Sweet Bird Carolina

I reluctantly went birding to Point Pelee and Hillman Marsh today. It was cold and cloudy and basically not nice. The only reason I did go though was to pick up a Kayak from Pelee Wings. I started birding at Hillman Marsh... or should I say... Hillman Mudflats. Where is all the water this Spring?

I'm still really bad at identifying shore birds. But in short, Hillman had:
Sanpipers,
Bonapart gulls,
Terns,
Great Blue Heron
Blue Winged Teal
Lesser Yellowlegs
Killdeer

I quickly continued on through side roads I have never driven on before.... Have you ever heard the song "Where the streets have no name"? I think U2 was talking about Mersea township!!! Anyway, I got to get a good look at what Tom Hince refers to as the Onion Fields in his Birding Point Pelee book.

The North Dyke road had Killdeer and Horned Larks in small numbers and great distances.

At this point, I only had about 1 hour to bird Point Pelee.... What path should I take???

I decided on the nature woodland trail, as I have not been on that trail yet this year! I also wanted to take a quick peek at the bird sightings book in the visitor center.

Not a bad turnout!
I quickly noticed a male Downy Woodpecker, then a female Yellow Belllied Sapsucker. Its strange. This YBSS looked like someone had spilt coffee on her! I'm still looking for a Red Headed Woodpecker!. Moving along the path briskly, I decided to take the Redbud Nature Trail as I had never walked this path before... where are the redbuds???

I did end up seeing several Kinglets (Golden and Ruby Crowned)... but wow are they hard to photograph. The redbud trail is basically a cloud of fine tree branches. ... Impossible to zoom with. The photo below is the best I could do, but this was me focusing manually. The exposure is off, as the bright background will fool the camera into underexposing the main (tiny) subject.

I reached the end of Redbud trail somewhat happy. I had at least seen some kinglets... not a bad day. But then as I walked along the nature trail, parallel to the road for the shuttle,,, I heard "tea-kettle, tea-kettle, tea-kettle"... then after trying to locate the sound.... wham... I see a rust-coloured ball of feathers on a mossy, decaying branch. Incredible! But I was not able to photograph it at that point. I patiently followed it as is meandered along the path and got a few more photos of it...

Did I mention that the Carolina Wren is a lifer??? Wow... I was really happy to see this guy. My birding ended there as I soon approached the visitor center.

I finally picked up my kayak as well... I'll leave that for another post...

Happy Birding
-Dwayne

Black Oak Heritage Park ... after work!

I stopped by Black Oak Heritage Park today in West Windsor. I was hoping to run into a Red-Headed Woodpecker (Considering they love Oaks) but ended up seeing a few other decent birds. I also ran into a few cool butterflies! I have been to Black Oak Heritage Park twice this spring and both times, it was crawling with the Mourning Cloak butterfly!

Black Oak Heritage Park has recently had 34 acres experience a prescribed burn. This exposes the rich topsoil to more sunlight and it is already rebounding wonderfully. 

On my way into the park, I heard lots of woodpeckers drumming

 I also watched a pair of Easter Comma butterflies wrestle in the leaves and stones on the path I was walking. And on my way out of the park, to my surprise.... Eastern Towhee! I've never seen this bird in my life until two weeks ago, and now I see it again... on my own. It was really cool to behold. I would describe the call of the Eastern Towhee as ' You-Are- Cheap Cheap Cheap....'. I got some incredible looks at this bird!

Happy Birding!

Short trip to Point Pelee

Saturday morning, I took a quick trip to Point Pelee. I am presently in the market for a Kayak, so I had been planning to pick one up at Pelee Wings and possibly go out into the Marsh with it. But, I just did not have enough time to do all these things, so I differed the purchase of my Kayak for a later time.

Interestingly, as I drove over Sturgeon Creek on the bridge, in the corner of my eye I noticed the tell-tale white-navy-blue flash pattern of a Belted Kingfisher in flight, so I put on my hazard lights and pulled over on the bridge. It was really 'birdy' there!

Sturgeon Creek Bridge birds:
Purple Martin (lifer)
Barn Swallow
Tree Swallow
Double Crested Cormorant
Belted Kingfisher
Great Egret (flying in the distance)

Upon arrival at Point Pelee, I quickly noticed a single pair of ducks in Sanctuary Pond (only one pair?) They were wood ducks.

Several west side beach areas were pretty quiet. I would have liked to have seen a Mourning Cloak butterfly, but none were to be found.

I walked Delaurier Trail and Tildens Trail. Both were pretty quiet. Sturgeon creek was almost a little more interesting. I also walked about 50 meters up the board-walk (or 'bored'-walk) and noticed a single American Coot in the Marsh. That would have been a lifer had I not gone to Florida in March.

On Tilden's trail, its funny,,, I did not really see too many birds (RWB's not included) but I noticed it was nicely flooded on each side of the trail. I also heard on occasion very unique bird songs that I was unable to identify. Looking out from the East beach, I noticed many windmills lining the horizon! I can't believe they put Windmills on a major north american migration route! I guess time will tell how this will effect birds in migration. Will the wind turbine owners disclose any statistics on their effect on birds?

Point Pelee Birds:

Cardinal
Eastern Phoebe
Great Blue Heron (flying overhead)
Northern Flicker
Downy Woodpecker
American Coot (in the Marsh)
Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher? (Just a faint glimpse @ Tildens Trail)
Red Tailed Hawk
Various Gulls and Scaup in the distance
Huge numbers of Red Winged Blackbirds, Grackles and Robins

Overall a quiet day at Point Pelee. I was really only there for about 2 hours, almost not worth the drive out from Windsor. But... this is what birders do. If nothing else, its good exercise and practice for my photography skills.

Happy Birding!

(Click image to see larger view)

Great Morning at Point Pelee (three lifers!)

Wow, what a great morning at Point Pelee! I showed up at about 8AM (on Easter Monday). The first thing I noticed was three giant turkeys crossing the road about 50m after the entrance. I stopped by the sanctuary pond lookout but only saw a few Canada Geese and Wood Ducks in the far distance. I stopped at a few west side beaches but did not see much. Finally, I arrived in the old homestead parkinglot and much to my surprise,  I saw several Northern Flickers just taking their time rummaging thought the grassy edges of the parking lots!

Then, I noticed a photographer off to the west end of the parking lot so I joined him. He was eyeing an Eastern Towhee and sure enough... Lifer! (click any of the photos to see a larger version of the image)

Major birds I saw today were Yellow Bellied Sapsucker, Northern Flicker, Red Breasted Merganser (lifer), Eastern Pheobe, Eastern Towhee (lifer), I even photographed what I think might be a little gull (lifer)..... Overall, a great day! Perfect temperature, great sunlight.

I need not mention the bazzillion Grackels, Starlings and Robins.

Wow, is this a Little Gull in this photo above? (actually... probably a Bonaparte's Gull)

Happy Birding, April and May seem like they are going to be wonderful months for birding!