Good evening. Today Alfred Adamo and I motored down to the Long Point Area for a day of late fall birding and during the pleasant (windless) day we found 90 species of birds, not a bad haul as migration winds down. The area is still well worth while checking out in the next week as a lot of the birds, especially the waterfowl have still not peaked.
We spent most of our time in Long Point Provincial Park before checking out a few other places in the area and following are some of the highlights of our trip. We found 25 Waterfowl species, including C. Loons, 30 Pied-billed Grebes, Tundra Swans, 5000+ American Wigeon, 6000+ Greater Scaup, 300+ Ruddy Ducks, and 5000+ American Coots, a late Osprey, Bald Eagle, 2 Merlin, both with prey, Wild Turkey, 7 Sandhill Cranes, Little Gull, 2 Forster's Terns, 6 Woodpecker species including a juvenile Red-headed Woodpecker and 4 Red-bellied Woodpeckers (very vocal), Tree Swallow, 2 Carolina Wrens, 20+ Eastern Bluebirds, 48 Hermit Thrushes, 3 Gray Catbirds, American Pipits, and yes "Crossley" an Orange-crowned Warbler, 11 Sparrow species including Eastern Towhee, 15+ A. Tree Sparrows, Vesper Sparrow, 27 Field Sparrows, many, many Dark-eyed Juncos, and 16 Fox Sparrows, 21 Snow Buntings in 1 flock, many thousands of Blackbirds including Rusty Blackbirds. The Tundra Swans and Sandhill Cranes were in Big Creek Marsh seen from the roadside viewing platform. The Little Gull and Forster's Terns were seen at Turkey Point. DIRECTIONS:-:- LONG POINT PROVINCIAL PARK & AREA The Provincial Park at Long Point is southwest of Hamilton, directly south of Port Rowan. To reach it you can drive south on Hwy 6 from Hamilton, passing through Hagersville and turning right, west in Jarvis onto Hwy 3, drive to Simcoe and turn left, south on Hwy 24 and follow this to Hwy 59, ( it curves to the west south of town) turn left, south on Hwy 59 and drive right down about 8 km and past the golf coarse and you will be on the causeway (Long Point Rd). Drive on across the bridge and continue past the marina on your left. The road comes to Lake Erie where it curves to the left (Erie Blvd) through the cottage / retail business area. Continue driving along this road passing Old Cut Road and you will come to the park entrance. The park is closed for the season so park here being sure not to block road and walk into the park. We find it just as easy to walk over from Old Cut Woods on Old Cut Drive and walk to the gate. NOTE: Be sure to lock your car and put your valuables out of sight). As you drive along the causeway Big Creek Marsh is on your right and Inner Bay on your left. TURKEY POINT To get to Turkey Point from Brantford, drive straight south down Hwy 24 through Simcoe following Hwy 24 as it curves west towards Long Point. ((About 8 km you will come to county road 10, turn left (south), (there are signs here as you approach this road indicating Turkey Point Provincial Park) and drive straight ahead for about 5 km until you almost run into the lake at Cedar Road (the C in Cedar is hidden by a sign, so you will read it as Cedar Road), turn right and drive about 1 ½ km to Reserve Street. Turn left here and drive to the lake (I could not find a sign naming this street), turn right here and continue to the marina entrance and watch here for birds flying past or sitting on the beach, or off to your right on the sometimes exposed flats or sandy islands. Be sure to check the beach and lake on your right all along here.)) From Hamilton drive south on Hwy 6 through Hagersville to Jarvis. In Jarvis turn right (west) on Hwy 24 and drive to Simcoe. In Simcoe turn left (south) on Hwy 24 and follow the directions in double brackets above. Norm Murr Richmond Hill, ON S'ils te mordent, mords les --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Eliminate annoying spam! My mailbox is protected by iHateSpam, the #1-rated spam buster." http://www.ihatespam.net
