Niagara & Long Point

Well we have arrived in Canada on our short, private tour of the migration hotspots along the northern shore of Lake Erie. Last evening we visited the falls in lovely sunshine but this morning it was quite misty and dull, so instead of hanging around we drove straight to Long Point. But along the way we saw our first Bald Eagle sat in a dead tree, Wild Turkey, lots of Turkey Vultures, Mourning Doves, Red-winged Blackbirds, American Robins, and Common Grackles. 

Once at the Obs at Long Point we quickly started notching up goodies and it was all very exciting. The feeders across the road held both White-throated and White-crowned Sparrows, Northern Cardinal, Grey Catbird, Downy Woodpecker, American Goldfinch, Black-capped Chickadee, and a male Eastern Towhee. 

Downy Woodpecker

American Robin

Eastern Towhee

Grey Catbird

Northern Cardinal

However, the news was not good here and according to local birders it was exceedingly quiet. I really love to be told this and was more determined than ever to dig out some cool birds and was initially quite excited by our first Yellow Warbler – but 50 birds later and they had become a nuisance. Yet walking around the area did produce at least 3 Nashville Warblers, 4+ Yellow-rumped Warblers, 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Chipping Sparrow, an Ovenbird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, House Finch, Brown-headed Cowbird, Blue Jay and Viv had an American Redstart as well. Back at the car park and we added a stonking male Blackburnian Warbler to our tally, as well as Blue-grey Gnatcatchers and 3 Warbling Vireos.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

 So we scoffed some lunch we had purchased at the wonderful Tim Horton’s in Simcoe earlier (and had Chimney Swifts flying over) and then twitched the reported Harris’s Sparrow down at the park. I don’t really like chasing other people’s birds but this sounded a good bet. Sure enough we nailed the sucker in double-quick time as it fed with some White-crowned Sparrows along the road – and we also got a Field Sparrow into the bargain as well. 

Harris's Sparrow

Field Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow

So with that done we drove back to the Obs, where a Song Sparrow was coming into the feeders and then drove off. Our last birding stop of the day was at a watchtower overlooking a marsh where we had 3 Sandhill Cranes, American Bittern, 2 Lesser Scaup, Canada Goose, Mute Swan and a Swamp Sparrow. Finishing the day with a very well marked Yellow-rumped Warbler in the trees opposite the car park was almost bettered by hearing American Woodcocks roding behind the Pelee Day Inn as we finally crashed out after a long and tiring day.