Point Pelee

This was a day that brought us 17 species of warbler and was, in fact, very slow going all round until the final early evening session at Blue Heron Trail. We began the day with a Bald Eagle flying over the car park before getting the tram down to the tip in a howling gale. 

Bald Eagle

The high winds, coupled with freezing cold conditions meant all the birds were on the sheltered eastern side of the tip. There was nothing new to report but it was amazing to see all of the hirundines sheltering on the beach, so take a look at these pics…

Barn Swallow

Northern Rough-winged and Tree Swallows

Cliff Swallows

 So we walked back up to the Visitor Centre but didn’t get anything new, apart from some really close views of migrants. 

Nashville Warbler

But in the afternoon Viv, Keith & Margaret twitched a Piping Plover back at the tip and also got a Philadelphia Vireo. Whilst Gladys and I walked the Tilden Trail and had Swainson’s, Veery and our first Hermit Thrush feeding in the leaf litter.

Swainson's Thrush

 Another visit to the tip resulted in more close views of Blackburnian, Black-throated Green, Magnolia and Nashville Warblers but there was no afternoon fall. 

Blackburnian Warbler - my fave!

Magnolia Warbler

So a great move then to go to Blue Heron where it was jumping. Our first Bay-breasted Warbler and Northern Waterthrush were here, and we also had Wilson’s and Parula Warblers and many Common Yellowthroats, plus all the usual more common warblers.

Wilson's Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Rondeau Rocks!

My best day of the trip so far, as we took the bold decision to visit Rondeau Provincial Park, about an hour’s drive east from Point Pelee. At the entrance gate I had just paid the park fee when I noticed some movement across the road and managed to quickly get my bins on a male Black-throated Blue Warbler feeding in some bushes. A couple other birds were present so we hopped out of the car and had a nice little flock with Yellow, Palm, Yellow-rumped and Nashville Warblers. Looking around there were more warblers behind us and an awesome male Cape May Warbler was glowing in a fir tree with more of the same warblers nearby. A great way to start the day and I’d almost forgot to stop shivering as it was a rather cool 6 degrees centigrade here right now.

Our aim was to get the to Visitor Centre and stake out the feeders where a Yellow-throated Warbler had been present for some time but I couldn’t drive past the Spice Bush Trail that has been so hot recently. A nice variety of birds wee here including Swainson’s Thrush, Blackburnian, Black-throated Green, Black-and-white, etc. 

Black-and-white Warbler

But I was itching to move on and we hadn’t been at the Visitor Centre for very long when the stunning Yellow-throated Warbler appeared on top of the suet feeder (yeah right!) and shot off. It came back a short while later and I managed to fire off these pics before it flew up into the guttering and crept around there for a while. 

Yellow-throated Warbler

The feeders were very busy with sparrows, Blue Jays, loads of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Downy Woodpecker, Baltimore Orioles, American Goldfinch, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, White-breasted Nuthatch and Tufted Titmouse….

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Downy Woodpcker

American Goldfinch

Baltimore Oriole

White-breasted Nuthatch

 We then went down to the South Point Trail, stopping to take in a pair of Eastern Bluebirds along the way. It was a little quiet down here although a Least Flycatcher was nice. So we went back to the Visitor Centre for some hot soup and coffee and to warm up a bit and as we ‘chilled’ out (see what I did there?) Viv wandered outside and had some Cedar Waxwings. 

Golden-winged Warbler

Ovenbird

Then, as we were leaving we got wind of a Golden-winged Warbler seen along Tulip Tree Trail so in we went as its right next door and had great views of the baby, along with Ovenbird, several Veery’s and a bunch of warblers. Then it was up to Spice Bush Trail as the Worm-eating Warbler was showing, but not when we arrived. But we only had to wait 20 minutes or so and there it was. We were also entertained by some close warblers and especially this Ovenbird.

To be continued......

Rondeau Rocks Part 2

To continue on from the last post, i've just got too many photos to put in one post - so here's the rest of our day......

Worm-eating Warbler

Then it was up to Spice Bush Trail as the Worm-eating Warbler was showing, but not when we arrived. But we only had to wait 20 minutes or so and there it was. We were also entertained by some close warblers and especially this Ovenbirds here.

Ovenbird

 A short drive then took us over to the Horse Paddock or something like that where we couldn’t locate a reported Hooded Warbler, but did get me a lifer in the shape of a Rusty Blackbird – not too stunning but a bird I’d often wondered if I would ever see. A Wood Thrush was also nice here.

Rusty Blackbird - oh yes!

 Back down at Spice Bush Trail we stopped to see if anything was occurring and jammed into a mega fall of Yellow-rumped, Blackburnian and some Black-throated Blue Warblers. They were passing through in waves and appeared so tired as they fed close to the ground. I was very pleased with these results…! Our first Parula Warbler was here as well, and another Palm Warbler was cool.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Ended the day back down at South Point Trail where a pair of Brown Thrashers, Field Sparrow, Northern Flicker, Veery and Swainson’s Thrushes, Willow Flycatcher and a Common Yellowthroat brought a conclusion to a great day.

Field Sparrow

Brown Thrasher

Ok so enough eye-candy for today....!

Point Pelee Day 2

Well today wasn’t THE day but it was a good day. As soon as I had parked the car up at the Visitor Centre there was some movement at the edge of the wood that borders the parking lot and we had 2 Swainson’s Thrushes and a 2 male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. Nice! Joining the crowds down at the tip isn’t my idea of fun, but it was unavoidable and proved to be totally worthwhile. What fascinated me was seeing high-flying warblers and flocks of jays and blackbirds all heading south back across the lake, when they should be pushing on north. I’d never experienced this reverse migration before. 

Anyway, there were lots of birds in the woodland down at the tip and we spent the morning sifting through all the goodies. My approach is always to take it slow and see what happens and this paid off as at one spot we had a Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler, Least Flycatcher, Blackburnian, Magnolia and Nashville Warblers and several Ruby-crowned Kinglets. 

Yellow Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Wandering around the network of trails right down here at the bottom of Pelee Point then produced superb Black-throated Green, Black-throated Blue, Chestnut-sided, Palm, Wilson’s, Black-and-white and eventually a Cape May Warbler – yahoo. Oh and also a wonderful male American Redstart. 

American Redstart

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

I also had a brief view of a Mourning Warbler and a few of us got onto a skulking Veery as well. Bright blue Indigo Buntings added yet more splashes of colour to proceedings as they headed south with flocks of White-crowned and White-throated Sparrows. Offshore we had drake Greater and Lesser Scaups side-by-side and all the usual gulls flying by. Keith & Margaret brought us back coffee and cookies for our mid-morning snack before we carried on doing circuits of the trails, getting better and better views of everything. But a roosting Whip-poor-will was most excellent!

Whip-poor-will

 After lunch up at the Visitor Centre and a quick look at a day roosting Eastern Screech-owl, we dived up to one of the parking areas in search of a reported Hooded Warbler, but to no avail. So got the tram-thing back to the point where it was actually very quiet and picked up nothing new. From here we got our car and called into a few of the parking sites higher up the promontory and had an enjoyable last couple of hours checking out some new scenery etc. An Eastern Phoebe was new, as was American Black Tern from the Marsh Boardwalk, but I also enjoyed cracking views of a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak that came very close and a male Scarlet Tanager, and there had obviously been a fall of these birds today as they are everywhere. 

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Scarlet Tanager

We also saw American Goldfinch, more Warbling Vireos than you could wave a stick at, a Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier and other bits ‘n’ pieces as Viv would say.  

Point Pelee

Not a good day for photos today and it’s quite interesting that we turned a slow start where few migrants seemed to have arrived into a pretty decent day where we dragged our warbler total up to a humble 13 species by close of play.  It was manic at the Visitor Centre Car Park by 6.30am with crowds of people heading for the electric bus to take them down to the point. I must say I have to add French-Canadian bird photographers to the ‘pot’ of things that really wind me up now, as they were so rude to one of our crew who is, in fact, disabled and had the temerity to use the assigned space on the bus to park her ‘all-terrain vehicle’ (that’s a wheelchair to you and me!). Please ring me for the other things that are in the ‘pot’….. 

Yellow Warblers are everywhere!

Anyway, it was quiet down at the southernmost tip of Point Pelee but we enjoyed both Red-bellied and Red-headed Woodpeckers perched up in a bare tree, with a beautiful blue sky behind them. 

Red-bellied Woodpecker

So much for overnight rain. As an aside, Rondeau Provincial park, another headland about an hour or so drive away had a major fall today, which made the early morning pain so much more severe. And apart from finding a Chestnut-sided Warbler down here we managed to do very well in avoiding all the other goodies reported this morning…! Oh we also had a fast moving Palm Warbler that shot inland the minute we put our bins on it. So we scoped the Greater Scaups and Red-breasted Mergansers out on the glassy-calm Lake Erie, took a while to watch fantastic drake Surf Scoters, and admired flocks of Bonapartes Gulls flying by. Even a Lesser Black-backed Gull (a rarity here) warranted a minute or two amongst the flock of American Herring and Ring-billed Gulls. So by 10am we had had enough and got the bus back up to the Visitor Centre and thoroughly enjoyed the coffee and cookies. Almost as much as the pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks skulking in some low vegetation nearby.

When its slow you can amuse yourself by photographing Yellow Warblers

 So once fully refreshed we walked back down the road for a kilometre and found it slow going, apart from numerous Yellow Warblers – oh boy are they common here. But 2 male and a female Scarlet Tanagers made it worthwhile, and lots of Baltimore and Orchard Orioles added further splashes of colour to the leafless trees. We sat on the benches, kicked our heels, took more Yellow Warbler pics and rested a while, toying with different plans but in the end decided to take a trail back up to the car that went through the woods. A great decision as it turned out, as we found a cracking male Black-throated Blue Warbler, followed by a Black-throated Green Warbler and finally 3 Blue-winged Warblers. What a turnaround from earlier today. The hotdogs tasted al the better I can tell you!

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Blue-winged Warbler

 We then drove north to the DeLaurier Trail and had our first Eastern Kingbird and a few more Chipping Sparrows in the mid-afternoon heat, before driving up to Sleepy Hollow. 

Chipping Sparrow

What a nice little spot this was and my theory that the reported Cape May Warblers were pushing north turned out to be true but they weren’t here – my only possible warbler lifer still eludes me (and not counting Connecticut Warbler as that bird is just a myth). But we did have a Raccoon, Black-and-white Warbler, more grosbeaks, Nashville Warbler and a few other bits and pieces.

Nashville Warbler

 By now it was late afternoon and decided to go to Hillman Marsh but we totally screwed up the directions and meandered aimlessly around the fields which did turn up a breeding plumage Spotted Sandpiper, another brief Palm Warbler, Savannah Sparrow, Horned Lark, some more Scarlet Tanagers, Warbling Vireo, Northern Harrier, and others. Finally we got to the marsh and enjoyed a pleasant hour watching both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover, lots of very bright gingery and long-billed Dunlins, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, a Redhead, and a Red-eyed Vireo as well.

So that was our day, the highs and lows. Everyone is saying tomorrow is the day. THE day. I’m just hoping for a Cape May – please……