It was a very windy yet sunny and mild day, temperature-wise at Sturgeon Point. I had come to do some lake watching, a favorite of mine. I was hoping the winds would blow in a few birds that I don't see often, like loons, grebes, or scoters. I DID see some scoters, but their distance was too far out to determine what they were, other than they were not White-winged. A handful of Long-tailed Ducks, some Common Mergansers, and a few Lesser Scaup went by but nothing more interesting than that. A flyover of an adult Bald Eagle was very nice and kept things interesting.
After two and a half hours of watching very little at the lake, and, in spite of the strong winds, I decided to walk the nature trail, not expecting to see much.
Shortly down the main path, I heard the harsh call of a vireo. I thought it too late for any of our usual vireos, except perhaps, the Blue-headed Vireo. When I came upon the bird, I was surprised and delighted to see it was a White-eyed, a more southern bird whose northern range ends just shy of the Pennsylvania / New York border. Every once in awhile though, one of these cute and unusual looking birds makes its way into Western New York. Check out those cool, white eyes that are surrounded by yellow "spectacles". It's a dazzling bird!
Before he bounced out of view, I was able to get a few photos that were mostly obscured by the bushes and tangle he was feeding in. About twenty minutes later, I saw him just once more for a few short seconds before he disappeared again.
Interesting fact: both the female and male White-eyed Vireo will sing on their wintering grounds but only the male sings on their breeding grounds. Their song, not the harsh call I heard, but their song is very neat. It's a kind of "wheeze" followed by a mix of notes, ending with a click. Very unique!