Chirps and Cheeps

A pursuit of the Snowy Egret that was found yesterday at Beaver Island State Park was in vain today. However, MY LIFE LIST IS NOW AT 200 LIFE BIRDS!  There's a pin for that, I've heard!  I added a Common Tern and a Bank Swallow at the park. It's quite tricky identifying some of the swallows. It's particularly difficult telling a Bank Swallow from a Northern Rough-winged. Now that I see a size difference and the bar across the Bank Swallow's chest, I feel I'm starting to get the hang of it.

Along the water's edge, we saw some juvenile and adult Black-crowned Night Herons, several Great Blue Herons, and several Great Egrets.

I also saw my first Blackpoll Warbler of the year - a beautiful male who sang with gusto. I'm pretty sure I have this guy's song burned into my memory - at least until next spring when I'll have to re-learn it!

When we saw the traffic lined up on the Peace Bridge, we scrapped the idea to go to Morgan's Point to look for Whimbrels and Ruddy Turnstones. Instead, we did a quick tour of Tifft and got some nice looks at a Blackburnian Warbler, an American Redstart, a Philadelphia Vireo, and several members of the flycatcher family. I attended "Flycatcher School" today at Tifft and Doug taught me much about identifying them. And while the subtleties are often difficult to discern, it's not entirely impossible if you get a good view - but the clincher is if they sing!