Jeff and Tweeters,

I've seen some similar behavior while traveling on ferries. On the huge old
Blue Nose ferry that runs from Bar Harbor, Maine to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, I
watched Atlantic Puffins fly repeatedly up toward the higher parts of the
ferry, taking what appeared to be a close look. My guess was that they were
inspecting the structure for potential nest sites. This was in June. The
behavior to me looks identical to what ledge and cliff crevice nesting
alcids do on their nesting islands.

Would Pigeon Guillemots nest on the ferry if there was a likely cavity?
Rock Pigeons used to nest on the Fauntleroy Ferry, above an overhead beam.
The only pair of birds I know of that nested simultaneously in two counties.

Good birding, Bob

----- Original Message -----
From: "jeff osmundson" <jeffo at cedarcomm.com>
To: "tweeters" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2009 9:17 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] odd Pigeon Guillemot behavior


> Tweets,
> Had an interesting experience on the ferry ride from Port Townsend to
> Keystone this morning.
> As we were leaving the ferry dock at Port Townsend, I noticed a pigeon
> guillemot take off and fly towards the back of the ferry.
> It banked into the ferry and up towards the windows and then down towards
> the water...after that I lost it.
> The small ferry is a very short walk around, and as I came back to the
> same side there was the guillemot sitting on the rail. Nobody was outside
> as the rain made the day pretty wet.
> It just sat there and looked around, every few minutes it would raise up a
> little and take a few steps forward and then settle back down.
> This went on until about mid channel when it started giving a cry with
> pretty good frequency.
> There were more birds that we passed, with no apparent interest by this
> bird.
> Finally, just about mid channel, it moved forward and spread its wings to
> fly off over the bow.
> Gone, no looking back.
> The whole ride it was facing into the wind on the rail about 10 feet from
> the windows. Folks were walking back and forth without bothering the
> guillemot at all. Weird.
>
> --
> Jeff Osmundson
> Arlington
>
>
>
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