Playin' hookey

Well, yup I did. I decided I'd much rather spend some time birding today along Lake Erie, than sitting in rather boringish class....this morning I got up around 6am and motored down to Port Burwell.

For a few hours I just hung out and went for a really nice walk in the park and on the beach. It was a really nice morning to be out, it was calm, not too cool and there was no one in the park except for the park warden! With that being said, there was also some nice birds around too!

The Little Gull's continue to be one of the main stars here. Today I counted between 22 and 28 Little Gull's!!! That's the highest count I've ever had. Anywhere! It was cool to see all different plumages and to even hear them calling. I managed to get some poor images of 2 birds flying away from me.

Little Gull's - Port Burwell - October 5, 2011

Other interesting birds included;
2 Surf Scoters
1 Horned Grebe
lots of the expected songbirds at this time of year; Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (4), E. Towhee (1), Hermit Thrush (4), E. Phoebe (8), E. Wood-Pewee (1), Yellow-rumped (40), Black-throated Green (1), and Blackpoll Warblers (2).

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - Port Burwell P.P. - October 5, 2011

After scouring Port Burwell I headed west towards Hawk Cliff. I settled down a few km east of the Cliff....

"A" is where I did a hawk watch for 1.5 hours - October 5, 2011

There was a fairly good flight. From about 11-12:30pm I had the following birds;

Turkey Vulture - 344
Bald Eagle - 5
Northern Harrier - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 113
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Broad-winged Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 13
American Kestrel - 41

Blue Jay - 1,940
American Pipit - 200

Around 12:30 though it was getting pretty hot, and many of the birds were flying too high to id or even see, so I decided to pack it up.

It will be interesting to see what Hawk Cliff recorded today! Hopefully nothing too good.... :)