Ken and I birded the tip briefly, then decided to do a mega-hike along the east beach.. We parked 2 Concessions north of the park (at the start of the road for Marentette Beach), and parked another car at the Visitors Centre.. Probably about 9km of walking when it was all said and done... Birding was fantastic, although we couldn't produce the mega...
eBird time! ---->
Point Pelee NP--NE Beach & Marshes, Essex, CA-ON
Oct 6, 2012 8:30 AM - 2:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
25.0 kilometer(s)
Comments: Went to the tip first thing, then walked from Marentette Beach south along the east beach to the VC in the park. Activity was pretty good, particularly in the north 2/3 of the park.
67 species
Canada Goose 75
Wood Duck 2
Double-crested Cormorant 2500
Great Blue Heron 10
Turkey Vulture 45
Northern Harrier 10
Sharp-shinned Hawk 35
Red-tailed Hawk 2
Sora 1-- Flushed from the grasses along the beach!
Black-bellied Plover 1
Killdeer 45
Sanderling 5
Bonaparte's Gull X
Ring-billed Gull X
Herring Gull X
Herring Gull (Vega) 1 -- Continuing bird from previous days. Seen well first thing at the tip.
Great Black-backed Gull X
Mourning Dove 2
Belted Kingfisher 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 1
Northern Flicker 8
American Kestrel 1
Merlin 1
Peregrine Falcon 4 -- Good numbers this weekend
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1
Eastern Phoebe 2
Blue Jay 120
American Crow X
Horned Lark X
Purple Martin 1 -- Female-type seen well.
Tree Swallow 650 -- Large numbers taking shelter along the east beach
Barn Swallow 4
Barn Swallow 4
Red-breasted Nuthatch 4
Brown Creeper 10
House Wren 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 20
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 3
Eastern Bluebird 1
Hermit Thrush 1
American Robin 5
Gray Catbird 1
European Starling X
Nashville Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Cape May Warbler 2 1 -- drab female and a rather bright male
Blackpoll Warbler 32 -- Good numbers for the date
Palm Warbler 85
Pine Warbler 2 2 females
Yellow-rumped Warbler 665 -- Large numbers present everywhere!
Chipping Sparrow 10
Clay-colored Sparrow 1 -- Adult seen well.
Song Sparrow 5
Lincoln's Sparrow 1
Swamp Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 30
White-crowned Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco 2
Northern Cardinal 2
Red-winged Blackbird X
Rusty Blackbird 2
Common Grackle X
Brown-headed Cowbird X
Purple Finch 5
House Finch X
Pine Siskin 60
American Goldfinch 10
House Sparrow X
Some record pics
PIWA
No mega's yet for 50 days of rare, but I feel like I'm starting to get in the groove!
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Burrowing Owl in IL on Lake Mich (Chi) -
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The 7 day rarity outlook:
Could be some vagrants still from this last system, but it didn't produce all that much...
Today (auto post to Tuesday) - SW winds = Port Burwell/Stanley for me
Wed: W winds... Maybe I'll try the Niagara River and Fort Erie
Thursday: More SW winds! not sure what I'll do.. Maybe just something local.. Confederation Park?
Friday: north winds! If I have my work done for the week, maybe I'll take the day to do some serious hawkwatching...
Saturday: transition day? Dunno... too far to plan.. unless:
Sunday: the models are starting to lock onto a well formed low pressure system travelling through the Great Lakes next Sunday and Monday (rather rapidly)... 50+ kmh S winds leading into it.... Looks pretty fun for mid October...
Very much something I'm going to keep an eye on.. Although at 6-7 days out, things change... Case in point is the "north winds on James Bay" that were appearing in the forecast but never materialized as the storms passed... Hopefully its not another year of "bust" systems for southern James Bay - or maybe it just means things will start to switch for late Oct and November up there... But for now, there is nothing inspirational in the 16 day forecast by the GFS... No worries though, if we start getting mega's here in the south!
looks like lake superior 'area' might have something good, nudge nudge
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