May 2019 – PERDIX BIRDER

A post detailing some of the comparatively subtle north American passerines that we encountered at Long point.

Graham talked about the north American avifauna providing these birds to perfectly compliment the bright and gaudy warblers, and he’s right with THE THRUSHES in particular; Their appearance, tentative movements and the dappled light you often see them in go perfectly together, add something like Wood thrush song to the equation makes such a good birding experience. In fact the whole suite of East coast thrushes are definitely something I focused on and enjoyed. Swainson’s and Veerys were the most common throughout the 10 days, with Hermits in better numbers towards the beginning and only one Grey-cheeked briefly towards the end. Wood thrush were consistently present in small numbers throughout our time there.

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Swainson’s thrushes

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Veerys

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Hermit thrushes

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Wood thrushes

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Gray-cheeked thrush

THE SPARROWS were something I’d lazily neglected to really study up on before hand but a very enjoyable group of birds with fluxes in numbers throughout the trip but often high numbers of White–throated, Chipping and White–crowned present. We also Saw Swamp, Field, Lincolns, Song and Savannah fairly regularly around Long point itself and both Grasshopper and Vesper Sparrows at a local farm nearby.

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White Throated Sparrow

White crowned Sparrow

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Chipping Sparrow

Lincolns Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Field Sparrow

Song Sparrow

Grasshopper sparrow

Its almost 2 weeks since I came home from 10 days in birding in Ontario, southern Canada. Staying a stones throw from Long Point Bird observatory as the base of Long Point national park – a spit of land some 40km long jutting out into lake Erie. Graham Gordon, Fred Fearn, Laurence Pitcher and myself slowly walked round and round a small area staring at the *worlds best migratory birds in varying numbers and varieties as the eb and flow of their north bound migration was helped and hindered by weather, timing and their need to feed up. Basically the best birding trip I’ve ever done abroad and something I’ll be doing again. The place we stayed in was owned by local birder Adam Timpf. Its a perfect spot for 4 people to stay and concentrate on the birding around Old cut and in the park. Heres the link to it on Air b&b if you’re interested in staying there yourself

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Graham has written a nice run down of the trip, including details of the fall days for Birdguides have a look here.

I took something like 1500 images and have edited them down to a lot less but heres the first of a few posts – So Warblers first! All together we saw 26 Species of Warbler. Things like Blackpoll warbler were probably missed as a result of the dates rather than regularity but the following were more than enough and many were new to me completely and the main focus of the trip.