Wow, I’ve been pretty busy recently and haven’t had much time for blogging…. Anyways here goes nothing.
Since April 29th I’ve been living at Pelee Pelee in an Otentik (yurt type structure) and have started to settle into the routine here… which is basically as follows. Wake up at around 5:30am, go to the visitor centre and take the tram down to the tip. Then wait around the tip area for a bit to see if any rarities are sitting on the sand spit or if any birds are “reversing” off the point That is followed by walking along either West Beach or Sparrow Fields and Post Woods, depending on the winds (birding along the side of point away from the wind is best) and eventually ending up back at the VC. The afternoon kind of depends on activity, if it’s still good I’ll continue to bird the woods, and if not maybe check Hillman for shorebirds. All this of course depends on rare birds elsewhere, if there’s a Scissor-tailed Flycather in Presquile for example ~ then all Pelee plans go out the window and I’m gone.
The morning rush though I feel requires further commentary, just because it’s something that you won’t see anywhere else. Birding at Pelee in general is a unique experience, it just has its own atmosphere and most things in the park during the month of May are bird focused. On good days there it seems like birders outnumber other park visitors, something that I can only imagine happening at a small number of locations in North America. In the predawn darkness, I’ll stumble half awake to the Visitor Centre to catch the first tram (which is the front of a bus pulling 3 ''train cars'' behind it) out to tip and find that there’s a crowd of similarly sleep deprived birders waiting there already. These people are the keeners, the ones who want to be at the tip for first light in case there’s anything interesting there. Generally it’s a smaller number of the same folks, but the exception is a day that looks very promising for weather ~ in which case the first tram will be packed. On the drive out you can hear conversations about birds coming from all the adjacent seats, everyone full of optimism about what the day will hold. The lights illuminating the tram flicker on and off at times, making it reminiscent of some eerie subway scene from the movies… if subways ran through a forest and and only contained birders. As soon as the tram stops at the tip parking lot, all the birders...a lot of whom have already stood up and put on their harnesses and cameras in order to be first out,,, immediately disembark and hurry down to the point. This reminds me of the Star Wars movies where the stormtroopers all jump off a dropship and run into combat... same energy. Depending on how good it is there (birds on the point or reverse migration) people may remain a few hours, but most days the masses look around for a few minutes before dispersing back into the park for the day.
The point has been pretty good this week, I mean at least for early May. I’m still on a yearbird streak (as of May 6th) and have gotten a new bird every day since April 28th. After an initial push of warblers and rarities on the last week of April, it slowed down considerably though. The warblers were few and far between, though the diversity has been great! Highlights included Kentucky, Yellow-throated and Worm-eating Warbler.
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| - Yellow-throated |
The worm-eater caused me considerable pain…
Of course I didn’t have my camera, but here’s one of Mike’s photos.
As I mentioned in my last post, Worm-eating Warbler was starting to become a nemesis bird for me. I missed one at Pelee when I chased the Kentucky Warbler at Long Point, and then I missed the next one when I went after the Marsh Sandpiper. Three times this had happened, which made me feel like the worm-eaters had it out for me. William and Ezra both got the bird on April 29th that was found by my friend Owen Ridgen, making it even more painful ;) Normally there are a few every spring in Ontario, however it can be an easy bird to miss if you're not careful and it's a bad year for them. Anyways on the evening of the 5th I went hunting in post woods with Michael McAillister and Jacob Stasso. It had been two days since the last sighting, but it seemed like the best thing to do... so we figured it was worth a shot. As the sun was starting to set for the day we worked our way southward on the seasonal footpath, stopping to scan through the understory every so often. What follows is now known as "Stasso magic"...
Jacob, who was bringing up the rear, stopped and walked back a few paces, looked into the forest and said "there it is!". And sure enough it was there, quietly foraging beside a log about 20 meters off the trail. How he spotted it will remain one of those great mysteries, however if I had to guess I would go with dark magic. This was a lifer for me too, so that added even more to the experience. I didn't have my camera with me. but here's one of Mike's photos.
I’ve added 18 yearbirds at Pelee since my last update, with some highlights including Yellow-throated Vireo, White-eyes Vireo Gray-cheeked Thrush, Clay-colored Sparrow, Yellow-breasted Chat, Sanderling and Red-headed Woodpecker, Hooded Warbler and Orange-crowned Warbler.
Some photos…
As far as ratites outside of Pelee go it’s been a pretty solid week! Dana Latour found a nice Snowy Egret beside Hillman Marsh, a bird I was hoping to get down here and one that Ezra had on me. Luckily it was still there when I arrived, but the views were pretty decent so these are the best shots I managed.
The next day I got word of a White-faced Ibis that had been found by Steve C down by Erieau outside of Rondeau. I ripped down there there with Ezra and got it pretty easily. The views through the scope were great, but the it flew before I could get photos and disappeared in the adjacent cattails, where it remained. The next day a Glossy Ibis was reported just outside of the park at Hillman Marsh, so I immediately chased it. Upon closer inspection though it turned out to be another White-faced Ibis! It’s quite funny honestly, as white-faced is the rarer ibis and I saw one two days in a row. The only time I’d rather a glossy…
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Not too shabby for early May! That brings me up to date until May 5th… more updates soon…
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