IT happens at Point Pelee

March may be a slow time for birding, but after a slow winter it sure feels good to go to Pelee and see migrants. I had to work in the area March 21st (first full day of spring, and my first full day of being 24), so I spared some hours early in the morning to poke around the park. It's amazing how they're 10 days ahead of the Hamilton area in terms of migration. Some birds:

All 3 Scoter species
12 migrant Double-crested Cormorants
1 Great Egret of all things
1 migrant Merlin (flew in off the lake at the tip)
1 American Woodcock
3 Thayer's Gulls
2 Iceland Gulls
2 Glaucous Gulls (cold weather birds find me, even on the nice days)
3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
1 migrant Northern Flicker
9+ Eastern Phoebes
25+ Tree Swallows
1 migrant Hermit Thrush (on the sand at the tip)
1 migrant Field Sparrow (very bright)
8+ Fox Sparrows (migrants)
and a very cooperative Rusty Blackbird at the tip! (photos)


Nothing like a Mountain Bluebird, but a very nice selection of migrants. A nice day too, considering the cold and scary weather forecasted for the next few days. I ended up around 80 species for the day.

Some visions of Pelee:

Thayer's Gull

Sand Phoebe and Sand Hermit.. Oh migration

Rusty Blackbird

Great Egret at Hillman Marsh. Sure feels silly to think I saw these birds less than 48 hours ago, now that we have 20cm of snow here in Guelph!