… now why in the world would you need to entertain yourself when you are out looking for migrating birds. The morning started out great as I met two new birding friends, Jim and Terry. Little did they know that Julie, Michele and myself look for just about anything that comes across our path and we are fortunate to have Jerry as our instructor. Not only is he knowledgeable about birds he can name every bug we come across. So Michele will be bringing you the world of bugs soon. But I am getting away from the topic at hand here. Our first stop was the banding station.

Our class.... Photo by Toni

Here we chatted with Andrea, Linnea and Don as they were just finishing banding a Swainson’s Thrush.

Swainson's Thrush having a bad hair day. Photo by Toni

While Terry and Jim were learning more about banding birds I started to photograph Michele and Jerry our instructor.

And naturally Michele had to photograph me! Hey I now have a new profile photo for facebook. Thanks Michele

Before we left the banding station one more round of checking the nets brought us a Hairy Woodpecker.

Linnea extracting the Hairy Woodpecker. Photo by Michele

Linnea getting ready to band the Hairy Woodpecker. Photo by Toni

After about an hour at the station we headed for the trails. It was cloudy with a little bit of a breeze which made for a comfortable walk but unfortunately very little action when it came to the birds. We noted several Turkey Buzzards flying overhead and Jerry remarked that it was late in the season for them to still be here. We also watched on Pine Tree trail a Cooper’s Hawk gracefully swooping around a tree in the distance as it appeared to be trying to flush out his prey from the tree.

Along Beach 11 we scouted for waterfowl and found a raccoon caught in one of the Game Commissions traps they use to catch waterfowl for banding. Then we entered Fry’s Landing and the only thing we managed to photograph was a Downy Woodpecker. Remember I said we do like to entertain… Well Joao just could not help himself getting a better look at what that Downy was pecking at.

Hey Joao did you find some bugs also? Photo by Michele

And Julie came across this little creature. Yes it is natural for her to be picking up dead things and has a whole stash of bones, nests, broken eggs, and such. Jim became quite amused with us finding bugs and dead creatures.

Photo by Toni

Our last stop was Longpond Trail were we caught a glimpse of the ship Niagara sailing around the bay befor we entered the trail.

Flagship Niagara photo by Toni

I’ll leave you with a few more photos to enjoy and remember to stop back for those bugs.

Downy without Joao Photo by Michele

photo by Michele

photo by Michele

Our list of birds we saw recorded by our instructor Jerry.

We record the following 34 species of birds on Saturday, September 12:

Canada Goose–many off beach 11 and in Misery Bay
Mute Swan–4 off beach 11
Wood Duck–5 over Long Pond
Mallard–a few at several sites
Blue-winged Teal–7 off beach 11
Ring-necked Duck–2 off beach 11
Great Blue Heron–2 at Long Pond
Green Heron–1 at Lily Pond as we drove past
Turkey Vulture–10  overhead
Cooper’s Hawk–1 south of Pine Tree Trail
Ring-billed Gull–many along beach 11
Herring Gull–several overhead and a few along and off beach 11
Caspian Tern–1 off beach 11
Mourning Dove–a couple on Pine Tree Trail
Downy Woodpecker–1 or 2 along Pine Tree Trail and Fry’s landing
Hairy Woodpecker–1 banded at Niagara boat launch
Northern Flicker–a couple along Pine Tree Trail
Eastern Wood-Pewee–1 probably of this species along Long Pond Trail
Eastern Phoebe–1 along Pine Tree Trail
Blue Jay–a few along Pine Tree Trail and Fry’s landing
Black-capped Chickadee–a few along Pine Tree Trail and Fry’s landing
Red-breasted Nuthatch–1 along Pine Tree Trail
White-breasted Nuthatch–1 on Pine Tree Trail and 1 on Long Pond Trail
Swainson’s Thrush–1 banded at Niagara boat launch
American Robin– a few over Pine Tree Trail and beach 11 parking lot
Gray Catbird–some heard only
European Starling–a couple of flocks flying overhead
Cedar Waxing–several heard at Fry’s landing and Dead Pond Trail
Magnolia Warbler–1 on Pine Tree Trail and 1 at Fry’s landing
Black-throated Blue Warbler–2 on Pine Tree Trail
American Redstart–1 seen briefly on Pine Tree Trail
Wilson’s Warbler–1 at Fry’s landing
Red-winged Blackbird–2 at Long Pond
American Goldfinch–some heard at Pine Tree Trail and several along Long Pond Trail