May 31st --- power down

Time to get back to the real world... Working again, and going to do some of my own work on the site.....

To start, Red-necked Phalarope behind the Shoeless Joes in Leamington... No idea what these birds were doing there, but they were unbelievably cooperative.

The photos I'll be working on will also be added to the proper pages:

http://peregrineprints.com/zz_RENP.htm

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Still rare birds to be found, but most of us are 100% content after another spring migration. (I know I am)... Just remember what it was like 6 weeks ago in Mid April, dying for the chance to be out to see the first migrant warblers??

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This day in Ontario Birding:

Brown Pelican found at Port Dover - 1994. Then spends several weeks wandering around lake erie. 

Rarity photos from the spring and forever!

I've been wanting to get my rarity photos back online for a while now (they don't really sell, but they're fun)... And decided to use flickr as a venue...

So yeah... Pretty much all the main highlights from before, just not laid out the same. Check out the link here:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhbirds/

Fish Crow - This spring at Point Pelee... Possibly the first FICR photo ever taken in Ontario??? Not much of a looker though......

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If you have any comments or suggestions about this new idea, I'd love to hear it !! Not that I'll do it (as Jenn and my parents know).. but I still do like to hear it     :)

worthy of it's own post

 Go here:

http://www.pbase.com/lightrae/naturenb


and scroll down to the bottom ~10 images on that page, to check out photos of a mega-fallout on michias seal island


Impressive!

the real Gray Fox photo

Click for a larger view, but possibly my highlight photo from the spring. Taken at ISO 5000 in some pretty dark morning conditions. Never thought I'd photograph one of these beasts in the province!

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Hillman Marsh! Now 100% connected to lake erie.

Not much magic to report from the point this morning! Back to the real world for me.

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tonights radar map

apparently I can't post png. files from my phone... A really fast post. Really really huge numbers of birds moving towards lake Erie, and advancing thunderstorms as of 10:30pm... These predictions aren't really reliable, but it sure looks like it could be a good morning at Point Pelee!

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Watching the birds take off while at Hillman Marsh. The shorebird cell was actually good this evening!!!

1 Whimbrel
1 Stilt Sandpiper
1 red-necked phalarope
2 wilsons pharlies
2 White-rumped sands

Not too shabby. Picked up about 3 nighthawks while watching too.

A virginia rail (still calling now) is my 260th bird of the year for the province.. Here's hoping for a few more tomorrow!


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Pelee May 22 - am report

These odd days continue at Pelee... Odd because they're good (without huge numbers of birds), but now also odd in the species...

Again today:

Summer Tanager - 1 - 1st year male that hung out and flew off the tip several times

Dickcissel - 1.. maybe 2... flying off the tip

Thayer's Gull - 1 juv bird at the tip

Prothonotary Warbler - sang once on the WNT

Hooded Warbler - 1 near white pines (singing)

Notice anything similar? PROW, SUTA again? Today's bird was my 8th "self found" Summer Tanager of the year (eg,/ not chasing). What the heck is going on?

White-rumped Sandpiper is my only new bird of the year... Bringing it to 257 for Ontario! My highest to-date list by far I think (not that I would have any way of checking)... 

IMG00999-20110521-0820.jpg

One of those fun and unusual mornings at the tip. Final Tanager tally was 2 Summer's, 1 Scarlet and 1 Western --- a female Ken Burell and I independently identified in flight... Steady reverse migration on calm as glass water. 2 Little Gulls as well!

Ken also picked out a singing Prothonotary Warb at the tip... Not a whole lot of birds, but it seems like rarities can really turn up on these warm calm nights.

A few more days left of pelee magic before some real work... High hopes for tomorrow.. Like always, but hopefully some rain overnight!


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Today's fog at Pelee. Note how few leaves on the big trees!!! Is the leaf-out late? Or is it just a bunch of dead ash trees?

Beautiful time to be in the park. Tons of birds and way less people. Already found a female Summer Tanager this morning. My 5th "self found" SUTA this year !


Yesterday was a bit birdier! Had 24 warbler species by 10am, then nothin new. Found Prothonotary, Hooded, 2 White-eyed Vireos, Olive-sided fly, Grasshopper sparrow etc. Nothin super rare but a very enjoyable day.

We're hopeful for hawks today, but it's less that stellar right now.


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Look! Blue Sky!

Suddenly its HOT with no wind.. How does this happen!?


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Dad and I walking the wind-ravaged east beach yesterday.. Don't ask why


--- some odd news from Hillman marsh as we watched them breach the dyke separating the marsh from the lake... Water levels were amazingly high, so I guess they were saving homes/roads from flooding. I really hope it drains right out and we have mega shorebirding for the next 10 days!!!

Birding was fun as ever in the park. Picked up 2 year birds in Nighthawk and Red-necked Phalarope.. That is all...


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Fish Crow picture from a few days ago... You can tell, right?

Lots of wet warblers at pelee again this morning... Trying to dry out with excessive preening.

Had one of those strange moments yesterday where I coulda swore I had a distant brown pelican at extreme NE hillman marsh fly towards the lake and behind the trees. After 2 hours of frantic searching turned up no pelican, you could be pretty sure I'm 99.9% crazy... But it was kinda fun none-the-less


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It was one of those days at Point Pelee. After fighting our way through the pewee's and scarlet tanagers (see pic) we couldn't help but find a pair of great birds (a triple-list addition for me.. Ontario List, Self-found list and photographed list) --- in the form of two noisy FISH CROWS just before 3pm.. Mega excitement!!

Some random sightings from the day:

Hooded Warb - found just after the crows.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo - several, but a really sad event watching one fly out over the lake at the tip, then get mashed by the dozens of playful gulls.

Thayer's and Glaucous gulls in the morning (checked flooded fields during the early morning rain)

Connecticut Warbler - the first female of my life flushed late in the day. Was a bit confused at first, as it was a new plumage and came out of the grass.


--- actually, most birds were in the grass today, a lot of which were clinging to life after foolishly trying to cross the lake last night. Sad, yet spectacular looks at warblers and other migrants crawling along the ground.

So yeah! The birds keep moving through and there are rarities to be found. Time for some ever-lacking sleep...

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Very cold birds at Pelee today. Stand still for a while and the pewees will find you.. Kinda sad actually, but good looks at Acadian Flycatchers too.


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Ken Burrell at the tip of fish point, counting reverse migrants!


Posting has been lacking, but these mobile posts haven't been working very well anyways! (See: Gray Fox)

On the boat back to the mainland from pelee island following several more days of darn good birding. It's a totally different ball game out here. Two days ago we arrived at Lighthouse Point with no indication of the birdlife, and left having seen Hooded, Mourning(3), Prothonotary(migrant) and paralysing looks at a Connecticut Warbler walking along the path (and eventually across it) not 25 feet in front of us. 1000 times better looks than I had ever had before.

Just a small sample of what's possible in the pelee island/park area. Not to mention the adult Parasitic Jaeger my dad had fly past our cottage last night!!!

Or the dickcissel and summer tanager we had at the last good reverse migration at fish point...

And yeah! Now trying our luck at the national park for a few days!


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No blog?

Apparently none of my blog postings have worked for a few days, so things are looking bad..

All I can say for now is that the rarity switch moved to the "ON" position overnight, and the time to look is now!


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Super exciting lifer of the day!! Gray Fox!!!

Lots of birds too, but it would take a good rarity to compete with this sighting!

I'll have to post some real photos once I have internet, but I wanted to share early..


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Fw: Fwd: [Ontbirds] Pelee Island May 10th - Massive reverse migration!

Some of Ken's figures to give an example of the "river of warblers" we experienced at the tip of fish point this morning..

Unbelievable!


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-----Original Message-----
From: Holden Family <holden.ontbirds@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 20:42:03
To: <peregrine13@gmail.com>
Subject: Fwd: [Ontbirds] Pelee Island May 10th - Massive reverse migration!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: peleeisland museum <pimuseum@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 21:30:15 -0300
Subject: [Ontbirds] Pelee Island May 10th - Massive reverse migration!
To: Ontbirds <birdalert@ontbirds.ca>, The Burrell's
<burrellsc@golden.net>, Ron Tiessen <curator@peleeislandmuseum.ca>


Hey Birders,

Well today was a spectacular day! Impressive numbers of birds, with
great diversity (150+ species, including at least 27 species of
warblers) were present throughout the island. There was a huge reverse
migration off of Fish Point this morning that lasted until about 10:30
am. Details on that at the bottom of the message.

Highlights today:

Kirtland's Warbler - a young male that was seen by a lucky few at the
tip of Fish Point at 8:55 before flying out over the lake. The same
or another young male Kirtland's Warbler appeared again at the tip at
9:35 before it flew out over the lake as well (or again)!

Prothonotary Warbler - at least 1 male singing in the sloughs along
with 1 male which flew south off Fish Point
Acadian Flycatcher - 1 bird on Henderson Road, north of Brown's Road
Clay-colored Sparrow - 1 bird on Henderson Road
Summer Tanager - 1 bird flew south off of Fish Point.
Blue-winged Warbler - 1 male at the municipal dump
Mourning Warbler - 1 female at Fish Point
Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow - 1 at the Winery and 1 at Fish Point
Lesser Black-backed Gull - 2 first-year birds at Fish Point
Northern Mockingbird - 1 bird at Fish Point

As for the reverse migration, besides the aforementioned Kirtland's
Warbler, Prothonotary Warbler, and Summer Tanager 5,811 other birds
were tallied including:

2516 unidentified warblers
85 Eastern Kingbirds
4 Yellow-throated Vireos
13 Northern Parulas
407 Nashville Warblers
67 Yellow Warblers
104 Magnolia Warblers
54 Chestnut-sided Warblers
292 Yellow-rumped Warblers
253 Palm Warblers
45 American Redstarts
27 Blackburnian Warblers
24 Black-throated Blue Warblers
31 Black-throated Green Warblers
35 Scarlet Tanagers
304 Baltimore Orioles
87 Bobolinks

Observers left Fish Point this morning having seen over 20 warbler
species (without moving)!

Several firsts of the year were seen today, including; Philadelphia
Vireo, Wilson's and Canada Warblers and Black Tern. Shorebirds
continue to trickle in with Semipalmated and Black-bellied Plovers,
Short-billed Dowitcher, Ruddy Turnstone and Dunlin starting to appear.

Total number of species on the Island since April 25: 215

Good Birding,
Ken Burrell

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pelee Island Heritage Centre West Dock, Pelee Island, Ontario, N0R 1M0
(519) 724-2291 "pimuseum" <pimuseum at hotmail.com> The Heritage
Centre is open from 10 am - 5 pm daily. The foyer contains a
'sightings board' listing May bird sightings (open 24 hours).
Lighthouse Point is on the NE corner of the island, Sheridan Point on
the NW corner, Mill Point on the SE corner, and Fish Point on the SW
corner, due south of the West Dock.

Pelee Island Bird Observatory (PIBO) continues its daily banding and
censusoperation. Visitors are welcome. For more information about PIBO
please visit: www.pibo.ca or call 519-724-2829.

Pelee Island can be reached by ferry leaving Leamington several times
daily. For times and reservations, call 1-800-661-2220.

The Ninth Annual Pelee Island Bird Race will take place from noon
Friday, May 6, to noon, Saturday, May 7. The Springsong Celebration
continues Saturday evening with a 'Talk and Dinner'.
The Bird Race is 'All-Green,' i.e. bicycle or pedestrian travel. All
teams welcome! Contact the Heritage Centre for details.

_______________________________________________
ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the
provincial birding organization.
Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca
For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/

Reverse at Pelee Island

Quick update: epic reverse migration at Fish Point this morning, with Dad, Jenn and team Burrell. Thousands of Warblers, highlighted by 1 (possibly 2?) KIRTLANDS warblers taking part in the reverse fun. Seperated by maybe 90 mins, and both "sightings" had the birds fly way out over the lake (both were also first alternate males)...

I'd like to believe they were different birds, but the more conservative (and more realistic?) observers in the party stuck with a count of 1!

Either way, the steady stream of birds was out of this world! Hopefully Ken will have more info about the massive numbers in his evening ontbirds post!

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Fox Snake, Garter Snake (+ melanistic), Brown Snake, L. Erie Watersnake, Blandings Turtle, Painted Turtle, Snapping Turtle and the added photo, my lifer Smallmouth Salamander!

Not bad at all, nevermind the birds. On Pelee Island, where there is decidedly no fallout, but there is stiill lots to see (Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Cerulean Warbler being very very cooperative by the time I finished writing this!!)


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Fox Snake at DeLaurier, Pelee. My reptile list is doing pretty well. (Maybe better than my bird list).

We found a Chat and saw the Prothonotary this morning, but little else. Thank god it's a really nice day today... Bang or bust here, and todays the bust.


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Kirtlands warbler on Tildens at Pelee.. Sounds like people have well documented its travels around the park today..

My 4th Kirtlands in the last 365 days that I "twitched" at Pelee, late in the afternoon, just after I finished working..

I'll take it!

Sorry for the bad photo, but impressive when you know that I took it with my phone? Maybe??



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Magee Marsh - Ohio

Have yet to make it to Pelee, but I'm on my way... Reading Ohio-birds, and it sounds like there has been a pretty solid drop (fallout?) Of migrants there this morning... One report suggested upwards of 30 warbler species had already been seen there by 8am!!!

It doesn't sound like the numbers have translated into Ontario today, but word from the National Park has been pretty slim so far! So who knows what's happening... Maybe we'll get an echo-flight tomorrow of leftovers from Ohio?





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It's a presence I've not felt since...

Maybe last summer? I don't really remember... But my rarity-romp around Pelee Island a few days ago has since turned into my first poison ivy of the year...

My old arch nemesis has the ability to terrorise me at every turn this time of year, yet seems to affect virtually none of my birding comrades. A few itchy spots started to appear on my drive home monday (on my hands), which is always scary. Sometimes they go away soon afterwards with little fanfare, and sometimes they continue to build and blister for weeks; leaving me (at times) practically incapacitated.

The next morning brought a brand new poison ivy scare for me --- a few tiny red bumps forming in the corner of my left eye!!! I've had it in a number of places over the years, but the eyes were new. What if it built up into blisters? Did I mess up my spring birding a few days into May?

Well thankfully I'm now 3 days removed from the island, and there has been little else forming. The eye barely looks different, and I spent last night in my hotel room (work) washing all of my gear from last weekend. Nothing like making a mess somewhere you don't live!

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After the skies were terrorised by fast-moving super-storms for most of April, the last few days have blocked everything from moving, and we've been stuck in a lull.

Yes, it's migration, so there's still a healthy dose of rare/uncommon warblers and other birds being seen at the migrant traps, but there hasn't been any additional help from the weather. (See weather help for rarities: Apr 24-Apr 28. Finds of Neotropic Corm, Glossy Ibis, Yellow-T Warb, Eared Grebe, Summer Tanager and Laughing Gull)

Things look to be slowly moving again, and tonight (thursday) could bring some overnight rain to drop a new patch of birds.. The forecast seems a bit uncertain right now, but sometime between now and tuesday looks like a system or two will pass by.. After that, we're really getting into prime time!!! Which I can hardly wait for.. Reasonably warm temps most days should keep migration truckin along, and the rarities will be out there to find!

I'm not 100% sure yet, but I'll possibly be in the Point Pelee area for Friday and Saturday, then onto Pelee Island again on Sunday! (For a week) with the 3 people I enjoy spending my time with the most in this world! (Mom, Dad and Jennifer)

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Ever wonder why there's no tip at point Pelee? It's all piled up at Wheatley Harbour... Maybe they should put it on the other side of the harbour mouth for once, so it doesn't wash back in during the next storm...

Back on the mainland (as some astute readers will already have noticed).. Already picked up a year bird with 5 Ruddy Turnstones at Leamington Beach


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Daily update

Clearly a movement of birds overnight, with 22 Warbler species seen by myself (and Ken Burrell, with varying times with Mike Burrell and Alvan Buckley):

Golden-winged Warbler (2 superb males)
Tennessee

Orange-crowned
Nashville

Parula
Yellow
Chestnut-sided
Magnolia
Cape May
Black-throated Blue
Yellow-rump
Black-throated Green
Blackburnian

Pine
Palm
Bay-breasted
Black-and-white

Redstart
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Yellowthroat
Hooded

We probably could have hit a higher total with less rain and more energy, and maybe even a bit of luck --- since we had at least 2 of every species on this list (excluding the Hooded)...

Lots of year birds for me like Lincoln's Sparrow, Least/Great Crested Fly's, Veery etc to keep it exciting. Lots of other "fun" migrants like numerous Purple Finch and Pine Siskin. 

I can't think of too many other highlights right now... Today was more of a diversity day than rarities... At lest 3 Merlins, another Lesser Black-backed Gull, another Nelson's Gull, the expected shorebirds.... Final tally was  135 species, without trying for anything! (eg,/ missed Kestrel)

Not many photos with the poor weather (ok, none)... Leaving the island tomorrow at 6pm, so that'll be the last of the Island postings for a few days.. After multiple days of birding here in April, May the 1st brought 12 new species for my "year list"... All part of the migration fun! (Year list is 220 for Ontario, thus far).

Warbler day

11:13am and we've just hit our 20th warbler species of the day...
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