Point Pelee Birding in Late October

A good birding friend mentioned to me this past Friday that Sturgeon Creek had incredible shorebirds so I figured I would try my luck on Sunday morning. It was gorgeous out, but my time at this pleasant pelee peninsula was brief.

Before entering the park, I stopped by the Hillman Bridge, which gave looks at Cormorants, Herons and Egrets but nothing too noteworthy. An Eastern Bluebird along with some yellow rumped warblers caught my eye at a residence near the marsh.

The promised shorebird show at Sturgeon Creek was decent, but difficult to take in with the eastern sunshine back-lighting the shorebirds. I did see a Sandhill Crane, as well as some Yellowlegs, Killdeer and groups of distant Plovers. Some Dunlin and one Semi-palmated plover were around but I left hoping to go back later during the afternoon sun.

Upon arrival to PPNP, I birded Delaurier trail. I did not see anything out of the ordinary. Lots of Juncos, Kinglets, Sparrows as would be expected. I think I may have even seen Pine Sisken but not too sure on that. I heard a Carolina Wren, but did not really see much. As I approached the Delaurier parking lot, I heard a bird singing its heart out, as I rounded the corner, I discovered that it was a female Purple Finch. It sounded like a red-eyed vireo!

I was thinking while driving home about how a birder could easily set up a chair at the Delaurier Trail on the south side of the parking lot (looking north) and just watch raptors and huge flocks of migrating birds stream by overhead. Buteos and Accipiter Raptors were constantly streaming by! Huge flocks of Crows were in the Onion fields as well as flying overhead.

Broad winged Hawk being mobbed by a Sharp Shinned Hawk

Singing Purple Finch... very cool! I always see females, almost never males of this species.

 Shuster trail was my next and last destination on this short trip. All the seasonal birds that one might expect to see were seen. A nice treat though, was a Winter Wren. Overhead, more raptors were flying overhead, including this nice, low Red-shouldered Hawk.

'Shoulda

Winter Wren scolded me on Shuster Trail

East beach, at the terminus of Shuster Trail gave nice views of a pair of distant Bald Eagles. 

Back at Sturgeon Creek, I tried to scope out any shorebirds that were hopefully front-lit, but nothing too noteworthy. A few plover species.

The Saturday prior  to this trip(Oct 13th), I had birded Pelee with the Ojibway Birding Group and had a chance to see some cool birds. Off the top of my head some birds seen were:

Tip:
Vega Gull
Lesser Black backed Gull
Greater Black Backed Gull
Sanderling
Red breasted Nuthatch (many)
Blackpoll Warblers
Yellow rumped Warblers (many)
Golden & Ruby crowned Kinglets
Carolina Wren (heard)
Brown Creeper
Rafts of Scaup
Horned Grebes
Purple Finch
Northern Flicker (8 or so perched in trees near the tram loop)

Sparrow Field:
Hundreds of Chipping Sparrows
Lincolns' Sparrow
American Pipit
Yellow bellied Sapsucker
Overhead Raptors (Sharp shinned hawks, Coopers Hawk, Merlin)
Perched  Turkey Vulture
Palm Warbler
Indigo Bunting (seen by some)

Good Birding!
Dwaynejava


PS: The latin name for Winter Wren is "Troglodytes Hiemalis"... Troglodyte being a Greek word meaning "Cave Dweller". Hiemalis is latin for Winter. Winter Wrens live in the underbrush in damp, rotting wood thickets. I've had some luck finding them at Shuster Trail in the Spring and Fall, as well as Holiday Beach near the Hawk Watching Tower.

Winter Wren is one of three images that Cornell University's Allaboutbirds.org website is using of mine.

It can be seen at this link:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Winter_Wren/id

Other images they are using include: Golden Eagle, Yellow bellied Sapsucker

I couldn't help but try to recall where I heard the word "troglodytes" before, and I recalled reading the word this summer and not really knowing what it meant. I found the cartoon I had read a while back using a quick google search. It was from a political cartoon in Windsor. So go ahead and incorporate the word "troglodyte" to your vocabulary!

Image Source:
http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2012/06/23/mike-grastons-cartoon-for-june-23-2012/

Vermilion Flycatcher at Orlando Wetlands

Vermillion Flycatcher

About two weeks before departing for a long-planned Florida trip, I had read on the Florida birding listserve that a Vermilion Flycatcher had been spotted at a place called Orlando Wetlands. I read this announcement with amazement, but caution as well, because realistically, chances were slim that it would stick around for two weeks, awaiting my arrival. Further compounding the excitement of this bird was the lack of mention on the Florida birding listserve beyond its initial posting. Sure enough though, after our plane landed in Orlando, and we headed due East to Cocoa Beach, I requested to my wife that we stop and check it out (I pre-programmed the address into our GPS) and to my utter amazement, it was still there!

 

Late Limpkin

While at Orlando Wetlands, I saw many other species, but I focus mainly on personal rarities. Blue Winged Teal, Common Moorehen, White Ibis, American Coot were very common and seen everywhere. Near the feeders, I swore I saw a red-ish colourful bird that could have been a Painted Bunting, but I didn't have time to follow up on it.

This common Florida bird eluded me on two prior trips.

Black bellied Whistling Duck

Sandhill Crane

Glossy Ibis... Takeoff

Common Ground-Dove - Blurry... arrrghh

It's good to be home. Florida is so beautiful, but home is where the heart is. It was cool to hear the distant call of Killdeer, and later hearing the chorus of frogs while stopping the in-laws in Windsor. Spring is here!

Good birding,
Dwaynejava

Lifer summary:
Limpkin-291
Black bellied whistling Duck - 292
Vermilion Flycatcher - 293


http://orlandowetlands.org/
http://www.cityoforlando.net/public_works/wetlands/index.htm

Yellow Breasted Chat and some other great warblers at Pt Pelee

I was reading a posting from the Friends of Point Pelee today about a Yellow breasted Chat that was at Point Pelee, and couldn't resist going to check it out. Surprisingly, I found it with very little wait and with little effort.

 

 This Yellow breasted Chat is lifer #238. How exciting.
The yellow-ness of this bird's breast is incredible!

Oddly enough, I was only at Point Pelee for about 1.5 hours. I only had time to walk Shuster Trail and the east side of Tildens Trial.  In hindsight, I wish I had walked Woodland Nature Trail, as an awesome little yellow bird was seen there (Prothonotary).

I was walking alone on a Tildens footpath and flushed about 6 birds and I just waited patiently for some of them to return to view. A Louisiana Waterthrush came back into a tree just meters from me and belted out some songs!! It then hopped down into the slough and foraged completely ignoring me!

  My first (Male) Hooded Warbler. Very cool. I saw a female at Ojibway Park last spring.

An ovenbird made a quick appearance, but quickly flitted away. I've only seen this cool little warbler once before (last year) at Rondeau. Veery was all over the place today, and incredibly tame. Many that I saw tonight were only 15m from the path and not very shy. They would pose for me!

 I almost grew Weary of Veery. Not!

 Nashville Warbler was the most numerous Warbler tonight!

As I photographed the Hooded Warbler, I looked up and saw some Heron -like birds overhead. I noticed a different shape and gestalt to them and realized they were probably Sandhill Cranes! I would hear the cranes calling in the distance and it was pretty amazing. It echoed through the forest and was very cool and haunting.

Good birding,
Dwaynejava

Did you know Humans eat Sumac? I am a fan of the many great lebanese restaurants in Windsor, and there is a pink-purple spice on fattoush salad that gives it a bitter kick... Below, a Brown Thrasher was the subject of my exposure tests before the Chat arrived. Not a bad bird to practice on... but hey... its Pelee.

Birding Kensington Metropark in Milford Michigan

I went to Kensington Metropark today with my wife and son, and well, did a little birding! (Don't tell my wife!) I took my point-and-shoot camera, so excuse the resolution and quality of the photos.

Kensington Metropark is basically a giant plot of land that is mainly forested, along with a flooded artificial lake (via dams) and swamps. There are also meadows, little meandering mini-creeks, flooded grasslands, marshes.... just a really nice assortment of habitats. This park also had something not seen around Windsor, ... hills! This metropark also features a golf course, nature trails, nature center, small farm area, Pontoon boat river tour, kayak and canoe rentals, and I'm sure I'm missing other stuff (oh yes, a waterpark with slides). Very nice place to visit. I didn't feel that it was commercialized... great value all around. The website to this great park is http://www.metroparks.com/parks/index_all.aspx?ID=6&r=0

I heard (through flickr friends in Michigan) that this park had Sandhill Cranes, but did not realize they breed there and are easily seen there. I probably saw Sandhill Cranes on 5 different occasions! They're not lifers as I saw them in Florida in March.

Some birds I saw include:
Sandhill Crane
Eastern Bluebird (volunteers maintain a network of Bluebird houses all over the park. Very cool!)
Black Capped Chickadee
White Breasted Nuthatch
Downy Woodpecker
Red Tailed Hawk
Osprey (fly over upon arrival in the parking lot)
Various gulls
Various Swans
Great Blue Heron
Crows
Double Crested Cormorant
House Sparrows
Grackels & Robins

Chipmunks and deer were abundant as well.

A few photos from a prior Ojibway Park visit include an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail & Green Heron perched in a tree over a slough/ditch behind the nature center at Ojibway park.

Good birding!
Dwayne