Rub a dub dub, two men in a tub....

kgd

kgd

Joined
Feb 28, 2007
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Running my annual field course last week and into next week. I gave the students today off, but still had to set a gill net in Lake Erie so that they can haul some fish in for Monday morning. I managed to convince Rick and Joe to come with me for a boat ride and hopefully beat the 32 degree heat.

Rick and Joe explored Middle Sister Island which is about 15 km off the Canadian shore of Lake Erie while I went off and set the gill nets and cleaned up the boat. I think they had a good time on the island of death. Island of death because of all the dead gulls and cormorants. I'm sure Rick can pipe in on the stable fly situation there as well. Still, some wilderness time, even in a stinky crap/puke ridden island is wilderness time !

No, they didn't row 15 km in that dingy. I dropped them off with our 28' sampling vessel!

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Great pictures.
I'm curious, why are there dead Gulls and Cormorants there? Is this simply where seabirds go to die?
 
Let me know next time you're going to neat (or creepy) islands!:)
 
There is a very large breeding colony of both species there. In the life of a seabird, the period just prior to fledgling is the toughest time in their lives. Two parents (herring gulls) have three chicks that they need to feed. The chicks engage in hyperphagia (excessive eating) just prior to fledgling and actually get a bit heavier than the adults, no doubt necessary to survive the learning of foraging on their own. When food is in short supply, then this is the time that the adults kick. When mom or dad kicks from malnutrition, the clutch of three usually perish also. This Island is a good enough ways from land that the birds here are dependent on forage fish and do not benefit from human refuse. Thus, when times are lean, so is mom and pop and so begins the natural culling of the colony. I managed to drop off Rick and Joe in the middle of SHTF for a gull :D
 
Very Cool! (But I was a little worried about opening a thread with this title.:eek:)
 
Thanks for the info sir. Being something of a birder and living on the coast I should know these things.
Rick and Joe were probably right at home in BirdSHTF.
 
32 degree heat, rocky terrain, poop, puke, dead birds, dead fish, dead trees, snakes, cockroaches , stable flies, spiders and mosquitos.... all the foliage, I MEAN ALL THE FOLIAGE was of the white painted variety..... it smelled like a rundown overpopulated petting zoo.

I'd go back again.:D:thumbup:


Thanks for the boat ride, Ken... I had a great time.

Rick
 
Magnussen said:
32 degree heat, rocky terrain, poop, puke, dead birds, dead fish, dead trees, snakes, cockroaches , stable flies, spiders and mosquitos.... all the foliage, I MEAN ALL THE FOLIAGE was of the white painted variety..... it smelled like a rundown overpopulated petting zoo.

I'd go back again.:D:thumbup:


Thanks for the boat ride, Ken... I had a great time.

Rick
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Hey Rick, Remember when I said I'd like to get together with you one of these days, well......................:(

Doc
 
Magnussen said:
32 degree heat, rocky terrain, poop, puke, dead birds, dead fish, dead trees, snakes, cockroaches , stable flies, spiders and mosquitos.... all the foliage, I MEAN ALL THE FOLIAGE was of the white painted variety..... it smelled like a rundown overpopulated petting zoo.

I'd go back again.:D:thumbup:


Thanks for the boat ride, Ken... I had a great time.

Rick
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DOC-CANADA said:
Hey Rick, Remember when I said I'd like to get together with you one of these days, well......................:(

Doc
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I think that could end in one of the best threads ever. Rick's survival skills combined with Doc's knowledge of plants etc.:thumbup:
 
protourist said:
I think that could end in one of the best threads ever. Rick's survival skills combined with Doc's knowledge of plants etc.:thumbup:
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I would quite agree with that.

Thanks for sharing Ken. Although I am not sure about the title of it. :eek:
 
Truly stellar pictures Ken as usual. Though as mentioned this thread does have a worrisome title.....


protourist said:
I think that could end in one of the best threads ever. Rick's survival skills combined with Doc's knowledge of plants etc.:thumbup:
Click to expand...

I agree, I'd love to see the results of that trip.

.
 
Great pictures! I live in Kentucky, but I'm on the Ohio side of Lake Erie right now visiting my fiancée's family. Your side looks nice, but we have 80 degree weather and mojito bars over here... :D:D
 
If these typically urbanized scavangers are forced to feed on fish, would that make them digestable? Could be a blessing in disguise... after all, a dead limb painted white still burns :D
 
Hey Ken, I will be in Toronto on 7/12! I am driving down to Doc's neck of the woods, so clear your schedule!
 
PayetteRucker said:
If these typically urbanized scavangers are forced to feed on fish, would that make them digestable? Could be a blessing in disguise... after all, a dead limb painted white still burns :D
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I heard that many hundreds of years ago some English people ate gulls. They would capture chicks and then fatten them up on dog flesh. :barf:
 
tonym said:
Hey Ken, I will be in Toronto on 7/12! I am driving down to Doc's neck of the woods, so clear your schedule!
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I can be up for that. I'm taking a couple of days of 12/13th as a break from my field course. Doc?
 
How long did Rick and Joe just sit stationary, paddling away, at each other, until you hollered down to them that they had to work together?
Just asking.:D
 
kgd said:
I can be up for that. I'm taking a couple of days of 12/13th as a break from my field course. Doc?
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Glad to hear it, Ken. I emailed Phil and Slasher, but I haven't heard anything back yet. Slasher probably won't be able to take time off work, anyway, but Phil might.

Tony originally told me it would be today. Thank God it wasn't - 43 C (with humidex) that's 109.4 F in English.

Temperature willing, T's going to do hand drill and you too, I'm guessing?

Anything else particular, you'd like to do?

Doc
 
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