Sunday, September 28, 2014

Pelee Visit September 28

I decided to check out Point Pelee today.  I did not expect very many birds, especially passerines, due to the recent 'nice' weather, but some other birds were in good numbers.

I stopped at De Laurier parking lot first thing and met up with Steve Pike.  This is a good spot to check first thing in the morning when birds are passing over.
It was obvious today was going to have a large movement of Blue Jays. I never really counted them over the course of the day, but perhaps well over 1000 went through.
While there, we noted a couple of Pine Siskins, American Pipits, an Indigo Bunting and various warblers passing over.

Soon it was time to head to the Tip.



The wind was very light out out of the NE, so one would not expect much movement at the Tip.  However, I was surprised at the number of Bonaparte's heading south off the west side.  It kept us busy for a while and at one point, an adult Little Gull shot by.
A few Common Terns were mixed in as well.

A couple of Green Frogs were taking in the action too.



Some dragonflies, including darners were at the Tip. The mosaic darners are difficult to ID unless you net them!  A couple we saw were likely Lance-tipped.
Saddlebags included Carolina and Black.  Perhaps a Red was around as well.



As well, a Twelve-spotted Skimmer or two were around.



After things died off, we headed north. At one point I spotted a White-eyed Vireo in a cedar.  Been a while since I have looked at one!  This was a young bird with the dark iris.




















It never really came out for a good view, like most birds today.  They were wary of the numerous hawks around today.



We walked up the west beach trail, but hardly any butterflies were around today.  There is lots of Short's Aster this year brightening up the park.  It attracted lots of bees today if nothing else.

We continued walking around and ended up at the VC parking lot.  We saw lots of hawks along the way, and it was a good time to sit down and watch from the parking lot.
The 'afternoon shift' was already in progress!  It was actually a pretty good show of hawks for a while.




A mysterious birder from Hamilton arrived while we were there.  He will be spending the next week at Pelee.  We will await the reports.
Things look interesting weather-wise for Friday!


I checked out Tilbury Lagoons on the way home.  Hardly a bird to be seen except a flock of 15 Killdeer.  Lots of Killdeer around right now.
Some interesting wildlife was beside the lagoons.




It was a fairly fun day even though numbers of certain things were low.

1 comment:

  1. Lol … love the wildlife shots!
    Is that a midge on the frog?

    ReplyDelete