Long Point Bird Observatory, Ontario

Love the yellow sign - Birder Crossing :)

Work has us busy this morning so we  don't head out until late afternoon. We head to the Long Point Bird Observatory area to see what we can find.

Mist nets used to safely capture birds. 

The Long Point Bird Observatory is North America's oldest bird observatory. Established in 1960, it conducts research, education and training in ornithology, which is the scientific study of birds.

These long black nets are 'mist nets', which are used to capture birds for scientific research and monitoring. The fine-mesh nets catch the birds and researchers gently extract them for banding and data collection.  

Old Cut Lighthouse info sign

At one time, Long Point in Canada was called the 'Graveyard of the Great Lakes' due to sandy shoals that are constantly changing due to wave action and fast approaching storms. 

The Old Cut Lighthouse was built in 1879 to guide ships through the 'Old Cut' channel, which was a shortcut across the Long Point peninsula rather than the 25 mile trip around it. In 1906 the shortcut was filled in by a storm. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1916 and is now privately owned so no getting close to it. We can see it from the road. It's actually been incorporated into someone's house now. 

Old Cut Lighthouse - someone's home today :)

Private channel out to Lake Erie - how nice

There are homes backing right onto the Bird Observatory with a little water channel out to Lake Erie. The bird life they experience must be so awesome. 

Black swarm is Red Winged Black birds - very cool

We head just a little farther down the road and come to a walk out into the observatory. We are happy to see tons of Red Winged Black birds, Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Canada Geese, Yellow Warblers and Monarch butterflies. There are also bunnies and green frogs...we were pleasantly surprised being quite late in the migration season.