Listing of April Migrants

April Migrants to Point Pelee and local area

This particular posting is more of a data dump than a typical posting, but I actually refer to this list throughout the month for my own reference. I plan on going to Point Pelee and other birding spots at least once a week until the end of May. Some of my destinations that I am planing are to Magee Marsh in Ohio, Holiday Beach, Rondeau Park and St Clair NWA.

This is a listing from the Point Pelee website for April migrants. Out of the list below, I am really going to look for the following birds, which are not on my life list... Eastern Towhee, Common Loon, Virginia Rail, White-eyed Vireo, Red-headed Woodpecker. If I only add one more bird to my life list this year, it would be the red headed woodpecker. 


Early
Greater Yellowlegs
Pectoral Sandpiper
American Bittern
Lesser Yellowlegs
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Turkey Vulture
Black-crowned Night Heron
Savannah Sparrow
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Vesper Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Common Snipe
Great Egret
White-throated Sparrow
Common Loon

Mid April
Double-crested Cormorant
Purple Martin
Brown Thrasher
Osprey
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Pine Warbler
American Golden Plover*
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Forster's Tern
Common Tern
Caspian Tern
Swamp Sparrow
Bank Swallow
Rough-winged Swallow
Chipping Swallow
Louisiana Waterthrush (rare)

With an exceptional warm front in the last few days of April a surge of typical May migrants may appear. If, however, the weather is more-or-less normal, only the following are likely to be new arrivals in the last ten days of the month.

Late
Green Heron
Marsh Wren
Broad-winged Hawk
Gray Catbird
Virginia Rail
Wood Thrush
White-eyed Vireo
Sora
Common Moorhen
Solitary Vireo
Spotted Sandpiper
Solitary Sandpiper
Nashville Warbler
Dunlin
Yellow Warbler
Whip-poor-will
Chimney Swift
Palm Warbler
Red-headed Woodpecker
Cliff Swallow
Northern Waterthrush
Red-breasted Nuthatch*
Purple Finch*
House Wren
Grasshopper Sparrow
Henslow's Sparrow (rare)
Black-and-white Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler


Happy Birding

American Wigeon ... just by chance

I attended a family friends' birthday party in Amherstburg today, so I left a little early and stopped by Holiday Beach to check out the ducks on Big Creek. I was shocked at how low the water was! I kayaked Big Creek last June and well, from Holiday beach, it looked like mudflats!You would not be able to launch a kayak into it!!! Big Creek closer to the bridge on Highway 18 had a little more water, but seemed very shallow as well.

I snapped a photos from the side of the road thinking they were just mallards and to my pleasent suprise... Lifers! I've never seen the green-faced, white crowned american wigeon! Upon looking up this duck on Allaboutbirds.org , I was amazed that its range is really on the western side of the continent. It only stopped here in migration. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Wigeon/lifehistory

Some Northern Shovelers were out as well.

I photographed a black capped chickadee, and was shocked at how cute it looked. I also noted that its rusty flanks are not present. Could it be a Carolina Chickadee? Or just a young, immature black capped chickadee. I guess I'll just assume the later.

Florida Life List Additions... Birding Riverside Drive & Ojibway

I've birded Riverside Drive once or twice in the last week.... and nothing! Hardly a single duck anywhere to be seen! I had thought there would be many to see once the ice melted, but that seems to just not be the case.  I walked around Ojibway park today and did not see anything out of the ordinary. Actually, I did see an anusual amount of Golden Crowned Kinglets. I'm not sure if there was always that many, or if they are migrating northward already.

 Wow,  I photographed about 80 bird species during two major birding outings in Florida and added 40 new species to my life list. I have not officially updated my list yet, but below I have about 40 new species that I've never officially seen. The image below is a link to a google picassa web album of about 80 photos.

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florida favs

1. Tricolored Heron
2. Redish Egret
3. Little Blue Heron
4. Snowy Egret
5. Cattle Egret
6. American Coot
7. Greater Yellowlegs
8. Glossy Ibis
9. White Ibis
10. Eastern Meadowlark
11. Palm Warbler
12. Roseate Spoonbill
13. Loggerhead Shrike
14. Sandhill Cranes
15. Wood stork
16. Blue Winged Teal
17. Savanah Sparrow
18. Northern Mockingbird
19. Grey Catbird
20. Sora
21. Purple Gallinule
22. Great crested flycatcher
23. Palm Warbler
24. Eurasian collared dove
25. Brown Pelican
26. White Pelican
27. Black Vulture
28. Northern Parula
29. Yellow Throated Warbler
30. Pine Warbler
31. Black Skimmer
32. Swainson's Thrush
33. Laughing Gull
34. Boat tailed Grackel
35. Northern Shoveler
36. Ruddy Duck
37. Eastern Bluebird (female)
38. Brown Thrasher
39. Anahinga
40. Willet

Florida.... what a state!

I spent the last week of my life in Florida! I spent three days in Orlando and Three days in Miami... So naturally I bugged my wife to go to the famous Merrit Island Nature Reserve and the Everglades. I must have photographed,,, I'm thinking 75 species of birds and 30 or so new to my life list. There is so much I could write about... but I have to keep this posting short. I will add three blog postings to break up the birding adventures.

 I have several shots of a Roseate Spoonbill both in flight and foraging in shallow water. I saw and photographed pretty well all the herons/egrets (except for black/yellow crowns). Merrit Island was incredible!

Just driving into the city of Titusville, I photographed so many birds. Loggerhead Shrike were on telephone wires, Ibis on the side of the roads, shorebirds galore...


The Florida Everglades was awesome as well. I stopped at three major points along the way but my favorite surprisingly was a stop called 'Long Key Pine'. I did not have the fanfare of Anahinga trail, but just standing in the parking lot I must have seen 10 bird species with almost no effort! Male and female Eastern Bluebirds, YBSS (see below), Great Crested Flycatcher ...check.

I'm happy to be back home. I look forward to the week by week migration wave that is upon us as we speak!


Happy birding!