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!