Down to Long Point

Had the day off, and since I always miss the Long Point CBC because it coincides with my home count (Kitchener) I decided the next best thing was to do some birding around Long Point, and hopefully find some stuff for the CBC tomorrow.

Enough chit chat, I started at Townsend, where the usual's were around (Tundra Swan's, Shoveler's etc). I went straight from Townsend to Port Ryerse and followed the lake west towards Long Point. Along Front Road I periodically stopped and got out, seeing what was around, and it paid off! Over the 3 or so stops that I checked out, I had the following:

White-crowned Sparrow - 8
E. Bluebird - 1
Carolina Wren - 1
E. Towhee - 3 (2M, 1F)

Hermit Thrush - 1
White-winged Crossbill - 10
Purple Finch - 25

Reaching Long Point, I checked out all the usual spots, though the best spot was the BSC headquarters (likely because I was here the longest), though the highlight here (and the day) was a Ruby-crowned Kinglet! My first RCKI in the winter, so that was pretty cool. Other interesting birds here included a nice adult Northern Shrike, 2 Pied-billed Grebe's, and 3,201 American Coots (I counted all of them....).

In the fields around Long Point, it seems as though the Tundra Swan's have pretty much left, with Sandhill Crane's taking there place. I estimated 400, which I feel is a pretty accurate count, there were several spots with birds.

After this I headed west to Port Burwell, though this turned out to be pretty much a bust, minus a large flock of blackbirds, with about 200 Rusty's! I'm sure the LP count will turn up something cool!! I'm gonna  go out on a limb and predict 114 species!

Here's a vid of the EATO: