Friday October 14th: A quick post

I was so excited last night. I had a morning off and there was supposed to be southwest winds this morning so I booked it down to the Tip parking lot in Point Pelee. I had one thing on my mind....JAEGERS! There was a Long-tailed Jaeger spotted at the tip yesterday morning so this morning with strong southwest winds should be perfect.....Or at least that is what I thought until I stepped out of my house and felt a northwest wind!!!??? NOOOOOO!!!!!

It was the same at the Tip parking lot too. Whenever there are north winds the tip is usually, if not always, a dead zone. I stood for a while and scanned from the parking lot for anything besides Ring-billed Gulls, but there was nothing to keep me there.

I decided to head north. I ended up parking at the Marsh Boardwalk and decided I might as well go for a walk around it. There was a Purple Gallinule in Ontario this week, so I said "why not?" to walking the boardwalk. Nothing in the way of Gallinules though I did have 11 Palm Warblers hanging out on the boardwalk, a few Blue-winged Teal, and a few Wood Duck.

I then decided to go set up base at Wheatley Harbour for Gulls. I took the scenic route via the onion fields and had a nice view of a Sandhill Crane pair. (perhaps the local pair?)One of 2 Sandhill Cranes in the Onion Fields along Concession E. Photo by Marianne Balkwill.

Wheatley Harbour at least was a little more exciting. Lots of Gulls including 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (2 juveniles and 2 adults). On the lake there were 9 Ruddy Duck, and a flock of Sanderling flew from the shoreline. A huge group of Swallows came in as well. They appeared to be all Tree Swallows, though what I was really looking for was Violet-Green Swallow... :)
Size comparison of Lesser Black-backed Gull to Great Black-backed Gull...WOW! Though I think the Lesser Black-backed is slightly down on the beach a little more. Notice the beautiful green waves behind them. It is a toxic blue-green algae which has spread all over the Lake Erie shoreline here this past week. Photo by Marianne Balkwill.

By noon I headed to the Roma Club for a perch buffet lunch..YUM!! It was raining hard by the time I got there and, of course, the winds finally decided to switch to the southwest!!! Not enough time for me to go back down to the tip....Tomorrow morning I will have to try again..I just hope the weatherman gets it right this time......