Another black liquor spill in Peninsula Harbour

Today we received the troubling news that once again, a toxic spill occurred on the Tembec property in Peninsula Harbour.

As communicated by Environment Canada:

On Tuesday March 30th MOE Officers discovered another spill incident at the closed Marathon Pulp mill. This represents the 4th incident in recent months. Foam, odours and discoloured water were observed at the shoreline adjacent to the clarifier on the mill site. The clarifier is believed to contain approximately 100,000 gallons of black liquor (diluted) and is expected to be the source of this incident .

Both MOE and Environment Canada were on site March 30th reviewing Tembec’s activities to address the 3 previous incidents when this was discovered.

MOE collected samples and EC planned to collect further samples for toxicity on March 31st. MOE and EC discussed with Tembec actions to undertake immediately. A vacuum truck is now being used to haul the black liquor from the clarifier to the spill basin a few kilometres away. This basin has been the receiving point for material removed from the pipeline and the contaminated groundwater which is being extracted from the beach near chamber #3. Tembec was requested to locate other vacuum trucks for this purpose.

Here's more from the (April 1st) Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal.

North Shore dragons

Thanks again to Ellen for sharing these great shots from the Coppermine Point area.

Saturday bird notes ♩ ♬ ♪

I took a stroll down to harbour this afternoon and turned up a few newcomers - a pair of American Tree Sparrows and a a flock of nine Canada Geese (at least two of which were banded) - click on photo to enlarge.

Of the 450 plus Herring Gulls in town, all but a dozen are mature birds. First, second and third year birds may be wintering further south. Many of the adults are paired up. These two were at the Penn Lake landfill site. Note that the bird in the foreground is banded.

(click to enlarge)

Here's the tally of birds seen in town:

Canada Goose 9
Mallard 2
Common Goldeneye 1
Wilson's Snipe 2
Ring-billed Gull 1
Herring Gull 450
Downy Woodpecker 2
European Starling 19
American Crow 4
Common Raven 42
Black-capped Chickadee 5
American Robin 28
American Tree Sparrow 2

Despite the cool, wet, blustery weather, several American Robins were singing.

Spring ice melt pictures from Coppermine Point

Many thanks to Ellen for sharing these.

Killdeer

Killdeer on Dead Horse Road
A trip up the bottom 30 km of the Deadhorse Road turned up only few birds. A Killdeer was my first of the year. Dead Horse Creek was open in stretches as was the Prairie River, in which I saw a male Common Goldeneye.

Look who dropped by this morning

Fewer signs of spring

Cool, more seasonable weather has settled over the north shore. Birds are on the move but the waves of waterfowl and blackbirds may yet be weeks away. Even so, some changes are evident. Our backyard bird feeders, which have been oh-so-quiet through the last three weeks, were visited today by a pair of Dark-eyed Juncos, a pair of White-throated Sparrows and a pair of Pine Siskins (the first of 2010). At the weedy, over-grown driving range on Penn Lake Rd., we've seen changing numbers - 2, 45, 23, 15 - of Snow Buntings. More will soon follow, accompanied by northward bound Horned Larks and Lapland Longspurs. The Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch has not been seen since March 13.Snow Buntings beside Penn Lake Road.

A few more bird notes ♩ ♬ ♪

New arrivals in Marathon today include:

Mallard 2 (at the Peninsula Harbour)
Ring-billed Gull 2 (at landfill)
Snow Bunting 17 (at driving range)

At Pukaskwa National Park I heard a Purple Finch singing and saw an immature Bald Eagle.

Near Heron Bay, there was a strutting male Ruffed Grouse and 30 or so Evening Grosbeaks at a feeder.

Neys Provincial Park hike

The mild weather continues. We headed down to Neys Provincial Park to do some biking but found that the un-plowed, seasonal road was still partially snow-covered. Instead, we parked at the seasonal gate south of tracks and walked the 5.2 km up the service road leading to the radio tower atop the centre of the Coldwell Peninsula.

As we noted in our most recent postings, there was very little bird activity. Ruffed Grouse and Downy Woodpecker were drumming but, other than American Crows, there were no recent arrivals and no trace of over-wintering finches.

By mid-afternoon we had seen quite a few insects on the wing. Tiny (~3 mm) sap-feeding beetles (Nitidulidae, Epuraea sp.) and small flies (Calliphoridae).

Most surprising as a Compton Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis vaualbum) that we found basking on the trunk of a white birch (which is also an important host plant for this species' caterpillars). This is one of the most common butterflies in our area, and one of the earliest to fly in the spring, but this must surely be one of the earliest dates in the province. This, and future butterfly sightings will be added to a spreadsheet we submit each year to the keepers of the Provincial Butterfly Database. The data help in mapping out the distributions and behaviours of our butterfly fauna.

Back to the hike... for much of the ascent, we trudged through slushy snow and before long our cycling shoes were soaked. We hoped that at the summit we would find a span of rock where we could dry and warm our bare feet in the sun.

What awaited us was a sunbathed half-gazebo that opened up to what must surely be the most breath-taking vista in the park. Looking south, down the peninsula we looked down on nearby peaks and then across the Thompson Channel to the iconic Pic Island. Twenty km. to the northwest, the Slate Islands, large and small, were clearly visible.



It was an excellent day. As yet, we haven't found out when the gazebo was built (certainly in the last five years) and how the park plans to include it the visitor's experience.

Saturday bird notes

A tide of the usual March migrants - American Woodcock, Killdeer, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle and Song Sparrow - has washed over southern-most Ontario but few have made it yet to the north shore. Today's balmy weather, with temperatures in the mid-teens, seemed at odds with the dearth of spring birds. Martha and I walked along the harbour and observed a dozen Common Goldeneye and a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers but no other waterfowl. We flushed a pair of Wilson's Snipe from the marshy seep where they likely overwintered. Around town, Herring Gull numbers have doubled through the last week so we are keeping an eye out for some of the less common gulls.

At the LaFarge plant, near Heron Bay, there were five Ring-billed Gulls, most certainly new arrivals from the south.
Four of five newly arrived Ring-billed Gulls near Heron Bay
It was a good day for those who'd hoped to see the Gray-Crowned Rosy Finch. A contingent from Thunder Bay - Nick Escott, Myles Falconer and Brian Moore - arrived in the late morning and found the GCRF in a matter of minutes. Later in the afternoon, local birder Nolan Pelland had great views. I saw the bird again at 5:30 pm.
Photo by Nick Escott