Chronicles of an Ontario Birder: Pelee Episode VII

Pelee Episode VII - The Phalarope Awakens

Alright... Time for some more catch up blogging about my May at Pelee! I feel like I have done a lot of writing so far but somehow I have only covered up until the 14th... Yikes!

After chasing the Hepatic Tanager in Oakville on May 14th I spent the remainder of the day retracing my steps back to Point Pelee. Along the way I stopped to check out Blenheim Sewage Lagoons to see if there were any shorebirds there. The heat had been building all day, as I was starting to notice when I was at the tanager spot, and by the time I got to Blenheim it was HOT... 31 degrees with very little wind. The trudge out to the shorebird cell wasn't a pleasant one, with the air conditioner in my car beckoning me back the entire time. As I have said in previous posts, I am no fan the the heat. Cold, windy days staring out into the lake for hours in the spring and fall? Bring it on. But any humid weather above 25 degrees and I'm not a happy naturalist. Something about birding when it's really hot, especially if there's no wind and a clear blue sky... I just don't care for it!

I was not able to turn up the Wilson's Phalarope that had been hanging around the lagoons, and it was pretty quiet save for a small flock of Short-billed Dowitchers, 200 Dunlin and an American Pipit. I made a quick retreat back to my cool car and continued west.

As I was nearing Pelee I saw a report on discord of two Stilt Sandpipers that were currently being seen by birders at Hillman Marsh. Stilt Sandpiper is a code 2 bird and not a worry on a big year, however they are quite rare in the spring in southern Ontario (I have only seen 1 before in May). I wasn't really expecting to see one until July or August, and since I was driving right by I decided to stop in and have a look. As is often the case when I arrive at the shorebird cell, Cameron Chevalier was already there and had the target bird in his scope for me. The views in the soft evening light were quite nice, with the rufous patches on the head standing out nicely. After that I retreated back to the park for a quiet night.

- Stilt Sandpipers

A Few days previous news had surfaced about a White-winged Dove that was coming to a bird feeder in Port Perry. This is a scarce but increasing rarity in the province, with an average of 3-5 sightings a year. My first one was at Rondeau Provincial Park in 2018, when I crossed paths with the singing bird there that returned for 5 consecutive seasons. I saw that lonely bird again in the spring of 2019, singing away and looking rather confused on the roof of a cottage. It's still a rarity though, and assuming there will be another closer one is too risky of a gamble.

Mike Burrell had contacted the homeowners in Port Perry through the rare bird ambassador program and had managed to set up a viewing opportunity for birders. Since it was a dove at a feeder and not something flighty that I feared would leave, I spent the first few hours of the day birding around the Pelee area. It was another sweltering hot day, and the park was seemingly void of new arrivals. I drove over to Wheatley harbour after not seeing a whole lot and spent 2 hours lakewatching and definitely not doing anything that resembled napping...

Several decent sized flocks of Black-bellied Plovers flew by, as well as a few Ruddy Turnstones. The highlight for me though was a nice 2nd cycle Iceland Gull that was walking around on the beach with a number of herrings. This is a rare bird in May and a new bird for my Pelee circle list (a list which I kind of mentally keep track of, but have no physical copy).

- Iceland Gull

The almost 5 hour drive to Port Perry that followed was quiet and uneventful, even with the AC blasting I was still getting hot...

These are the big year chases I enjoy the least, it is a species I have seen before and it's not that exciting (I don't enjoy twitching birds at feeders)... But when doing an all out big year sometimes you just had to do these things. Upon arrival, actually locating the bird took under a minute. I parked at the residence, located in a new housing development that seemed to lack trees and nature in general, walked behind the house where a crowd of birders were gathered and the White-winged Dove was sitting right in front of me at a platfrom feeder. It sang a few times but barely even moved during my short stay... The nerve ; ) After that long drive it could have at least done something interesting for me.

- White-winged Dove

I left shortly after, with a new big year species and a large gas bill to my name. Instead of driving to Pelee again, I turned to the northwest and drove the 3 remaining hours back to my home in Bruce County, a place I had seen very little of so far this spring. The reason for my visit was to return my parents car, which they had generously let me use for over a week while mine was being fixed in Leamington. Thanks folks! That evening I spent a bit of time out in the yard, my first visit since late April. Eastern Whip-poor-wills, Sandhill Cranes, Wood Thrushes and White-throated Sparrows serenaded me as the day turned to night... Ah good to be back on the Bruce. I also saw a Fisher run across my road, the first one of the year for me and always a fun mammal to encounter

Since I was in Bruce and my car was in Leamington, an obvious issue arose. I needed to get back to Pelee, and fast since mid May is peak season for rarities. I got lucky on this front, on the morning of the 16th Alessandra Wilcox drove up from Guelph to get me and bring me back to Point Pelee. She was going down for a week anyways, and decided to be an absolute legend and detour to get me "on route". After picking me up we made a quick stop at Isaac Lake, where a singing Alder Flycatcher was a yearbird. I was lucky to get that, as it would be my only new species of the day and saved my yearbird streak (I had seen a new bird every day since April 27th). That was basically it for the birding that day as the rest was spent driving to Pelee. The Otentik, where I had been staying since late April was a no fly zone due to a Covid scare, so car camping it was.

The following morning we arrived early at tip, as the weather predictions had rarities on my mind... The extended period of south winds the previous week, followed by very hot weather set things up perfectly for vagrants arriving in the province. Then, on the morning of the 17th there were north winds, which theoretically meant that birds that "overshot" and arrived in Ontario would use these tailwinds to return south again. Another hope for the morning was Laughing Gull, as on the past two mornings there had been one seen at the tip (the only two mornings I didn't go!!). Laughing Gull can be tricky on a big year, often they don't stick around long and are only seen by a few people.

The watch at the tip started off fairly quiet, with no reverse migration to speak of (as expected) and very little waterbird movement. A flyover Trumpeter Swan was rather unexpected though, an uncommon sight on Pelee proper. Then, a chunky, large billed songbird whipped overhead, high up heading towards Ohio. I knew it was something interesting, and managed to get a few photos and point it out to Alessandra before it disappeared. It felt off for a Dickcissel to me, and female Blue Grosbeak was starting to creep into my thoughts, but on the small camera display it was hard to make anything out. Only a few minutes after that I was scanning over the lake and I picked up three herons flying south... two great blues and one smaller one about half the size. The only options were Tricolored Heron, Little Blue Heron, Reddish Egret or Snowy Egret... But it was definitely a dark coloured heron, so egret was out. Bruce Di Labio was standing just down from me, and was the only birder at the point that morning who had a spotting scope, so I frantically yelled at him to get on it. A view in the scope showed the bird was completely dark and lacking a white belly, wham Little Blue Heron!! This was a new self found bird for me, and a dream bird to find in morning flight, so I was quite thrilled to say the least! No pictures unfortunately..

Little Blue Heron is an OBRC review species in Ontario, and normally there are 1 or 2 a year. It varies year to year though, and as of my writing this (late June) it has been the only one so far this year. Granted, peak heron season is normally late summer when the juvenile birds start dispersing, but it's great to get it out of the way early.

With all the heron excitment, I totally forgot about my pictures of that songbird... until I got home from Pelee and went through all of my reverse shots. It turns out the bird in question was a female Blue Grosbeak, so it was a 2 self found OBRC bird morning! Luckily I had already seen a male earlier in the month, as the photos of the female are quite poor...

- Blur Grosbeak

- Blue Grosbeak

- Backside Grosbeak

- Please Come Back Grosbeak

After that amazing start to the day everything else was just gravy. A Kentucky Warbler had been found at The Dunes, and since Alessandra hadn't seen one this year we drove down to check it out. We never did manage to see the warbler in question, but we did hear it singing loudly from beside the road. It was my first time hearing one, so that was pretty cool.

The remainder of the day was spent exploring the park and birding at Hillman Marsh (250 Black-bellied Plovers and some Turnstones). The birding was decent, however it was fairly obvious that there weren't many migrant songbirds around. A Prothonotary Warbler and a Common Nighthawk were the highlights, with the nighthawk being another yearbird for the day.

- Common Nighthawk

- Prothonotary Warb

That evening a Wilson's Phalarope was seen at Hillman Marsh, so we drove over to see if we could find it. This is another species that I will definitely see more of this year, but phalaropes are cool and I don't really have to defend myself for chasing it... So there. It turned out to be rather challenging to find, as it was quite secretive swimming about in the tall vegetation in the shorebird cell. These digiscoped shots are the best I could manage. Not a bad way to end an fantastic Pelee day!