Long Point November 1-5

As mentioned in my latest blog post, I spent about 10 days at the tip of Long Point, courtesy of Stu Mackenzie and LPBO. Having spent the last days of October at the tip, I was stationed there until the 5th, when I was luckily able to boat back to the mainland.

November 1st:
This day was again incredibly windy, with winds out of the west, diminishing in strength throughout the day. Nonetheless Ed (another volunteer) and I were lucky to have the Brown Booby fly past us around 11:30am, heading east out towards the lake and the town of Lowbanks....This day had lots of Little Gulls far offshore, with a minimum of 10 seen, as well as 2 first-basic Lesser Black-backed Gulls also at the very tip.

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15583806

November 2nd:
The 2nd was pretty dead, the weather had quieted down a fair bit and the only things of note that I had was a late Marsh Wren and 2 Peregrine's, including one carrying a Bonaparte's Gull in off the flock, all the while being mobbed by a flock of his (or hers) victims counterparts.

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15583807

November 3rd:
Today was pretty good! Overnight on the 2nd things cleared up and the winds shifted to the north, hence a change in birds and pretty cool out (around minus 3 C first thing). There was a decent movement of raptors, and I managed to grab 2 Golden Eagles and 5 Red-shouldered Hawks. While checking out the lake, I had a Red-throated Loon flyover, while the best bird by far was a swanky looking Purple Sandpiper hanging around at the tip.

Both shots were digi-scoped with my phone..

Everyone out there managed to get it, so that was kind of cool! Later that night, while owl banding, we were treated to another Long-eared Owl and 20 N. Saw-whet Owls!

This was an old male.

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15583808

November 4th:
Another nice day out, things were relatively slowish. We had what I thought was a different Purple Sandpiper at the tip, moving with a flock of Sanderling and Dunlin, but that's about it.

This bird was putting on a nice show, so I got around to getting my camera out.

 http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15583809

November 5th:
Well today was abit of a mix-mash, I didn't bird too much, as we were waiting anxiously to see if we were going to head out. The PUSA from the previous day was still hanging out with the mixed DUNL and SAND flock.

On our boat ride back 3 adult Little Gulls flew within 10 feet of the boat.

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S15583810