Twitching Rondeau

Another freezing cold day but only a light breeze rather than a howling gale like yesterday, but this meant that after a clear night a lot of birds seemed to have departed. The Blue Heron area was quieter than yesterday evening but we still had lots of Common Yellowthroats, Northern Waterthrush, American Redstart, Black-and-white and Magnolia  Warblers. 

Magnolia Warbler

Also called into Sleepy Hollow on the way down and this was quite birdy but I would have liked to see the calling Pileated Woodpecker. So, once down at the Visitor Centre it was apparent that there wasn’t a huge amount of new birds around so I made the decision to drive over to Rondeau and twitch a couple of reported goodies. As I drove there I did wonder what the heck I was doing! But things went fairly according to plan as we got our only Hooded Warbler of the trip after a short search – result!

Hooded Warbler

 We then spent some time at the feeders, drinking coffee and relaxing before walking the Tulip Tree trail. We all commented on the fact it was more like a dry winter’s day than Spring. But with nothing doing we drove back up to Spice Bush Trail, stopping to look at a pair of Wood Ducks swimming at the back of a slough. The trail was quiet although along the road we had a fine Parula Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler and a few other things. 

Swainson's Thrush

Red-breasted Nuthatch

But with time passing all too quickly, I wanted to have another crack at the Maintenance Loop Trail where most of the good birds had been seen recently. Sure enough we managed to find the male Cerrulean Warbler, which was actually skulking on the forest floor under the short grass and weeds on a bank beside the path.

Cerulean Warbler

Cerulean Warbler

It was incredible to be able to look down on this bird which is normally found high up in the canopy. There was also Cooper’s Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk and Red-tailed Hawk flying over the wood, Black-capped Chickadee, Grey Catbird, plus a Brewster’s Warbler (hybrid Blue-winged x Golden-winged) to finish the day off in style.

Brewster's Warbler

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.