Long Point Saturday 12th September

We arrived at Toronto on Friday 11th September for the start of a months birding at Long Point, Ontario, Canada. 

Hire car upgrade with Thrifty, need to be careful when after checking the car and leaving the rental area, you are asked if you have checked the car, not if you have found anything that needs to be recorded. Difficult to always remember these things when you are jet-lagged. Lets hope the marks on the car from previous users are not blamed on us.

Arrived at our accommodation but feeling very tired after driving from Toronto taking about 3 hours using a non-toll route. Sailly, e-simm worked using Google Maps for directions. 

I had trouble getting the front door open, Reg gave it a shove and we were in, thank goodness.

The accommodation was very good with plenty of space.

Humid, with a blue sky day and northerly/nw light winds.

On our first morning we walked from our accommodation to the track that led out to Crown Marsh and then visited the Long Point Bird Observatory. From the very start Emma and the banding (ringing) team were very friendly and welcoming. I think they were very surprised to learn that we were there for the month and that we were birders. It seems that Canadian birders (with the exception of the Obs team) do not go birding much in the autumn as they find the autumn warblers difficult to identify and prefer to see them in the spring. Over the course of the month we saw plenty of people with cameras wandering around Old Cut at the Obs but not in the campsite and we birded the Obs area and the campsite by ourselves, it was fantastic! 

Also visited Birds Canada headquarters with a viewpoint overlooking Lake Erie.

Male Black-throated Blue Warbler

Cedar Waxwing

Downy Woodpecker

Killdeer

Mourning Dove

We only saw this one Northern Waterthrush and only in the hand.

Northern Waterthrush

Palm Warbler

Palm Warbler

Ring-billed Gull

Sandhill Cranes

Swainson's Thrush

Wood Duck

Yellowthroat

Yellowthroat

Yellowthroat

Mourning Dove

Chipping Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

Mourning Dove

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

American Redstart

American Redstart

American Redstart

Blackpoll Warbler

Coopers Hawk

Coopers Hawk

Swainson's Thrush

Catbird

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Canvasback

Canvasback

Canvasback

Lesser Scaup

Lesser Scaup

Lesser Scaup

Lesser Scaup

Lesser Scaup

Solitary Sandpiper

Solitary Sandpipers

Juvenile Honey Buzzard

At the point just before 7:00am. By 9:00am I'd had a few hundred Swallows and Sand Martins moving south-east along with 113 Yellow Wagtails, 2 Tree Pipits, a Grey Wagtail, Green Sandpiper and Whimbrel. Along the beach were 28 Wheatears and a Whinchat. The highlight was a juvenile Honey Buzzard which Jacob picked up coming in from the north. It landed in the Trapping Area and eventually took off and headed south down the coast. Even though I was relatively close to the HB as it took off from the Trapping Area  and started to gain height, the heat haze and hand holding a 1,100mm lens meant that almost all of my photos were horrendously out of focus. Or, which is more likely I was very wobbly and had the camera on the wrong settings!

Juvenile Honey Buzzard

Wood Warbler and Wryneck

Not managing to get to the Obs until 18:00 the sun whilst still fairly high had disappeared behind some cloud. A handful of birders were searching for the Wryneck in the moat and a recent report indicated that the Wood Warbler was still in the large Sallow. After a short while of not being able to locate the Wryneck myself and Ross Newman were the only people still looking. Ross had a thermal imaging scope with him and managed to locate the Wryneck some 40 yards west of the moat feeding under some broom. Ross kindly indicated to me that he had re-found it and left me watching whilst he went to gather up the other birders. 

Many thanks to Ross, otherwise it is almost a certainty that I wouldn't have seen the Wryneck.

After watching the friendly Wryneck I wandered over to the large Sallow to see if the Wood Warbler was still showing. After just missing it I waited and eventually it re-appeared and showed extremely well feeding at the front of the net ride. Even though it was late evening when the sun came out the light conditions were superb.

After getting superb views of the Wood Warbler I went back to see if the Wryneck was still in the same place. It was and seemed to be having a bit of a doze as at times its eyes would close for a few seconds. No one else was around and I left the Wryneck at 19:30, wandering back to my car.

Neither the Wryneck or Wood Warbler were re-located the next day although our fourth Wood Warbler for the year was found by Richard at the Long Pits.