Sunday Birding.....Shoulda slept in..

I went to bed late last night, but of course I still woke up early and went birding.

I arrived at the tip of Point Pelee just after sunrise and I noticed immediately how warm it was...too warm in fact.  There were a lot of ducks on the calm west side of the lake including all 3 species of Scoters, Scaup, Horned Grebe, Red-breasted Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, and a good number of Redhead. I saw 12 Tundra Swans as well. Other than that....not much!

 

4 Tundra Swans.  Photo by Marianne-Reid Balkwill

Bob Cermak, Mike Tate, and later Blake Mann, and Alan Wormington showed up.  This time I was the first one to leave to walk up along the east beach.  The only good bird of note I had was a Blue-headed Vireo which I guess has been hanging close to the southern southeast side of the tip.  At the train loop I got a couple of neat photos of Carolina Wren.  I had 7 Carolina Wrens today.

 

Angry Carolina Wren.  Photo by Marianne Reid-Balkwill

Walking up the west trail I heard Pine Siskin and Redpoll fly over.  I took another look through the rafts of ducks to see if I could find an Eider, or a Tufted Duck, but no luck.

On a whole the morning was a bust!  A female Purple Finch at the cemetery, and a Buckeye at Northwest Beach were my own highlights for the rest of the morning. I got to bird briefly with Blake for awhile which is always a treat.  Hopefully he had better luck than I did after we split up.

I decided to head home around 2:00pm mainly because I was starving!  At home I took a few photos of some birds at the feeders.  Finally saw a Pine Siskin at the feeder as they have been around for a while, and I got some neat Purple Finch/House Finch comparison shots.

House Finch and Purple Finch males at my feeder.  Photo by Marianne Reid-Balkwill