Day 6 (Tuesday, 12th May)
Point
Pelee tip & Woodland Trail
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The non event
of a tornado of the previous evening had morphed into fair, cool weather, but
with strong westerly winds. We reverted to type and arrived at the Pelee car
park around 5.30, meeting fewer crowds than the previous visit. The birding day
had started even before this, with an American Woodcock on the road in the
headlights, and a second picked out in display flight over the car park. Even a
single White-tailed Deer was roadside in the dark. While on the shuttle, the
winds seemed stronger towards the tip, and the sea on the windward side was
very rough, contrasting with the much calmer waters on the leeward side. Some
marine birds such as Double-crested Cormorants and Great Northern Divers were
passing, and an optimistic Ruby-throated Hummingbird flew South, but it was
obvious that any birds here would be looking for shelter. This was in fact the
case, with a stunning close Blackburnian Warbler joined by a couple of Least
Flycatchers and a Black-and-White Warbler. A Northern Harrier battled its way
overhead. Other activity at the tip was slow, so we decided yet again on the
slow walk back up the road, taking in Woodland Trail. The former was much
quieter today, as was the trail, but the latter did improve as we walked along.
There was not the variety or numbers of birds as compared with our last walk
here, but we did notch up another Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart,
Red-eyed Vireo, and a couple of Magnolia Warblers. Towards the end, a pair of
courting Wild Turkeys were a strange sight in the woodland, with a stunning
male Scarlet Tanager opposite.
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American Herring Gull |
Franklin's Gull |
Ring-billed Gull |
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Brown Thrasher |
Common Grackle |
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American Robin |
Bay-breasted Warbler |
Blackburnian Warbler |
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Wild Turkey |
Least Flycatcher |
Eastern Woodpewee |
Tilden Woods
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East Beach from Tilden Woods |
Cactus Fields off Chinquapin trail
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With the strong westerlies continuing to blow, and the temperatures in the coolish mid
teens, we headed for Tilden, hoping for a few migrants which favoured a bit
more shelter on the east side of the peninsular. We weren't too disappointed
either. This time we took a bit of a detour by continuing straight on inside
the trail towards the lake East Shore. Here, a narrow sand and shingle beach
follows the water in each direction. The waves of this inland lake were a
little choppy, but a group of Red-breasted Mergansers contained Bufflehead. One
was a dapper male, and he used his striking good looks to woo one of the
females into doing naughty things! In the wooded edges there, Warbling Vireos
were very active, but searching through them also unearthed a Philadelphia
Vireo, singing to proclaim his patch. A couple of Flycatchers were also here,
one a Western Wood Pewee, the other a Trails Flycatcher - Willow or Alder,
since it didn't call. As we met the return trail - the same one we exited to see
the beach - one bush held both Blackburnian & Chestnut-sided Warbler.
The Warbling
Vireos continued their manic feeding to be accompanied by less active Red-eyed
Vireos. We took the seasonal trail which had held a Mourning Warbler a couple
of days before - this time Swainson's Thrush and ridiculously close American
Redstart, to meet the Chinquapin trail. Getting hungry, we did the old trick of
just going another 100 metres, which was a good call. We came across a clearing
which seemed to be too exposed in the wind to hold anything. After spotting a
female Rose-breasted Grosbeak building a nest, moments later a Blue-winged
Warbler perched for a brief time in a nearby tree. Only metres further on, a
Magnolia Warbler was static in a cut wood thicket, and to seal the deal, an
Eastern Bluebird was hunting for insects in the open. A good extension to trail
- lunch tasted all the better!
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Buffelhead |
Baltimore Oriole |
American Redstart |
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Black-throated Green Warbler |
Eastern Bluebird |
Magnolia Warbler |
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Eastern Screech Owl |
Red-eyed Vireo |
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Trails Flycatcher |
Warbling Vireo |
Philadelphia Vireo |
Marsh Boardwalk
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This was oneof the Pelee sites we had not covered, and we expected to cover the marsh in no
time bagging a few water based specialities at the same time. This didn't
happen, but the birding was superb. An observation tower overlooks the cattail reedbeds,
which are interspersed with some open water. The walk around is only about 1km,
and takes no time, partly because there was no more than Common Yellowthroat
and Swamp Sparrow to spot. The surprise was the quality of the birds in the
trees along the edge of the marsh, toward and beyond the toilet block to the
North. Good numbers of various wood warblers seemed to find the trees over the
regular wet areas to their liking, and were in constant presence. Although many
of them were higher up, a good proportion were also at lower and ground level.
There was even a mini twitch on, with some of the Ontario birders
"needing" and getting a female Cerulean Warbler which we were happy
to share with them (ok, it was they who spotted the bird first!).
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Barn Swallow |
Common Yellowthroat |
Myrtle Warbler |
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Northern Parula |
Philadelphia Vireo |
Tilden Woods
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With some
time before the light acted against photography, and a good days migration
watching behind us, we decided on a return to Tilden Woods, hoping for a few
extra titbits that might have eluded us earlier. We headed for the seasonal
trail to the rear, mainly because a Loiusiana Waterthrush had been spotted there
earlier, but also since we hadn't walked this as yet. Predictably, no
Waterthrush of any description was present, but we quickly added Great Crested
Flycatcher and Black-and-white Warbler. Rejoining the main trail back towards
the visitor centre, we were lucky enough to stumble on a female Hooded Warbler,
which unfortunately was a little too active in the tangles for prolonged views.
Last bird of the day was also a treat - a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird
feeding and then displaying in a pendular flight back and forth.
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Ruby-throated Hummingbird |
American Goldfinch |
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Black-and-white Warbler |
Great Crested Flycatcher |
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