Week 18 A Week that feels like a Month!
We started the day at the tip of Pelee National Park just after sunrise. Despite south winds overnight there did not appear to be any influx of birds. We stayed for a bit witnessing some reverse migration and added a few birds to the year list. I got a report that an American Bittern was in a tree behind the washroom so we walked over to view it and got some nice pictures.
We then heard about an Olive-sided Flycatcher up at Sparrow Field so we walked up the road to that area but the bird was not being seen. We met up with the Hunters, birders from England that come to Pelee most years and chatted with them until Barb, Garth and Nancy arrived and it became quite social for a bit. We saw our first Baltimore Oriole of the year while we were standing there and then decided to take the interior path back up through Sparrow Field. As soon as I turned on the path I saw a bird in the very top of a tree and just knew it would be the Olive-sided. A quick look with bins and then I shouted out to the people on the road. Everyone was happy to see this very early Flycatcher.
With things being quieter in the park we opted to leave around 11 and visit another favourite spot, Kopegaron Woods. It was noisy with bird song but not with any new species. Around noon a report of a Ruff up in Alliston came through on Discord and while I would love another chance at a Ruff (we missed that one by minutes in BC) I just could not leave Pelee and drive the 4 hours for it. We stopped for an early dinner at Freddies for delicious perch and that perked us up enough to go back to Pelee for another round of Tilden Woods where we managed to find our first Ovenbird (namesake of my blog) of the year and maybe Jerry’s best pic of one yet.
With lots of light left we opted to head over to Hillman Marsh and see about adding some new shorebirds and we were lucky enough to have Jean Iron, renowned shorebird expert, arrive just as we did. With Jean’s assistance we managed to add American Pipit, and a Least Sandpiper that I found but Jean confirmed. We managed to add 6 birds for the day and while not fantastic for spring it was a pretty good day.
Monday night Birdcast had predicted strong migration through the US and so Tuesday we were back at the Tip. There was more reverse migration than yesterday and it was clear there were more birds in the park as we started to see species along the beach in the shrubs. It was a great birding day where we added 10 more species and had the chance to get views of other species we had just had glimpses of.
We were due to head home so decided to leave Pelee and head to Rondeau where there were a few rarities including a sighting of another Yellow-throated Warbler. They seem to be everywhere except where I am! When we got into our car it would not start and we had an error message that our battery was dead. We had stupidly charged our phones while we ate lunch. We have CAA but there is literally no cell service at the Pelee Visitor Center. I went in to talk to staff and they kindly gave us a small self boost thing which we tried but with no instructions we were not sure if we were powering it or not. Anyway, the other staff member was Cam, who helped me out last year many times at the Tip with bird ID’s and where and when to find things, he offered to get another booster from his car which was a bit bigger and it did the job of getting us started. By this time an hour had passed and we just decided to head home. We will be purchasing one of those self boosters to have with us from now on.
Wednesday we had the Lions Bottle Drive and our house is the sorting centre so we spent the morning crushing 1,500 beer cans and sorting hundreds of wine and liquor bottles. We make around $250-300 each drive and hold 2-3 a year. Then another oil change was on the agenda, with all the kilometers it seems like we change the oil every few months. While that was happening a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher from the deep south was found on the Toronto Islands. I started doing the calculations and looking at ferry schedules but it was apparent that we would be battling rush hour traffic and it would be late to arrive there so we thought we might do it Thursday. Instead we headed down to Long Point after a Summer Tanager that had been hanging in someone’s yard all day. It only took us about 10 minutes of chatting with the owner before the bird once again arrived. Bob is not a birder and at first thought the all red bird was a Cardinal but realized after taking pictures that it was different. He put out (some oranges and the bird kept returning. While we did not get stunning close views, we managed to see the bird very well until it was chased into the trees by a Cardinal. We took a walk at the banding station and saw our first Ruby-throated Hummingbirds of the year and then added a Black-throated Blue Warbler that was foraging high in the trees. I had not expected to add any birds with the items on our calendar but 3 new birds anyway.
Our hopes of going for the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher were dashed by a sick grandson who we needed to watch on Thursday and so we spent the day packing for our return to Pelee on Saturday hoping we could get to Toronto on Friday if the bird remained. And then, a crazy afternoon happened – a Painted Bunting was found on Pelee Island, another ferry ride needed to that bird, shortly after, ANOTHER Scissor-tailed Flycatcher at Pelee on the Tip!!! UGGGGGH , how I wish I was still there! Then a Franklin’s Gull on the Tip! The storms and winds had definitely brought rarities to Ontario. A Little Blue Heron and White-winged Dove showed up in Thunder Bay. All of these birds are usually in the southern US. While I would love to chase them all and they would be great birds to have on the list if I am going for 400 I do not need to chase every rarity. Jude was busy trying to stay ahead of everything and chase everything, as I was last year. I had the plans set for the Flycatcher and then a report came in that 8 birders had just witnessed it being caught and eaten by a Cooper’s Hawk! Poor bird. And sadly, just like that I didn’t need to get up at 4 to be in Toronto by 6.
Friday we had some errands, and needed to see Babi but we took a few hours in Burlington birding some local hotspots hoping for warblers but there were few around. If I had given it more thought I would have contacted the cottage owner for Pelee and seen about adding a night and gone early so we could have strolled up the beach and viewed the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher at Pelee but my personality is such that I often cannot imagine deviating from the “Plan”. Anyway, I didn’t and so we focused on getting ready for the trip and then went out in the evening to Safari Marsh and saw our first Sora of the year.
Storms came in Friday night so when we arrived at the beach at Pelee it was windy and rainy and really not ideal for a southern flycatcher to be flitting about catching insects. Hurricane winds came to mind as I struggled down the beach in thick wet sand. So, no Flycatcher. Instead we focused our sights on exploring some of the birds out and about at Pelee despite the drizzly rain most of the day and managed to add 8 more species to our list. The most excitement was a report of a Worm-eating Warbler at Rondeau only an hour away, but we know how difficult they are to re-find so we opted not to go for it.
With more rain in the forecast for Sunday we decided to head to Rondeau for the day as it is better for getting off trails to your car than at Pelee where you can often be 30 minutes or more from your car. We slept in till almost 6 LOL and then stopped at Blenheim Sewage Lagoons to see a Wilson’s Phalarope in beautiful breeding plumage but as we got inside the gates a report came in that the Worm-eating Warbler had been re-found so we opted to head there as we were only 15 minutes away. It would be a lovely bird to add to our list as we missed seeing it last year. There were many birders on the trail and so no shortage of eyes looking enabling us to look at other warblers around and add birds to our list. After a couple of hours we were behind a couple who stopped to look at something and Jerry and I saw movement in the underbrush but could not identify a bird. I asked her what she had seen and she said Worm-eating Warbler! I thought she was joking! But we looked into the area where the “bird” had gone and Jerry thought he saw something with the right colouring, I saw something as well that could have been but unfortunately nothing definitive. It might be the bird that got away, who knows…we passed the info to Jude who arrived minutes later but the bird was not seen again. We ate a leisurely lunch in our car and then the most amazing news arrived! Another, the third, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher was found at Long-Point! Another chance, how could that even be possible that we would get a third chance at this species. It was 2 hours away, we immediately started driving. As we drove, a report that a Prairie Warbler was at the same place. Double bonus!
When we arrived and got out to the beach where the Flycatcher was being seen there was only one birder to tell us it had not been seen for about 30 minutes. Ahhh, the highs and lows of birding, excitement on the drive, disappointment it might be gone. We scanned the trees, more birders arrived, and suddenly Jax, way down the beach started waving and running towards us pointing to the trees, we all started sprinting (in my mind) but it was more like a slow plodding because of the deep sand. He went up into the dunes, some of us followed, the bird flew out, we ran down the dunes. It would have made a very funny video watching all of us birders with binoculars and cameras, coats flapping, hats askew, all trying to chase this very fast bird. Finally, it perched. We managed to stop gasping enough to take pictures and enjoy seeing this beautiful bird. And then it was off again and we headed to see the Prairie Warbler that was just a minute away. We heard it before we saw it and that led us to the shrub it was in. Woo-hoo! two great birds at once.
Totally worth the 5 hours in the car, because now we had a 3 hour drive back to Pelee. We stopped at Blenheim again on our way home where we had started our day and saw the beautiful Wilson’s Phalarope. We took some pics and drove the final hour.
We picked up pizza and just got in the door of the cottage, ate 2 slices and a report came in of a Snowy Egret only 40 minutes away. It was pouring rain, but a Snowy Egret is a good rarity to have. I drove as Jerry had driven the last leg and just as we got close he realized that he did not have his camera! Agggh, we were in such a hurry to leave he had not grabbed it. The Egret was off a bridge on a roadway so there was limited space to park but we pulled over, jumped out, saw the Egret, took some pics with my Iphone and then hopped back in the car in 4 minutes. One of our faster twitches and while I would have loved to stay and enjoy the bird the reality was it was pouring, the bird was hunkered down, I was hungry and tired. We headed back to warm up the pizza and to write this post.
Whew! what a week and we have just been at Pelee for two days! It already feels like a month!
Week 18 36 Species added 268 J&E