The time has come to wrap all this Long point business up.
No more living in the past.
That was then this is now.
A post for the remaining birds, with much missed off as usual but highlights etc. Please excuse the hair-brained jumping between taxa in no particular order but thats how things come and go and maybe this post can reflect that truth.
Swallows were an enigmatic presence with huge movements on some days and very little on others. Almost every local tree hole or garden nest box had a Tree Swallow within and Barn swallow flocks harboured the odd feeding Cliff Swallow particularly towards the end of the trip. Local Purple martins with their gaudy looking man made abodes were great to watch and listen to and both Bank swallow and Northern Roughwing were seen most days in smaller numbers.
Cliff Swallow
Tree Swallow
f Purple Martin
We’d hoped out daily topping up of bird feed at our garden feeder would attract a migrant Red–headed Woodpecker but alas the birds We saw were away from the house. Some on territory in a small patch of older trees aswell as one or two migrants. Our visits to Backus Woods and the Wilson tract were occasionlly soundtracked by the drumming and calls of Hairy and the mighty Pileated Woodpeckers.
Red-headed Woodpecker
Solitary Sandpiper
Our encounters with Wading birds were few and far between with no real number of birds but ones and twos of things like Spotted and Solitary Sandpipers, Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs. Kildeers were in every carpark puddle or gravel driveway and a couple of fly over semipalmated plovers. I ticked Hudsonian Godwit on our final morning with a flyover and a flock of 16 Short–billed Dowitchers flew around a waterbody in the rain a few times before continuing on their journey. Woodcocks were heard every evening and a we visited a local bird on several occasions who would call and display as the light disappeared.
Lesser yellowlegs
Heres a few random Passerines;
Eastern Kingbird
Eastern Bluebird
Bobolink
Ruby-throated Humming birds were a daily occurrence at our feeders.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Herons, egrets and bitterns were well represented with American Bitterns supplying a daily soundtrack.
Green Heron
Least bittern
American Bittern
Raptors were a little quiet, lots of Turkey Vultures and a good few Ospreys and Bald Eagles, Broad–winged and Red –tailed Hawks, Sharp Shinned and Coopers hawks aswell as one or two Kestrels and a single Merlin. Northern Harriers were seen every so often.
Northern Harrier
Last but not least the gulls! Not my focus for the trip but a nice bonus. We saw small flocks of Bonapartes Gulls flying around aswell as a close up handful of them at a local pier. Accompanied by Ring Billed Gulls. I probably saw 2 American Herring Gulls per day but never very close.
Bonapartes Gulls
So thats that. an immense trip with so much new information and birds for me. I really loved it and will be visiting again .
PERDIX BIRDER 