It is a quick blog this week as there was little birding happening. Winds were not good for lake watching and we had a lot of meetings as we continue to negotiate help with Jerry’s mom. We did manage to take an hour and visit Bronte Harbour to take pictures of the Brant that showed up for the week right after we had driven to Ottawa to check them off our list, of course! It was great to see one up close and personal…

We also birded for a few hours at our local storm pond mid-week and did a bit of a lake watch early Saturday morning on our way into Hamilton. Late Saturday a report came in of a White-winged Dove east of Cornwall, 5.5 hours away. My initial reaction was we needed to go, but the bird was at a private residence that did not look viewable from the road and the owner had not “invited” birders. Jerry and I went back and forth with me wanting to go right away in the morning and him saying lets get confirmation, its a long way. The clocks were falling back so we got an extra hour of sleep which meant I was wide awake at 3:30 after going to bed at 10:30. We talked and decided it made the most sense for us to wait and see if Michelle from Ottawa re-found the bird and got permission for others to visit since she was only 1.5 hours away. We had also committed to taking part in the Alan Wormington Fall Bird Count on Sunday morning so we wanted to complete at least part of the count if we could.

Part way through our bird count a report came in from Steve of a Purple Sandpiper 2.5 hours west of us at Erieau. Hmmm, decisions, decisions. We kept birding as we waited to hear about the Dove. We managed to complete our count, a bit faster than we usually would have, and heard from Michelle that the Dove was not being seen and the owner was not home so we headed for the Purple Sandpiper. We were both relieved, I think, that we were not facing a 5.5 hour drive.

Steve sent us a few updates as the bird moved around a bit and by the time we arrived it was back on the pier where it was first seen. Mike and Nancy from London had it in a scope but we could also see it with the naked eye as it was close to the beach at that point. It is a beautiful sandpiper that have a distinct purple hue on their back that is only discernible if you are close up in certain light. Jerry got some great pics of it despite the sun, wind and distance.

I had thought this species would be tough to get and require more than a few chases but as it turned out it was pretty easy. Thank goodness we had not headed off in the opposite direction, at first light, for the Dove. So, I will just say publicly that Jerry was RIGHT, again. That makes TWO times this year LOL!!! HAHA!

Week 44 one species added 329 species J&E