Migration happened! When we arrived at the tip at 6:30 Monday morning there were warblers in the trees and birders were pointing binoculars and cameras in every direction. Multiple Northern Parulas, Cape May, Black-throated, Chestnut, Blackburnian, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Palm Warblers and American Redstarts were everywhere you turned. It was lovely after a few days of rain and few birds but it was foggy and misty so the lighting was not great for pictures and most of us had to keep wiping glasses and lenses.
We stayed at the tip for a few hours and then twitched (chased) a Yellow-throated Warbler just outside the park and across from the cottage we are staying at. It was the 15th rarity (4th & 5th ranked birds on my list) and I need at least 20 of those ranked birds to hit the 400 if I get all the common species (1st, 2nd & 3rd ranked birds) so I was happy to add another that inches me closer to knowing I will make my goal.
We went back in the park and spent the rest of the day leisurely strolling the trails and for the most part seeing the same warbler species from the morning but better views and lighting made for some lovely encounters with these little colourful birds. We were hoping to catch up with one Golden-winged Warbler of the 3-4 reports that came in throughout the day but we never managed to be in the right place at the right time. We did manage to chat and catch up with many birders who we only see at Pelee, which is the second best thing about Pelee, the birds being first, of course. Late afternoon we decided to head back to the cottage for an early dinner when another Golden-winged report came in so we drove over to the trail and made another attempt along with about 10 other people but again came up empty. On the way out of the park we stopped for a Clay-coloured Sparrow that had eluded us on previous days and finally saw it to add another bird to the list.
Just as we were about to leave once again for the cottage a Glossy Ibis (rarity) was found and off we went 10 minutes out of the park to twitch that bird. Many people arrived at the spot suggested on the post but no Ibis was seen. Texts were sent to verify the spot and then some cars drove off to check the other end of the road. No Ibis at that end.
We decided to head to the cottage for food and hope the Ibis would show up at Hillman Marsh later. While we ate two more reports came in quickly followed by reports that it had also flown. We ate quickly and by then it was back at the original spot and we drove over and saw it with many other happy birders. A nice way to end the day. Rarity #16.
Monday night just at dusk I changed into pyjamas saying “I guess its safe that nothing else is happening” and all three of us started working on blogs and photos. Discord notifications at this time of night are generally more chatter and less sightings but I looked at the notification immediately and saw Chuck-will’s-widow near the tip. Jude was off the couch and heading to the door in seconds. This is a rarity to Ontario that has been non-existent here the last few years. We did not follow Jude out. He had a bike. We would have had to do a 4 km walk there and back with no tram running after 8pm. A thunderstorm complete with crazy lightning started about 30 minutes later. Jude got back very wet but elated that he had heard and seen the bird flying around. The bird is from the Nightjar family and spends the day roosting on branches and then, like owls, flies at dusk and through the night catching insects and moths in their huge mouths.
Tuesday morning we were once again at the tip with even more fog and fewer birds. Early birders had heard the CWWI (birder code for the Chuck-will’s-widow) singing again at dawn and had watched it fly into the trees and disappear. Many people scanned logs and branches in the area, some even using thermal imagers to find heat but the bird was not found during the day. We met up with Angela and Michael from Hamilton and birded with them for the morning. More warblers were high up in the trees so the views were not great but we had a few at eye level. Most of the morning was spent laughing as Michael loves to deliver zinger after zinger generally in my direction. We always have a good time with them. At noon I went into the visitor centre to use the washroom and came out with two extra hikes to lead! The Friends of Point Pelee who organize and run the Festival of Birds offer hikes for novice birders and for some reason our names were suggested as potential leaders. So we will lead our first hike at Pelee tomorrow afternoon.
We left the park to have lunch with another group that is leading a hike up in Carden that we have volunteered to help with too. I believe in giving back and we had so many birders help us when we started I want to pay that forward a bit by sharing our scant knowledge and enthusiasm with newer birders. In the afternoon we had a lovely encounter with a Scarlet Tanager.
At dusk we met up with other birders and went back into the park to try and see the Chuck-will’s-widow. We took the final tram down to the tip and then waited patiently with about 30 birders by the spot it was last seen in the morning. The atmosphere was nervous expectation as we strategized about whether it would show or would our noise or mere presence keep the bird from appearing.
As the sun set the group got quieter and phones and camera were readied to record anything. It had started singing at 8:40 the night before and that time passed. And then at 8:50 the bird flew from the north east side of where we had thought it would be, zooming over a birder’s head and then landed directly in front of us just a foot or two from the forest floor and just a short distance off the road. There was an audible gasp from the group and then we surged forward till we were shoulder to shoulder to enable everyone to see the bird. I helped a few people get to a better spot to view it and the cameras clicked away in the dark. The bird then flew up and around, landed back in the same area, flew around a few more times and then landed out of sight.
Just after seeing the CWWI a number of us heard an Eastern Whip-poor-will singing further down the road but Jerry missed hearing it. We will hear and see this bird up in Rainy River but for the moment it is on my list and not Jerry’s.
Wednesday was quieter with less birds to see and we had to lead a hike in the afternoon so only added one species, the Prothonotary Warbler. Thursday a large number of birds arrived even though the winds had been from the north. A heavy rain storm early at the tip put a damper on people seeing the warblers there but the birds moved into the park and we were seeing larger numbers of warblers, thrushes and flycatchers. Jerry fell on his knee at the tip and while he said it felt fine it swelled up enough to be uncomfortable by lunch and so we opted to spend some time back at the cottage icing it. We then went out and drove the fields in the afternoon and then went back into the park and drove into each picnic area and got out and birded a short distance and then back to the car. We managed to see 45 species in that short time and lots of warblers at eye or ground level. It was a fantastic time and we managed to add 3 more species despite the down-time.
Friday it appeared many of the birds had fed on Thursday and left the park during the night. We were back to lots of walking with nothing much to show for it. We opted to leave the park and drive to some of the shorebird spots and got our first Black Terns of the season. We also went back into the park at night hoping to hear a Whip-poor-will so Jerry could add it and we would be even in species again but we did not hear one. It is crazy to me that we are in the peak weeks of migration and we are only managing to add one to two birds a day. Granted, I have a lot of birds already and we are down to needing only 18 more of the common species and a few more of the 2nd ranked birds. Some we will be more likely to get in the fall but the ones we still need just are not showing up in large numbers yet. And so we wait…we walk the park, we talk and commiserate with other birders and we wait. Saturday was the warmest day yet and also the busiest in the park with weekend birders arriving for what is traditionally the peak of migration. Many of the “hard-core” birders find other places to bird after they visit the tip as the paths and trails are packed and people are excited about the usual birds we have already seen many times.
We walked a bit in the morning and helped people identify what they were seeing and then we opted to head to Holiday Beach for a quieter birding experience. We had three Prothonotary Warblers together in a slough and Jerry had fun photographing them. I’ve added some other great pictures from Pelee in the gallery.
Sunday was Mother’s Day and the park is usually even busier so we opted to stay at the cottage and have a day of rest and catch up with photos, blog and a bit of housekeeping. We said that we would not bird at all but by 9:15 we were in the backyard of the cottage listing 18 species of birds including 4 warbler species. In the afternoon we headed to Hillman and stayed for a few hours as more bird species continued to be found. We added 2 more sandpipers to our list and spent some time letting other birders see things through our scopes.
Every year Point Pelee National Park runs the 100 Species Challenge. If you see 100 species in the Point Pelee area during your stay in May you get a pin with a different bird on it each year. I’ve collected a few of them and generally try to do the 100 species in a day but this year I opted to just get 100 over a number of days. Many of the people coming to Hillman are a few birds away from their goal of 100 so we had some fun finding ducks and shorebirds for them to add to their lists to get them to 100.
Week 19 13 species added 281 Ellen 280 Jerry