Long Point Sunday 20th September

Today was a similar sequence of visits to yesterday but we went to the campsite first and missed out Crown Marsh. The day remained dry, overcast with a strong NE breeze so we focused on the southern edge of the campsite and gradually picked up flocks of warblers high amongst the shaking leaves in the tall trees. Warblers and flycatchers were also occasionally lower and the best tactic was to just stop at a good vantage point where gradually part of a flock would move through some shrub vegetation. We ended up back at the sheltered tree line and had another incredible warbler spectacle as Yellow-rumped, Cape May, Wilson's, Northern Parula, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Palm, Tennessee, Magnolia and Chestnut-sided warblers foraged and chased each other within feet of where we were standing. There were also several Eastern Wood-peewees, red-breasted and White Breasted Nuthatch, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Brown Creepers and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

Bay-breasted Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Black-throated Green warbler

Cape May Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Eastern Wood Pewee

Eastern Wood Pewee

Eastern Wood Pewee

Eastern Wood Pewee

Green Darner

Magnolia Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Northern Flicker

Northern Parula

Tennessee Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Our next stop was the Obs, where the team were just processing a Rose-breasted Grosbeak which we saw in the hand as it was biting Chris the handler. 

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

The road adjacent to the old lighthouse just beyond the obs boundary proved productive with more flocks of warblers and flycatchers moving through. We also had our first red-tailed Hawks of the trip with one over the obs and another over our accommodation.

Red-tailed Hawk

After lunch and a snooze we checked Big Creek for waders and then moved on to the Birding Canada headquarters after which we drove a few of the side roads near Lakeside Road looking for American Kestrels. We encountered a foraging group of six but none allowed close approach. Reg then had an opportunity to look at a flock of Canada Geese, whilst I ignored them, there are just too many at Dungeness and they are a nuisance species there. Anyway, he determined that the race we were looking at (he was looking at) was Todd's. In the end, even I took a few photos of them, and I haven't deleted them!!

Another excellent day.