and landed about 50 m. away.

Western Kingbird! My first in Ontario.

It flitted about on the wind-buffeted rocks and shrubs for about ten minutes before it flew northwards along the rocky shoreline.

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Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Marathon (updated Sept. 3)

Not far from the rocky point where I encountered the Baird's Sandpiper last week, I found this Buff-breasted Sandpiper this morning. Migrating Buff-breasted Sanpipers are more typically found in drier, more upland habitats.

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Update: Sept. 3.

I relocated the bird just down the beach from where I found it yesterday. The waypoint is 48.72327, -86.38535.

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Baird's Sandpiper at Marathon

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One of the less common Calidris shorebirds we see on the north shore, this Baird's Sandpiper briefly visited the rocks beside the boat launch in Peninsula Harbour this afternoon.

Summer Long-tailed Duck

I came upon this male Long-tailed Duck swimming among recently fledged Herring Gulls on July 13, about a kilometre north of the town boat launch - an area in which we typically see the species in the winter.

More on release of toxic mill effluent from Tembec property

Location of latest spill into Peninsula Harbour

[This is a follow-up to a March 31 blog posting.]

April 9 update on March 30th release of black liquor to lake from clarifier :[Source]

The contents of the clarifier have mostly been removed although frozen material remains in the bottom. Tembec dug 5 test pits around the clarifier to find the direction of migration. Contaminated ground water was discovered in several pits. A recovery sump was installed in most contaminated pits which showed signs of ground water movement. Approximately 11,000 gallons/day of contaminated ground water are being extracted from this sump with the material being transported to the spill basin. The discolouration of water at the shoreline has decreased substantially but is at times still present. Tembec will continue to extract the contaminated ground water. The source of the leak from the clarifier is still under investigation.

Environment Canada and MOE collected samples of the black liquor in the clarifier and in the affected lake water. The samples from the clarifier indicated toxicity to fish while the samples of the impacted lake water did not.

Recent developments:

The internal sewer system within the mill had collected black liquor and at times been used as temporary storage for the material. During the Easter weekend, on April 3, a leak was detected in the effluent line in the area of the mill effluent sump. These sewers have now been pumped out and the liquor transferred to the spill basin.

On April 4th 2010 an area of soil contamination was discovered south east of the clarifier about 10-15 metres from the lake [see photo from April 13, below, editor]. A sump was installed for extraction of the black liquor and contaminated ground water. A catch basin at this location had black liquor in it as well and this has been pumped out and the material was taken to the spill basin. There is no evidence of this material entering the lake.

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Leaking effluent clarifier adjacent to Lake Superior, April 13, 1010.

Tembec is developing a plan to deal with the material now in the SSB.

Environment Canada conducted a follow up inspection April 7/8th

Kate Taillon
Senior Program Coordinator, Great Lakes Areas of Concern
Coordinatrice du programme, secteurs préoccupant des Grands Lacs
Environment Canada, Ontario - Environnement Canada, région de l'Ontario
4905 Dufferin Street Toronto ON M3H 5T4

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Related:

• Mill spill confirms worst fears (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal, Dec. 8, 2009).

• Chemical Plume apparent on Lake Superior (Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal, January 22, 2010, PDF).