Birding was very quiet over the past couple of days. Morning sorties provided the most birds but we dipped on several of the northern specialities. Whilst searching for Black-backed Woodpecker Bernie leaped from a couple of yards behind me to just in front of me with the exclamation "Jees Louise". I immediately knew she'd seen something that she didn't like - as you can see from the photo, an Eastern Garter Snake had just caught a frog - double whammey!!
At the Obs, there were several birds coming into the feeders including a couple of malingering White-crowned Sparrows, Purple Finches, etc but the Evening Grosbeaks failed to put in an appearance :-(
On the point itself, there were few birds. Ring-billed and American Herring Gulls loafed around and the first day there were three Semi-palmated Plovers, a Semi-palmated Sandpiper and three Sanderling. The following day, two Buff-breasted Sandpipers were a great surprise.On the final evening, we took a trip down a very quiet track and came accross a small flock of warblers - Nashville, Myrtle, Magnolia, Palm, American Redstart and Golden-crowned Kinglet and then I headed back for another ringing session in which another Saw-Whet was caught.
On the final morning, at the fourth attempt, I found a Piping Plover - what a smashing bird and a great rarity.
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