Awesome Weather and Birding

The weather has been great the last two days. Yesterday I got down to Rondeau later in the morning in hopes of finding some migrants. The place was unbelievably dead for birds! The only noteworthy bird was a male Baltimore Oriole at the corner of south point trail and Rondeau Rd. That was new for the year and probably the earliest I have ever seen the species.

Pileated Woodpecker at Rondeau

Contrastingly, there was a major fallout at Point Pelee. There was a rain shower just before dawn that made the difference. Apparently there were upwards of 15 species of warblers-- hundreds of them along with vireos, thrushes, orioles, and sparrows.

One of many Black-throated Green Warblers at Point Pelee

With that in mind, I headed down to Pelee this morning (Saturday). I planned on going there anyway, so it was a good choice. It turned out to be an awesome day!

I spent the day birding with Steve Pike. We got the 8 a.m. tram to the Tip. A number of warblers and vireos were near the Tip. Most interesting was a Brewster's Warbler. There was also White-eyed, Red-eyed and Blue-headed Vireos. While we were separated, Steve saw a Grasshopper Sparrow near the solar panel area.

We then tried for Henslow's Sparrow part way up West Beach Trail, but to no avail. We spent a lot of time around Sparrow Field and loop woods finding lots of things. At one point we looked out onto East Beach and saw two Willets! At the north end of Sparrow Field were some Pine Siskins.

Down the old Concession Road, we spotted a Short-tailed Weasel running around. It caught a mouse and went into its burrow. It later came out and started running around again. Steve got some fabulous photos of it! I only got a couple of shots.

Short-tailed Weasel!

We walked back the road, and did the Woodland Trail.
Next stop was De Laurier and down Anders and back the road. There were lots of birds along the way. At De Laurier I spotted a male Indigo Bunting.
Along the road we heard what was likely a Worm-eating Warbler, but did not see it. Across from the entrance of Black Willow, we saw a Henslow's Sparrow. That was a species we hoped to see today!

The Elusive Henslow's Sparrow

On the way home, I peaked in at Hillman Marsh and saw at least a dozen American Avocets. They had been reported earlier in the day.

New species for the year today included: American Avocet (~12), Willet (2), Spotted Sandpiper, Least Flycatcher, Great-crested Flycatcher (2), White-eyed Vireo (2), Blue-headed Vireo (several), Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Veery, Swainson's Thrush (many), Wood Thrush, Gray Catbird, Blue-winged Warbler, Brewster's Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Yellow Warbler (many), Black-throated Green Warbler (many), Pine Warbler (many), Palm Warbler (many), Black-and-white Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Henslow's Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, Indigo Bunting, Orchard Oriole.

Butterflies seen today included several American Painted Lady, Eastern Comma, Spring Azure, Cabbage White.

Mammals included: Short-tailed Weasel, Raccoon (road kill), Virginia Opposum (road kill), Black Squirrel, Cotton-tail Rabbit, House Cat (!).

Bloodroot