Pelee Area Triple Threat: Sep 17-18, 2026

 

I figured this "night" birding business would mean I'd sleep less. I was right. 

Run-of-the-mill Warbler "flock" ... at night ...

I was "night birding" from sundown until maybe 3 am... I probably would/could have stayed awake all night, but I'm still learning how best to take advantage of these newfound opportunities... Years of testing theories, techniques, locations etc. ahead... 

Some results: 

17th (PM): https://ebird.org/checklist/S394292904

18th (AM): https://ebird.org/checklist/S394237930

I think I had more species visually identified at night - than most checklists I see from people who keep telling me my ideas about the OBRC are wrong   😅

After my sold 2-2.5 hrs of sleep, I zipped over to the north end of Point Pelee to see what the morning flight was like. Turns out, it was "pretty good"! ... Just like every other "pretty good" morning I've had here over the last 2 falls. 

https://ebird.org/checklist/S394237794

~1100 Warblers - but still no CONW - and a slow increase in the number of later-season migrants. I had forgot to charge my spare camera battery, so no images this time... 

Off to Zion road! 

---

The previous 2 days had rain/drizzle in the SW, with north winds in central Ontario. The table was set for a massive Broad-winged Hawk migration. Given the species reluctance to move near the lakeshore, I was a bit worried the wind was "too east" - but I really hoped to finally hit a really good Broad-winged Hawk migration at Zion Road... It really isn't an ideal spot for one, but maybe this time would be different! 

It wasn't .... 

Conditions were great right at Zion, but I suspect the air was a bit dead (light) further east of us, and it allowed large numbers to push FAR inland. Like, almost to Lake St. Clair inland... I had seen 1 Broad-winged Hawk by 2pm... 

All was not lost however; given the spectacular insect migration, but the flight line finally got close enough for us to "find it" around 2pm... I am not a good counter, but I suspect we had 20-25,000 Broad-winged Hawks in a ~2.5 hr window - including one massive kettle-line that may have had upwards of 10,000 birds. I had taken a photo of a portion of the line and counted later at home, just to try to get a handle on the numbers (my 600 mm + 1.4x TC setup - so a narrow field of view - still managed to get a single picture with 491 BWHA in it!). J B estimated the "flock" (which was dense, the entire way) was maybe 1.5 km long! 

They made us wait, and it wasn't the 50,000 + day I have always dreamed of, but it was still quite the spectacle. 

Don't you just love good birding! More to come! 

Point Pelee - Morning Flight - Sep 14, 2026 (BLPW are here)

 

With 2 hours of sleep under my belt, it was time to try to hand-hold the 600 mm lens & blast at flying warblers... Not terribly showy, but Northern Waterthrush is a species that I am always hoping to improve my images of, so this was a highlight: 

Overall though, my photo-efforts were once again "fine" ... I'm not terribly happy with most of what I put on ebird, but they're good enough to keep for reference. 

One highlight was my 2nd trip in a row with Eastern Whip-poor-will observations (in flight!)... I assume two different birds, but it's hard to know for sure. Perhaps it's a regular occurrence at a place like this. You just need to start your birding 60 minutes before sunrise?! A Northern House Wren flew over a good 40 mins before sunrise too... As a very-rare-in-flight species, I thought it was pretty interesting...

It was my largest flight of the season based on total number of warblers. A real spectacle! I missed a lot of birds due to my photo efforts once again, but did my best to do a rough tally of warbler numbers as they passed. Blackpoll Warblers had arrived in big numbers. 

The tally: 

Mourning Dove  30
Common Nighthawk  1
Eastern Whip-poor-will  2    
Chimney Swift  6
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  20
Sharp-shinned Hawk  8
Cooper's Hawk  1
Bald Eagle  2
Red-tailed Hawk  1
Eastern Screech-Owl  1
Belted Kingfisher  2
Red-headed Woodpecker  1
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  8
American Kestrel  12
Merlin  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  55     
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher  5
Traill's Flycatcher  1
Least Flycatcher  15     
Eastern Phoebe  1
Great Crested Flycatcher  5
Cassin's/Blue-headed Vireo  1     
Philadelphia Vireo  12     
Eastern Warbling Vireo  1     
Red-eyed Vireo  110     
Blue Jay  5
Black-capped Chickadee  1
Tree Swallow  4
Purple Martin  1
Barn Swallow  1
Red-breasted Nuthatch  40     
Northern House Wren  1
Carolina Wren  1
European Starling  50
Gray Catbird  2
Gray-cheeked Thrush  2
Swainson's Thrush  45
Cedar Waxwing  250
House Sparrow  2
Purple Finch  2
American Goldfinch  40
Red-winged Blackbird  100
Common Grackle  20
Northern Waterthrush  2
Black-and-white Warbler  14
Tennessee Warbler  20
Nashville Warbler  28     
Common Yellowthroat  2
American Redstart  25
Cape May Warbler  60     
Northern Parula  24     
Magnolia Warbler  30
Bay-breasted Warbler  50     
Blackburnian Warbler  8
Northern Yellow Warbler  2     
Chestnut-sided Warbler  2
Blackpoll Warbler  600     
Bay-breasted/Blackpoll Warbler  50     
Black-throated Blue Warbler  4
Palm Warbler  9
Pine Warbler  2     
Yellow-rumped Warbler  15
Black-throated Green Warbler  20
Wilson's Warbler  15
new world warbler sp.  750     
Scarlet Tanager  5
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  8
Indigo Bunting  2

https://ebird.org/checklist/S392967947

I did a short stop at Zion Rd. in Chatham-Kent, and lucked into great looks at a Striped Saddlebags. No photos unfortunately.  18 American White Pelicans flew east with 3 Sandhill Cranes.  It will be interesting to see if the pelicans continue their march east in the coming years. 

A short hawkwatch near Eagle, ON produced maybe ~750 Broad-winged Hawks, but I couldn't stay very long with commitments at home! I've got my fingers crossed that the right combination of winds & rain over the coming days can produce a big flight of this species. Thankfully, the "boring" El Nino weather continues to produce "good enough" birding conditions on a regular basis. More to come! 

Night Watch - Point Pelee - Sep 14, 2026

 

After a small breakthrough in my nocturnal birding efforts, I was quite interested to try again. It was a bit more challenging this time. The birds were a higher and I only had ~2 hrs of sleep. But it was 110% worth it! 

Palm Warbler

The tally is every bird visually confirmed flying at night (i.e., no NFC's): 

Mourning Dove  3

Yellow-billed Cuckoo  1

Black-billed Cuckoo  1

Virginia Rail  1

Wilson's Snipe  1

Lesser Yellowlegs  1

American Bittern  1

Empidonax sp.  2

Red-eyed Vireo  23

vireo sp.  1

Veery  1

Gray-cheeked Thrush  1

Swainson's Thrush  6

Catharus sp.  3

Savannah Sparrow  12

Lincoln's Sparrow  2

new world sparrow sp.  3

Ovenbird  1

Northern Waterthrush  3

Tennessee Warbler  3

Nashville Warbler  10

American Redstart  3

Magnolia Warbler  3

Bay-breasted Warbler  3

Blackburnian Warbler  2

Chestnut-sided Warbler  1

Blackpoll Warbler  7

Bay-breasted/Blackpoll Warbler  12     

Palm Warbler  5     

Black-throated Green Warbler  3

Wilson's Warbler  1

new world warbler sp.  18     

Scarlet Tanager  2

Rose-breasted Grosbeak  3

Indigo Bunting  1

passerine sp.  12     

bird sp.  3   

Wilson's Warbler

Perhaps it is due to my morning flight "training" - but even at night I can fairly quickly tell if I'm dealing with something standard (i.e., a Baypoll or a Red-eyed Vireo) or something unusual (a more colourful warbler species, or something weird like a Cuckoo). Yet there are still many surprises, some of which wait until home when I can look through the photos (i.e., the Lincoln's Sparrows!). 

A host of questions to be answered and many more ideas to test out! Also, some more pics on my ebird list here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S392997719

I've got a host of "opinion" type material in my mind for the olde blog - but the birding has been consistently "good" enough that it has been filling my spare non-family time (and non-work time I guess). More to come! 

Virginia Rail

Point Pelee - Morning Flight - Sep 11, 2026

 

I swear I don't (usually?) bird the same location, over and over again, like this... I also wish I had something slightly different to say, but it has been remarkably & consistently "good" at this location the last two falls. I keep waiting for the "big day" to hit.

One clear cut highlight - a "leucistic" type Yellow-bellied Flycatcher! Full list below: 

"Pastel"? 

Chimney Swift  80
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  10
Black-bellied Plover  2
Solitary Sandpiper  2
Lesser Yellowlegs  1
Osprey  1
Sharp-shinned Hawk  15
Northern Harrier  3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  3
Red-headed Woodpecker  5
Downy Woodpecker  2
Northern Flicker  10
American Kestrel  20
Merlin  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  24     
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher  4

Traill's Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher  10
Empidonax sp.  15
Great Crested Flycatcher  4
Eastern Kingbird  1
Blue-headed Vireo  1
Philadelphia Vireo  8     
Eastern Warbling Vireo  1
Red-eyed Vireo  80     
Blue Jay  5
Black-capped Chickadee  2
Purple Martin  15
Barn Swallow  5
Red-breasted Nuthatch  8
Gray Catbird  2
Veery  1
Gray-cheeked Thrush  3
Swainson's Thrush  70
American Robin  10
Cedar Waxwing  200
House Sparrow  2
American Goldfinch  30
Chipping Sparrow  1
new world sparrow sp.  1
Bobolink  75
Baltimore Oriole  1
Northern Waterthrush  2
Black-and-white Warbler  8
Tennessee Warbler  22
Nashville Warbler  14
Common Yellowthroat  4
American Redstart  75     
Cape May Warbler  45     
Northern Parula  15     
Magnolia Warbler  50
Bay-breasted Warbler  20
Blackburnian Warbler  3
Northern Yellow Warbler  1
Chestnut-sided Warbler  5
Blackpoll Warbler  50
Black-throated Blue Warbler  6
Palm Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  4
Black-throated Green Warbler  16
Canada Warbler  1
Wilson's Warbler  6
new world warbler sp.  750 
Scarlet Tanager  3
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  6
Indigo Bunting  1

https://ebird.org/checklist/S391912969

Putting the "red" in REVI

Conditions were great for a "flight". Not quite ideal for low & close concentration. But overall, an exceptional birding morning. The first flavour of later-season species were present with more YRWA, a few YBSA and a BHVI among others. I'm pretty sure a CONW went by low but I didn't get a critical look. 

The flight was fast and furious early, with birds high and on variable flight lines. Things slowed down fairly quickly too, and were nearly stopped by 9am. 

For the photography, I rocked my 600mm lens here for the first time. I was a bit worried my arms might fall off, but it was manageable. The results were fairly similar, but I'm hoping they will improve with a bit more practice. Which means, I'll have to head back a few more times this year... 

A sign of things to come! Every other YRWA I've had this year has been a ratty molting adult. I have to assume this is a hatch year bird? 

A new milestone in night birding (for me)

 

I made my way to Point Pelee (again...) on Sep 10. This time for a two part birding attempt. First up was a morning flight watch: https://ebird.org/checklist/S391912505

In general, it was pretty slow. A huge highlight was an Eastern Whip-poor-will foraging on the wing (!), extremely early in the morning. The flight itself was uninspired on dead air, but there was enough moving to pass the time (~300 warblers, ~75 SWTH, etc). 

I passed the remainder of my time looking at gulls & seeing what was happening at Zion Road. The main highlight here was bugs (Red Saddlebags, Carolina Saddlebags, Horace's Duskywing etc). But the real action kicked off in the night! 

I spent 2 hours during a fairly heavy movement, doing my very best to identify nocturnally migrating songbirds. It actually worked! https://ebird.org/checklist/S392109483

Red-eyed Vireo 

Savannah Sparrow 

Bay-breasted Warbler

Mourning Warbler! 

I suspect it's not the "type" of birding that would appeal to the masses, but as someone who enjoys bird study and trying to understand bird movements, it's absolutely spectacular. 

Two things have struck me so far in particular: 

1. Is how much they are just sort of "fluttering" along. I had always guessed that these birds must have an ability to adopt a "migratory/power" flight mode when heading to South America. Go up high and just motor - you know? In reality, they seem like they're having a good time - just slowly bouncing along with their friends as they head to their winter home. 
   
   
2. Is how random their directions are. On a different night recently, I had several songbirds flying due north over my place in London. Two nights ago (again in London), the most common direction for songbirds was due east !? ... While some were going due west. Only a handful went generally south. 

Once it started to get light, I went back for another morning at PPNP. I'll save that for another post! 

Point Pelee - Morning Flight - Sep 6, 2026 (Now 10 kph faster!)

Highway 401 between London and Windsor is now 110kph the whole way.

More photos! Sure it was the middle of the long weekend. Sure I didn't have a lot of spare time. However (!) there was a moderate chance that lake-effect rain could notably ground migrants along Erie... The only (real) catch was the 4 hour round trip drive... I'm not sure if it's a side-effect of getting older, or a side-effect of feeling like field ornithology in Ontario has been left in a cage on a strict diet of air and pure abandonment, but I went for it. 

The rain didn't quite cooperate, but thankfully there was still a large overnight movement, not to mention it's near-peak neotrop season. 

The day started off right with 60-70 warblers before the sun came up. The movement was a bit slow for maybe an hour thereafter before the usual mid-morning surge. In the end I tallied ~880 warblers, clicking by rough groups of 10. Other highlights included 2 Red-headed Woodpeckers, an Olive-sided Flycatcher and a Yellow-throated Vireo. Locally rare-in-flight species such as Veery and Song Sparrow were also fun. Nothing earth shattering, but worth it. 

The Tally: 

Blue-winged Teal  1
Mourning Dove  45
Common Nighthawk  2
Chimney Swift  30
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  12
Solitary Sandpiper  1
Green Heron  2
Osprey  1
Sharp-shinned Hawk  1
Northern Harrier  5
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-headed Woodpecker  2
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  2
American Kestrel  5
Merlin  1
Olive-sided Flycatcher  1
Eastern Wood-Pewee  15
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher  15     
Traill's Flycatcher 5
Least Flycatcher  12
Great Crested Flycatcher  6
Yellow-throated Vireo  1     
Philadelphia Vireo  8     
Eastern Warbling Vireo  5
Red-eyed Vireo  90     
Blue Jay  8
Black-capped Chickadee  2
Red-breasted Nuthatch  18
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher  4
Gray Catbird  1
Veery  2
Gray-cheeked Thrush  1
Swainson's Thrush  55
American Robin  15
Cedar Waxwing  80
House Finch  2
American Goldfinch  15
Song Sparrow  1
Bobolink  12
Baltimore Oriole  5
Black-and-white Warbler  8
Tennessee Warbler  12
Nashville Warbler  8
Common Yellowthroat  4
American Redstart  100     
Cape May Warbler  140     
Northern Parula  11   
Magnolia Warbler  65     
Bay-breasted Warbler  60     
Blackburnian Warbler  3
Northern Yellow Warbler  6     
Chestnut-sided Warbler  3
Blackpoll Warbler  5
Black-throated Blue Warbler  6
Palm Warbler  3
Yellow-rumped Warbler  2
Black-throated Green Warbler  7
Wilson's Warbler  9
new world warbler sp.  400   
Scarlet Tanager  3
Rose-breasted Grosbeak  5
Indigo Bunting  3

https://ebird.org/checklist/S390429855

As noted previously, this location has unusually good photographic opportunities when the conditions are right. I keep messing with my camera settings, trying to improve my "keeper-rate", but ultimately I usually end up with a similar number of decent images. One Kiah R. Jasper suggested recent problems may be heat related distortion. Definitely something to keep an eye on in future visits.... I may regret this decision, but my next trip will likely involve a different lens... 

Hot weather is still on tap, but mercifully, we seem to be getting regular shots of north winds to let the birds pulse through. Birding is always good in the Great Lakes! More to come! 

Not having an "answer" to an interesting bird ID (2005-2025)

 

Way (way) back on March 4, 2005 - I photographed this interesting "Herring Gull" at the Glanbrook Landfill outside of Hamilton, Ontario... At the time, our American Herring Gulls were known to have dark tails. Whereas European Herring Gulls had mottled white tails with a dark band at the tip. Vega Herring Gulls were somewhere in-between. 

Surely this bird was a strong candidate for a European Herring Gull. Right? 

Interesting birds like this were discussed on the ID-Frontiers listserv at the time. Many "big wigs" of North American Gull ID were quick to chime in - that is looked excellent for European Herring Gull! The only problem was that a number of keen European gullers thought it looked whack (i.e., not like any European Herring Gull they were used to seeing). 

Unfortunately, there never really was a clear cut answer. Birders, as usual, fell into the camps of "it's clearly a yes" to "you clearly need to say no" to "we just never know sometimes!" ... Which, can be kind of frustrating. 20 years later, usually on facebook or discord, the same thing happens today. An interesting bird is posted, there is a rush of (possibly attention seeking) folk who yell out their split second thoughts, some people say "clearly yes", some people say "clearly no"... Sometimes, someone even puts a lot of thought and effort into a detailed reply. 

But nothing really happens in the end. Similar to the 2005 gull, the discussion is ultimately lost. Today, if you're not chronically online, there's a good chance you will have missed it entirely. 

After >2 decades of experiencing this happen over and over - I've had some thoughts... About what was happening, and what we could do better. 

I the simplest terms - keen birders were a bit "starved" for material (or knowledge) to consume. There was only so many journals, newsletters or field guides out there. 

The internet & digital cameras created an explosion of "content". But even into the early years of the 2010's, you could still "run out" of things to view in an evening on your computer. This blog was part of that era. Even if it was a bit "slop"y - it was still something. 

Today, the "slop" has completely taken over. We are in the era of the attention economy (have a read, it's worth it). It's bad for our health & well-being. 

So what could be done? 

We could just ignore it, and continue to let everything get sloppier and sloppier... 

Another thought - is to try to de-slop birding information. It won't be a crowd pleaser, it won't get the most likes on facebook. It won't help people sell books or tours. But it could be interesting (and valuable) if a small group of people put some effort on improving the dissemination of birding knowledge - away from social media websites that are rotting our brains. 

So how would that work? 

Take my interesting Herring Gull as an example. Since the observation, it's become clear that birds with a striking tail pattern like this, are rare but regular - particularly in the Great Lakes. 

Hamilton - Sep 25, 2011

The frequency of sightings was high enough that it seemed unlikely true vagrant European Herring Gulls were showing up in my hometown. The most logical explanation was that it represents just how variable first year American Herring Gulls likely are. A less likely explanation is that there are European-influenced Herring Gulls are nesting somewhere in North America - perhaps not unlike Lesser Black-backed Gulls - although the molt timing (advanced 1st basic molt on the bird shown above) may not support a northerly nesting population. 

This still isn't an "answer" to the identification - but how many keen birders are aware of these birds occurring in North America? 

My proposal lands here - in the age of online brain-melting (and polarizing) social media slop - the community could try to 100% reverse course. Instead of trying to add more and more material to the internet - synthesize it !!  Act as a birding encyclopedia if you will. 

Gather, summarize, and organize our knowledge into an accessible space - free of social media algorithms - and free in the monetary sense as well. Many birders will prefer to see how they "rank" on eBird, rather than take part - but at least our notable learning opportunities won't constantly be lost to the digital abyss - for the small number who are keen to learn more. Perhaps equally as important, this learning material won't require you to be chronically online to see it. 

I feel a notable rise in illusory superiority or a growing egocentric bias, in our little hobby - which is becoming a new roadblock to change... Especially when combined with a standard expectation of people who just don't like change... But more on that some other time!