Hello birders, It has been a great few days birding at Long Point! First:
Yesterday (August 27) Ross Wood heard and observed a Western Wood-Pewee at one of our remote field stations. He was able to study the bird closely along with several of our volunteers (Erika Hentsch, Ryan Rea, Avery Nagy-MacArthur). Other than the distinctive call that was heard throughout the day visual features supporting the ID were noted including an almost completely dark lower mandible and slightly brighter lower wing bar. The bird responded aggressively to a taped Western Wood-Pewee call and did not react to taped Eastern Wood-Pewee calls. Ron Ridout, Brendan Toews, and myself were also able to observe the bird well for about an hour and a half as it called a few different times. Brendan Toews obtained some great photos of the bird: http://btoewsphotos.zenfolio.com/p939163745/h20486ceaToday (August 28) at 8:15pm Brendan Toews and I were counting birds as they went to roost in the marsh off of the Old Cut field station when we saw a flock of 9 ducks flying towards us from the south (headed north). The ducks were up very high and I initially though they were probably Mallards based on overall shape. As they got closer I began to realize they were definitly not Mallards as their feet clearly extended past their tail. I commented on this feature to Brendan and we were both unsure what they were. After they were out of sight we discussed them a bit thinking they had an overall impression of a merganser (which may have been due to their rather long necks for a duck). When we got back to the field station and discussed the birds with my brother, Ken and checked through some bird books we were convinced they must have been Whistling-Ducks. We are well aware of the large scale invasion of Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks this summer and would guess that this is the most likely species, although we obviously cannot rule out Fulvous. Besides these two great species the point has been hopping with birds. The Long Point sightings board should be updated tomorrow morning and you can read all about this fall's migration to date: http://www.bsc-eoc.org/longpoint/index.jsp?targetpg=lpbosight Long Point Bird Observatory's Old Cut Field Station is open to the public daily with bird banding demonstrations until about noon each day. To get there take Hwy 59 onto Long Point and turn left onto Old Cut Blvd. The field station is on the right and is marked with a sign. Please park in the large visitor lot across the road. Good birding, Mike Burrell [email protected] _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
