Food, fund raisers and a day of birding.

 I have been busy since getting back from Edmonton so this is a "catch up" blog post before the month is over and we are into the different busyness of September. The summer seems to have flown by!

My first weekend back was the Port Dover Yacht Club Sailing School Fundraiser. Rick and I helped set up in the morning .... tables, auction items, corn shucking, tents, whatever was asked of us. I got there early to register people for the silent auction and then enjoyed a lobster dinner with Rick, Corrin, Brian, Mark and Angie.

The following weekend Rick and I tried out Nonni's, the restaurant on the lakeside lawn of David's Restaurant. Pizza, grilled zucchini, beer and Sangria. It was lovely and quite reasonable.

I think this is a young Oriole in the Rose of  Sharon.

Silver lining.

Sitting on the Edge, with storm clouds rolling in, Rick and I watched this waterspout form and then disappear. There were far more dramatic photos of it, on Facebook, taken from Turkey Point.

The next fundraiser was for the Selkirk Fire Department.

The rain hit at just the wrong time but they

moved the firetrucks out

and set up in the fire hall. It was very well attended with the lineup stretching all the way around the hall.

No-one seemed to mind the wait ... the locals were chatting

and there were things to see,

including the follow up rainbow.

Well worth the wait .... a huge helping of perch, fries, coleslaw, roll and all the corn you could eat. We bought half home for dinner the next day.

The nights are getting cooler. I can feel Fall approaching. So it is time to check out the Long Point Banding Station.

It was a Sunday and there were lots of families there so I don't have good photos of the birds. The ones we watched being banded were Flycatchers and Warblers but we were told that it is early in the migration and will get busier. We also checked out when the Owl banding will happen and some info on Hawk Cliff. Future visits.

We followed up with a walk in the Crown Marsh

where the Phragmites seem to be under control and now the Purple Loosestrife is back.

Osprey.

Next we walked the Big Creek Marsh area, along the north loop (which I had never seen open before).

I thought it might have been a stick but I took a picture anyway and then it moved...I think it is an American Bittern, which is a first for me.

There were so many Great Egrets that it was difficult to look anywhere and NOT see one, or more.

Even more of them than Great Blue Herons and there were plenty of those.

We were told at the banding station that there is an estimated population of 300 Great Egrets in the Long Point area and that the assumption is that climate change has bought them North. When I lived here they were very rare and that was only 3 years ago.

There was also a Kingfisher, fishing, as well as

A Caspian Tern.

We had planned to do the 2.6km loop but it was longer than advertised

and I was in sandals, so we turned around.

Mullion and some defiant Phragmites.

A Northern Leopard Frog. I yelped and jumped when I nearly stepped on him.

Another sign of fall - Goldenrod.

The following are Rick's photos from the same walk. He has a much better camera that can fire off multiple shots and he is good at following the trajectory of flying birds.

I love this shot, of the Tern just before it hits the water

and this one, just after.

He flew back and forth

fishing the stretch of water

right beside us.

It was after lunch time, and it was a long walk, and, what the heck, when was the last time I had a banana split (I can't remember). From Twins Ice Cream Parlor in Port Rowan.

A couple of clear nights and Rick indulged in his other photography hobby.

That little dot of light is him setting up his equipment on the Edge.

My shot of the moon,

his of the Milky Way.