Early Thanksgiving Weekend Birding

Friday morning I headed down to Point Pelee as a brisk SE wind was blowing.  It was not overly strong, but the possibilities were there for a good Tip watch.  I much prefer doing lake watches this time of year!
I was the first to arrive at the Tip and noticed a good number of bonies moving south on the west side.  I was soon joined be Richard Carr (aka The Afternoon Shift) and we had a good time watching the lake.

Algoma Enterprise

At one point, Richard spotted a jaeger coming down the east side, somewhat distant.  As often is the case it was fast moving.

There were actually two jaegers and both chased a gull when they were directly SSW of the Tip.  We had good scope views, but trying to get any photos was difficult.  The two interacting with the gull would have been a good photo, but I could not get on them!

I was pretty sure the one was Parasitic, but left it as jaeger sp.  The other, after some analysis of photo at home, I put down a Pomarine.  When looking at jaegers, one should get a good look at the central tail feather (or retricies) which help in identifying the species.  They certainly were not Long-tailed Jaegers in any case.

All three scoter species were seen during this watch.  Black Scoters have put on a good showing so far this fall.

Surf Scoter at bottom

Things died out after a while so we headed back to the VC.

I then checked west beach trail for butterflies. There was quite a bit of overcast this day (even though the forecast said otherwise....), so butterfly activity was minimal.
I did however, come across my first and only Grey Hairstreak of the year.

I checked some other areas of the park for birds, but "land" birds were very scarce.  Winter Wrens were plentiful though.  Practically no warblers!

Blackpoll Warbler

Today, I headed down to Rondeau on a cold NW wind.  The lake was dead once again, so we moved on to south point trail.  Some warblers were hiding among the shrubs, including a late Black-and-white and Magnolia.
A Palm Warbler was in the mix as well.

A check of maintenance area revealed a few more birds.  Ruby-crowned Kinglets were certainly plentiful, as they often are this time of year.

A stop at McLean Conservation Lands added some more birds for the day's list.  A couple of Nelson's Sparrows were fun to watch.

The mudflat had some Semipalmated Plovers and a Greater Yellowlegs for shorebirds.  One has to wonder why we have not had a Hudsonian Godwit there yet this year!

This afternoon, I just wanted to go for a couple of walks north of Wallaceburg.  McKeough was first, then Reid CA.  Walking through the woods was nice today.

I came home along the Sydenham River.  Some shorebirds at the end of Charlemont Line included Long-billed Dowitchers and Lesser Yellowlegs.

Sunday calls for a strong SW wind, so you know what direction I am heading!