Long Point- May 3

It has been officially May for a couple of days now and birders from all over are gathering to their favourite migrant traps to catch the spectacle of migration.
One of my favourite places to spend my time is Long Point and this is where I first became interested in birds. My Grandma and I are renting a cottage just across from Long Point Bird Observatory's "Old Cut" field station and I will be birding the area as much as possible over the next month. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from this weekend because I left the camera battery at home(how do you forget that) so a couple of horrible i-phone photos will have to do. I have a bit of catching up to do.

Its just the beginning of May and Long Point has already had a couple if mega rarities. Long Point's first Bewick's Wren since 1997 was banded at the "tip" field station. Long Point's 3rd Swainson's Warbler was also banded at the tip. This station is not accessable to the public though.

I arrived at Long Point Thursday night and just walked around old cut for the remaining daylight hours. Highlights included:
Veery
Blue-winged Warbler
Ovenbird
I decided to pack it in early because I knew that Friday would be an early start.

Friday, May 3

I beat the sun up and managed to get out birding by 5:30 am. As soon as I stepped out the door I knew that I would be adding lots to the year list as the air was filled with songs of avian life. Yellow Warblers announced their presence near the entrance to the  park, along with an American Bittern calling from deep within the marsh. A Wood Thrush's call could barely be heard above all the other noise. Some Nashville Warblers, Brown Thrashers, Blackburnian Warbler, Black-throated Green Warblers all sang and allowed for awesome views.
Eventually things started quieting down as I got further into the park and some of the diversity changed. Nashville, Palm, Yellow-rumped, and Black and White warblers could be heard singing and eventually showed themselves. I also had my first couple of Black-throated Blue Warblers as well as a Red-headed Woodpecker. I was hearing Blue-winged Warbler for much of the time and eventually got to see it making its way up some vines. Bobolinks made a couple of flyovers along with Common Loons and Common Mergansers. After looping around the park I made my way back along the road and picked up Cape-may Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, and Swamp Sparrow. The Park had proved to be productive.

I moved on from there to Old Cut where there was much of the same. Big Creek and the Causway produced Forster's Terns, a single Common Tern and Marsh Wren.

Over all a pretty productive day and added lots to the year list. AND... NO TICKS!  No actual rarities but May 4th Highlights coming up!