recent - Acadian Flycatcher - photoshoot

http://peregrineprints.com/zz_ACFL.htm

From a few days ago along the east beach of Point Pelee - a truly stunning Acadian Flycatcher (stunning in the empid-sense) - that posed for photos.

My favourite

As blog readers know, Acadian's have gone nuts at Pelee this spring so far. I was really happy to seal the deal on this "invasion" with a very large/bright individual that posed at point-blank range for photos. 

This provides a day of filler (as I was home yesterday - Tuesday) - but by the time this auto-posts on Wednesday morning, I seriously hope all heck is breaking loose down at Pelee! Tomorrow's post will update the happenings. 

Birding ALERT! - Wednesday, Thursday, Friday

I'm taking two days (Monday-Tuesday) off of Pelee birding... Here's the forecast for the rest of the week:

Monday GFS model run for WEDNESDAY at 8am... This is just one run of one model, but paints a good picture of what to expect. WARM SOUTHERLY FLOW is licking at Ontario. It won't be there (yet) for Wednesday, but the winds aloft should be very good. 

I have VERY high hopes for a LARGE DROP of migrants at places like Point Pelee/Rondeau/Long Point. Winds will be cool out of the east, but it could be SUPERB for numbers...

The only thing that could mess it up is the RAIN - if it's too solid to our south, it will block birds. I don't think it will be, but there's still a chance Wednesday will be slow before things go really nutty...

If you want to be ready to see a show - I'd suggest being there Wednesday though! Just remember it's not a sure fire thing, but high risk = the chance for high reward. This will be a great day for rares.

WOW!!!!!!!!

GFS sample run for Thursday at 8am... WOW! A sub 1000mb low bringing HOT air from the GULF - along with steady/gentle south winds...

This will be a HUGE night for migration... Massive. Those who have been birding for days at Pelee won't even recognize the woods come dawn. I fully expect a massive influx (the "next wave") of birds to completely invade southern Ontario. Many may arrive the day before, but this will be the day where 100 people post on ontbirds about their first Orioles and Indigo's at their backyard feeders. Birders at Pelee will enjoy a wonderful reverse migration (I hope!) followed by an easy day of getting 25-ish warbler species.

It looks SO GOOD - the weather isn't terribly unusual, but it will hit on May 8th. It doesn't get ANY better for timing. 

Boom! 

GFS sample run for Friday at 8am. The FUN continues! As far as I'm concerned, this will be the *best* day for finding a mega-rare. Although the weather looks soo good for weds/thurs - you could easily find the mega of your life before Friday. None-the-less, the closer the jet stream comes to us, the odds of finding rares go up. Winds will increase and we'll get one last day with a superb migration and the type of birding that we all crave. 

These three days will "super charge" the province, and I expect a wave of excellent "finds" on the weekend as well, but there's no chance in heck I'm missing weds-friday. 

Longer-range things are looking fun for May 11-17th too, but I haven't looked in any detail. I can't get beyond the forecast for this week! There's still 25 percent ice cover on the great lakes as well! Nuts!

Pelee May 4th - WANTED:

Have you seen these birds? They are wanted at Point Pelee - May 2014!

Things were pretty slow again...

Everyone was highly entertained by 2 Henslow's Sparrows (that I didn't see) - as well as some great birds at the tip in the morning including Cerulean (I missed) and Hooded Warblers (that I saw!). My FOY bird was Chestnut-sided Warbler (2!) - and I ended a very casual day of birding with 13 warbler species. 

It should be of no shock that I had another Acadian Flycatcher! My 8th of the spring. It was a lovely day for me, but not one filled with intense blog-style birding. I'll have a blog post online tomorrow about the upcoming weather detailing when the insane bird-blogging will resume...

An acadian flycatcher from a few days ago - doing its best dinosaur impression

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For a little extra filler, 3 photos from the true "eash beach" of Point Pelee. A few days ago I walked form the extreme NE corner of the park, all the way to the tip (10+km of sand walking)... Access is tough out there, but the habitat sure looks cool. A few snaps - 

I even saw a few beaver lodges out there! 

Weather alert goes out tomorrow... You may want to skip work on Wednesday/Thursday (if you can) !

Pelee May 3rd~ - It's startin to get slow....

Things are slowin down! Which is fine with me. Wednesday is going to blow the roof off this place! Monday/Tuesday may be entertaining as well, but Weds-Friday looks NUTS!

Several of these today... 

FOY today -

Magnolia Warbler
Ovenbird (2!)
Eastern Wood-Pewee


Other notables -

Willet - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1


Black-and-whites, Nashvilles, Yellows etc are around in ok numbers, but things are slowing down. I don't expect Sunday to be very good... But you never know. One bird can make a day!

Peregrine!!!

I think there were some other birds, but I need to go to sleep! zzz... Rest up! 

Pelee May 2nd!!! Birds!!! - and next weeks weather still looks amazing!

FOY birds today - (ain't migration great?)

Ruddy Turnstone
Gray Catbird
Marsh Wren
Ring-necked Pheasant (what?)

Bay-breasted Warbler

Things started off with a bang when I had 11 Willets and 1 Ruddy Turnstone at Wheatley Harbour! Boom! See below -

Hillman Marsh was my next destination... A Gray Catbird was running around the laneway - boom! Migrant! .. The shorebird cell was pretty slow generally speaking, with nothing aside from the same ducks/shorebirds/gulls/terns that have been present nearly every day. I think shorebirds are getting grounded with these cool W/SW winds, but they seem to arrive more throughout the day at places like Hillman... Walking out I had my FOY Marsh Wren calling!

One cool cat this morning...

I then did the crazy - I walked from outside of the park to the visitor's centre along the east beach! I love doin that, even though it is often pretty slow. I had a lot of fun though! The notable birds - 

Bay-breasted Warbler - FOY!

Black-crowned Night-Heron
Osprey/Harrier/Kestrel
3 American Tree Sparrows  (late? no?)

Thee bay

and...

and.... 

ACADIAN FLYCATCHER! What a great bird for early may, no? 

what. theheck. 

As per past visits along the east beach, I had some notable dead birds as well. The rundown -

Glaucous Gull
Red-necked Grebe
Redhead
Common Goldeneye
3 Long-tailed Ducks

4 Ring-billed Gulls
Tundra Swan
~20 Red-breasted Mergansers

Maybe some more as well.. I kinda forget... 

RN Grebe

Glauc

I met up with my Dad and we went back to photograph the Acadian with my "good" camera gear... I managed a few that I'm pretty happy with... They'll appear sometime in the future as a photoshoot!

We then walked to the tip... Largely because I wanted to say I walked from one end of the park to the other in a day! The tip was pretty slow overall, but a lone Willet was nice - 

Great looks, really.... 

Beyond that, I was ready to crash. Things are still pretty slow, although there is enough to keep one entertained. I saw the 10+ Willets in a field north of Hillman and checked Wheatley Harbour one last time. Going to get a good nights sleep for the excitement tomorrow (today!)... 

I think tmrw (today) - Saturday - will be pretty good... This is pre-written, so I can't check the night-time radar, but I typically check in each night and morning to see what's moving. If it lights up overnight, I hope we'll get a solid blast of new birds awaiting us at the tip. 

If not - things may slow down again for a few days. Wednesday may be pretty good. Thursday looks like it will be BANANAS!!!!!!!!! Watch this space, but I'm pretty confident that is when the dam will BURST!!!

Pelee Birds! - May 1st! - + May Migration Forecast!!! Alert for NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!!

Peleeeee! Does it ever stop?!  - I actually took a half day today... Things are fun out here, and there are still birds - but I needed a mental break to get some chores done ;) !!!

The highlights -

Marbled Godwit (Hillman)
Clay-coloured Sparrow
Hooded Warbler

and... wait for it... wait for it...

ACADIAN FLYCATCHER

Imagine that?! - My 7th of the year so far... Totally different place once again...

After photo'ing the past ACFL's at a distance and in horrible light, this beauty was super close and in SUNLIGHT - DAMN - what a nice bird.. Maybe my best looks ever at the species. 

My FOY birds - 

Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Red-headed Woodpecker

FOY!!!

I ended up with 7-8 species of Warblers, but I also only checked for a few hours. I stopped at Hillman as well early in the morning. There was a noticeable change in migrants again today, even though the migration seemed light overall. I found that there was an increase in Yellow Warblers, Yellowthroats, Least Flycatchers etc 

Things may be similar over the next few days - light nocturnal migrations - although I think the cooler winds hold up the larger birds (eg,/ Black-bellied Plovers) - which were grounded in a few spots around Pelee today... 

Other "birds of the day" 

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MIGRATION FORECAST - 

NEXT WEEK! It's hitting the FAN - NEXT WEEEEK! 

Forecast for Thursday 

Forecast for Wednesday 

I'm seeing WARM southerly flow moving into the Pelee area mid next week... Also the potential for severe weather and a strong jet... 

That means RARES - and MIGRANTS - GALORE!!!!!

Watch this space for updates... And start testing the waters about getting a few days off next week! I'm guessing Thursday will be the day, but these things change sometimes (a day before/after is a common shift)... Overall though I think it's going down ! !!!

Very exciting times. Very exciting indeed... 

These BH Vireo's are always eating something strange... 

Pelee again!!! - April 30th

Another day, more birds! My highlights -

ACADIAN FLYCATCHERS - 3

What the heck is happening? I've now seen 6 different Acadian Flycatchers at Pelee this spring (APRIL!)

First bird photographed above (3 images) - if it's NOT an Acadian, I'd be darn interested in hearing what it is exactly... 

(Two above photos) - Acadian #3 on the day. Taken in horrible light with my point and shoot, so the colours are gone - but you can see the eyering and long primaries. 

Other highlights -

1 Hooded Warbler
2 Clay-coloured Sparrows
4 Willets
1 more Groundhog! (onion fields)

(My/other) FOY -

Lincoln's Sparrows
Wood Thrushes
Blackburnian Warbler
Orchard Oriole
Sanderling
Least Flycatchers

(at least, those are the ones I remember)

FOY! Ended the day with 11 Warbler species. 

Overall it was a fun day. Once again I didn't see the "rarities" really (Longspurs, Wester/Eared Grebes, etc) although not looking for them was a serious reason why... I've got the itch for some woodland rarities!! Too bad they're so hard to find. I'll just have to keep looking! There was an obvious impulse of migrants, with species like Nashville Warblers becoming common among the Yellow-rumps. Lots of fun! Sunny in the morning, but turned cloudy and cool in the afternoon.

The Willets were nice - Wheatley Harbour this afternoon -

Classic Westerns. No Eastern record for the province!

I've got my hopes up for some more migrants tomorrow. Things may slow down for the weekend (sorry all) - but mid next week may be the next blast of southerly winds (eg,/ insane migration + insane vagrant weather) - we should get new birds almost daily given the fact that it's MAY!!!

Had great looks at all Swallows/Swifts today in the cool weather! 

More birds!