Northwest winds, no camera and no entry.

Well another day, another let down in the weather department. When I stepped out this morning and felt southwest winds I was excited! As soon as I drove over Sturgeon Creek bridge and saw the Canadian flag reveal northwest winds, I was upset. Southwest winds are prime winds for rare gulls and Jaegers at the Tip of Point Pelee, whereas winds with a northerly component are the worse.

The next disappointment was that I forgot my camera. Not only my camera, but my camera bag that held my wallet and drivers license....yikes!

The third disappointment was that when I got to the park gates at Point Pelee, they were locked...This seems to be happening frequently. The park opens at 7:00 am, and finally someone got there after 7:30am. If I was late like that I would be fired from my job....Must be a little different when you work in the Federal Government I guess.

What was nice was that the rain cleared when I got to the Tip parking lot. I met Blake Mann, Alan Wormington and Kevin McLaughlin, and we all went down to the Tip. Steve Pike later joined us. Nothing terribly exciting at the tip. We had a few Merlins (maybe the same Merlin going back and forth), an American Kestrel and a Peregrine Falcon. We also had all 4 of our most common Gull species (Herring, Black-backed, Ring-billed, and Bonaparte's Gull). Tree Swallows and Swifts were also on the move. Also neat was a very cooperative Sanderling that was within a few feet of us....wish I had that camera...We also saw a small waterspout.....wish I had that camera....

Perhaps the most interesting event that happened this morning was when we saw some songbirds (warblers?) flying over the lake into the head wind and land in the woods just north of the tip. They are definitely wasting a lot of energy. Perhaps they flew off the mainland to the northeast of us, saw Point Pelee in the distance as they were crossing the lake and turned to the west into the headwind thinking that was the end of their crossing...?...just a theory.

It seems that a lot of birds are late this fall. No loons, hardly no grebes, hardly no mergansers, no Red Phalaropes, no Sabine's Gulls and only one Jaeger (Long-tailed) have been seen this fall. With cooler temperatures and west winds finally, things are looking up I think!