SWING! and a miss..... Pelee May 25th

Winds north 35kmh - gusting over 50kmh?!?! Sun!??! May 24th?!?! Are you kitten me?!

With winds like that, the worst you could do at Pelee is something like this:

American White Pelican
Mississippi Kite


Or this:

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Glossy Ibis


Heck, a reasonable goal would be to get all of those, plus a White-winged Dove.... Or scap them all and score a White-tailed Kite... Wood Stork?! Anhingia?! Yeah, probably...


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So I cleared my schedule... Alarm set for 4:30am. Drive to Pelee half asleep. Parking lot watch. It is TIME, for a parking lot watch..  And do you know what I saw?!

Nothing that was worth spending 9 hours in the Pelee parking lot (not to mention the one-day trip drive).


Point Pelee NP--Visitor Center , Essex, CA-ON
May 24, 2013 9:00 AM - 5:45 PM
Protocol: Stationary
58 species (+1 other taxa)

Canada Goose 5
Red-breasted Merganser 15
Wild Turkey 1
Common Loon 7
Double-crested Cormorant X
Great Blue Heron 9

Turkey Vulture 35

Osprey 2
Northern Harrier 2
Cooper's Hawk 1
Bald Eagle 9 lots on the move. est min number seen
Broad-winged Hawk 14 lots on the move. est min number seen
Red-tailed Hawk 8 lots on the move. est min number seen
Sandhill Crane 2
Killdeer 1
Dunlin 60
Ring-billed Gull 5
Herring Gull X
Black Tern 9
Mourning Dove X
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Black-billed Cuckoo 2
Chimney Swift 22
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Willow Flycatcher 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 2
Eastern Kingbird 6
Warbling Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 1
Horned Lark 1
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2
Purple Martin 16
Tree Swallow 50
Bank Swallow 30
Barn Swallow 250
Cliff Swallow 25
House Wren 2
Carolina Wren 1
American Robin X
Gray Catbird 1
European Starling 1
Cedar Waxwing 80
Common Yellowthroat 2
American Redstart 1
Yellow Warbler X
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Eastern Towhee 1
Chipping Sparrow 3
Northern Cardinal 2
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 2
Indigo Bunting 1
Red-winged Blackbird X
Common Grackle X
Brown-headed Cowbird X
Orchard Oriole 3
Baltimore Oriole 9
House Finch 1
American Goldfinch X

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Wurdemann's Heron? I picked out a GBHE with a white belly, white undertail coverts and a rather white head (with a pale bill)... Here's a photo:

I have 4 of the bird, and they all look pretty similar... 

It was easily picked out by the white belly through the bins (it was up pretty high)... Has a large pale bill, a mostly white head, white belly and white undertail coverts (plus some white on the breast)... Probably not, but it caught my eye... 

It could probably look a LOT better, but doesn't look all that terrible for Wurdemann's... I did a little photo research quickly when I got home:

Photos labeled as Wurdemann's online:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trykemom/274572214/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35303070@N02/4013777973/

Anyways, I'm not going to worry about this one.. 

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Cool birds from the day:

7 Loons seemed high... (some full adults)

2 Osprey

1 of the Harriers was an ad. male

1 Broad-wing was an adult

2 flocks of Dunlin - 48 and 12

Horned Lark - landed in the parking lot

I checked the tip, and saw nothing.. I was fairly bummed out to not see much on my VC watch so I didn't check anywhere else and went home!

The good news: I woulda went crazy if I WASN'T there, wondering what was flying over.. At least I know now..