Pelee Birdz! May 16th.........

Large Mouth! 

Another day, another dollar (or no dollars).... Started at the tip early, as per usual – mostly with Dave Bell and Barb Charlton among the masses. Birds still migrating overnight, and there has still not been a single day with a large drop of Warblers into the woods. Overall, rather enjoyable though...

Winds were very light to calm... A small loon flying past (I heard some calls of Red-throated) was a very good looking PACIFIC LOON in juv/basic plumage just past the point (going west) – until it turned NW when it rounded the point. My 6^th self found PALO in the last 10 years... Pretty awesome! Although at the same time, I’d happily trade one in for some new “self found species” – but what can you do?? (just enjoy it!)

Peter Burke then picked out an adult Laughing Gull sitting on the tip in front of the 40+ people standing around chatting. Nice looks! My Dad also found a Whip-poor-will near the Sparrow Field that several of us checked out. Very cool.

The tip was pretty slow – so we left early and worked the woods in the north end of the park. A singing male Cerulean put on a show for our party. Just as the team was ready to split up, word came of a Yellow-throated Warbler not far from our location!!! We walked up the road and enjoyed great views at the far N end of the Blue Heron trail...Woot!

Both pics of THEE birds... 

Dave Bell and I had a bit of a friendly warbler competition underway for most of the spring.... When I twitched the Worm-eating a few days ago, I pulled ahead of our 35-35 tie.... (36 to 35).. Then he and Barb responded when he got 36 with their self-found Kirtlands!! But thankfully I managed my 37^th species of the year in Ontario (and Pelee) when I twitched the Kirtland’s about 90mins after they found it...

So anyways – the only thing I had left on D.B. was Yellow-throated, until this bird put on a show – locking us into a 37-37 species tie for 2013. Dave is off to work now, and I’m not 100% sure exactly how many more days of birding I’ll manage in May 2013 – but it was really fun overall (and a great year for Warbler species counts!)

Female Blue-winged Warb in flight from a few days ago.. I feel pretty good to tie that guy on warbler numbers - given that he makes ID's on birds like this one in flight on cloudy days (and nails it)!

Anyways, I went back at mid-day to get a break from the heat --- and ended up napping for several hours --- putting an end to my birding day early. Which was fine by me! Let’s see what tomorrow brings.