I’m ending this week early, on Friday and posting early so that I can write about the trip north in one blog.

When I originally started the blog I imagined a few non-birding friends and family might be casually interested in what we were doing but during my weeks at Pelee I talked to a lot of birders and handed out my card with the blog on it and I think, looking at the blog stats, there are a number of birders that have started following the adventure too. Welcome! I’m happy to share our ups and downs and for any future Big Year Birders perhaps there are lessons to be learned from watching our many mistakes.

Monday it rained and I was quite happy to be at home and not bird, in fact I missed putting in a checklist for the first time since January 1. After the craziness of May I needed to research for our Rainy River trip and cook some food to take on the trip as well as set our house in order. We had things to do for Jerry’s mom and so the “time off” from birding extended to Tuesday and then Wednesday we had a bottle drive for our local Lions and then Thursday more caregiving and packing. There were almost no reports of birds I needed or were chaseable. There was a Lazuli Bunting up north but just a one off sighting as is often the case with Buntings. A Western Kingbird was momentarily seen at Pelee, but not chaseable.

I also finally had time to go through all the videos I have been taking. Since it is quiet this week I thought I would share some of them. I’m still working on this, it is tough to be zoomed in and hold the camera on the bird without movement so I apologize for the “boat” ride in some of them LOL. Still I like the idea of capturing some of the bird behaviour we see and hearing the sounds around the birds we are seeing. Hopefully, it brings our adventure a bit closer to you too.

There were a few birds I needed to still get in Southern Ontario but I needed proper weather conditions and it looked like Friday would be the day. We headed out at 5am and picked up bird #299, an Alder Flycatcher that we only heard singing its “Free Beer” song. It is probably the one bird song that EVERYBODY remembers! Who doesn’t like free beer?

At our second site we were searching for another flycatcher but this time it was the Acadian. Its one song is often described as “peet-sah” or “pizza” as some have suggested. Do you see a theme with birder mnemonics? The forest was shaded, leafy, muddy and full of mosquitoes. Trish had given us some direction as to where she had seen the birds the day before and so we stopped in the same area. We were prepared for the bugs and not too bothered as we listened for the song among all the other songs. We could hear Eastern Wood-pewee, Hooded Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Red-eyed Vireo, and a few Ovenbirds. A few minutes later another sound, not the song but just the “peet” call and we both said “Acadian” at the same time. We had bird #300. We didn’t celebrate, or even high five because we were intent on seeing the bird so we had to wait and listen and see if we could zero in on where the call was coming from and then search the trees for a tiny olive green bird. It was a challenge and was finally made easier by a bird flying past us and we had good quick looks at it. Jerry managed only one picture in the shadows of the forest but there was no doubt we had our 300 species. Then it was time for our traditional high-five! Thank you Trish!

We stayed for a while hoping to see more of the Flycatcher, there was another one singing and we hoped to get a chance for better photos but they were not co-operating and eventually the mosquito repellant started to wear off and so we headed back to the car. Once in the car I let the relief of 300 wash over me. I know the year is not over, but it is nice to have hit the original goal as early as we have. Five months to get 300 and now I have six months to get 20-30 more birds? I have 7 birds to get on this next trip plus any rarities and then another 12 in the Fall migration and anything else will be rarities that show up so 320 should happen with 330 looking maybe possible. We will see…

There was one more stop I had planned, a Dickcissel had been heard and seen near Exeter in Huron so we headed up there and as we pulled up to the field we could hear the Dickcissel singing. Jerry got out and quickly went to try and find it and managed some photos of it in the grass. Again, we waited hoping for another view and it did come out and sing and I had great binocular views and Jerry got better pictures. Eventually, the bird flew further back in the field and so we ended our bird blitz and headed home to get ready for the Rainy River Trip.

Week 22 3 more species added 301 species seen J&E