Weekend Birding

Cave Swallows have now reached Ontario.  Not surprisingly a good number were seen at Fifty Point near Hamilton today.  The Peregrine Prints guy and others stood vigil along the shoreline.  No doubt others were around somewhere along Lake Erie as well.

(two years ago at Erieau)

Tomorrow I am heading up to Point Edward for a lakewatch.  It is only a 45 minute drive, so not far to go.  Decent north winds are predicted, although not as strong as originally forecast (what's new?).  There have been no good north winds until now this fall.  A very strong NW wind was blowing early this morning, however it somewhat died out during the day and the wind is light out of the north right now.
It will be a good change of pace since the last few weeks I have headed down to Lake Erie.  Cave Swallows have been seen at Point Edward in the past, but probably little chance of them there for tomorrow.

Yesterday was probably the last blast of SW winds for a while at least.  I checked the gardens at Brander Park and found a few Fiery Skippers.  A decent-looking Summer Azure was there as well.  Never got a photo though as the winds were strong blowing things around.  Getting rather late for one of those creatures.

As I like to include some history on this blog, and not necessarily nature, here is some more for history buffs like myself.  Railroad to be exact.  Recently I looked at some old photos my father took in 1966.  He always had the camera and took thousands of photos over the years.  Steam locomotive 7470 was a switcher at the Canada and Dominion Sugar Factory here in town.  It was a very large operation in its heyday.  I had always wondered what happened to this locomotive.

I googled the number and instantly it came up!  I was fascinated to know that it is still running out in New Hampshire as part of the Conway Scenic Railway.  It blew my mind to find this.  I was there with my father when he took the photos, so I remember it well.  (top of my head is at lower left!)

Come on kittiwakes....