Pt. Pelee May 7-9

[Lloyd]

While not as productive as Moira's outing to the park earlier in the week, our visit to Pt. Pelee was still worthwhile albeit soggy and cold except for Sunday. The foliage growth this year was early by about two weeks making spotting and ID-ing very challenging. As always, additional to a lot of species mentioned by Moira, we spotted a nice find in the Brewster's Warbler, a first for me. Also of note were two Great Horned Owlets on a nest just about a half a kilometre inside the park. The adult bird, presumably momma, was easily spotted roosting in a nearby tree. This sighting produced a lot of excitement and kids and adults alike were overjoyed. Sunday was filled with brilliant sunshine and, naturally, a lot of the birding paparazzi were out in great numbers. I have a question for all you photogs out there. Is it really necessary to bombard the subject (in this case an Eastern Towhee) with flash after flash when, I would guess, the exposure setting would be 1/2000th. of a second? Anyway, I'm not trying to create an argument...I was just wondering.

[What was that?]

I need to change my handle to Where was that?

I was at Point Pelee 6-8th inclusive and for my eyes there was little to see. Last year I seem to recall the warblers were far more abundant, close to 20 fold. This year my first day I saw 2 warblers (Common Yellowthroat - marsh board walk, and the yellow warbler - everywhere else).
Second day someone pointed out (6pm+, after being out since 5.30am) black and white, redstart, nashville. Crappy photos all. (Good ones of a scarlet tanager as a runner up prize along with sighting (crappy pic) of a redheaded woodpecker and a Eastern Towhee). Third day we had pointed out a magnolia (fleeting glance), chestnut sided, blue winged and cape may (couple of decent pics). And that was it. others we spoke to were seeing upwards of 20 in a day. Finally, coming back via London, we saw a few yellow rumped. Total of 10. Anything of interest we saw was surrounded by several tens of people.

Apart from that, lot's of orioles (many orchard among them).

Last year it was difficult to move without bumping into something. Every bush seemed to have movement. The groups hanging around seemed to be fewer as if there was so much to see elsewhere.

Any idea why the difference?
Definitely fewer people on the paths (weather was poor to say the least, in terms of rain and low temps).


Next year (if I can persuade my better half to return) we will use a guide.
Graham.

[Leslie Kinrys]

Hi Graham,
We were at Pelee for May 9 & 10. We'd have stayed on the 11th, but the rain chased us away. We also noticed the lower bird numbers. We were told by a park staffer that the birds were all at Magee Marsh, Ohio. I guess we were on the wrong side of the lake. But, we had good looks at many birds and we had some wonderful sightings.

-When we arrived, I got out of the car, looked up and saw a 2nd year Bald Eagle, flying over the main parking lot!
 
-We also saw the owl family.
 
-We had good, long looks at all the warblers we saw, especially Blue-winged, Blackpoll and Canada.
 
-At the Tip, a Common Nighthawk flew right over our heads (it startled us), landed on a limb nearby, and went to sleep. This was the first time I'd ever seen one not just flying around.
 
-And, the classic Pelee Moment: Two young male Summer Tanagers showed up along the main road into the park. The birds lingered there in the trees. People were lined up along the road, cameras were flashing, and a park staffer was there directing traffic.

[Brian Bailey]

I've learned to read between the lines of the Ontbirds reports from Pelee and Rondeau.  It looks like things have generally been very slow there so far this year.  It's highly weather dependent.  I'm sure they will have some good days in the next week or so.  If I was going, I could tell you exactly when those days would be: the day before I arrived and the day after I left.  :wink:

I suspect I saw a better variety of warblers within walking distance of my house this past weekend than I would have at Pelee.

BB

[cocosally]

First time @Point Peele yesterday & today, birding yesterday was really great after the rain.
Today were @the tip in the morning, still got quite a bit of warbler birding, however yesterday is one of the
best according to people who has been here for a while.
The owl family is still here, there is only one baby there in the
nest. I spot papa/mama twice And one ofthe baby was trying to fly with both parents watching.the other little guy was in it's nest