Pelee Visit, Townsend's Solitaire, Swimming Deer

Sunday, I headed to Point Pelee as I had not been there in some time.  It was another slow day there! Seems I cannot get there on a decent day, but I only have weekends to work with.
I did a bit of a Tip watch with Alan Wormington and Marianne Reid.  Richard Carr also joined us, which turned out to be the rarest sighting of the day.  Dan Greenham also came along later.

There was not much moving this day, and I only saw 11 Common Loons among the other things. It was unlike the previous day, when Alan reported 962 Common Loons in just over two hours.  An insane number and hard to fathom!

There are not many places to walk in the park as many of the trails are closed for various reasons.  I walked Shuster anyway, but saw very little.

Next walk was De Laurier were there were a number of White-throated Sparrows.

Dogwood berry bonanza

At least 20 Chipping Sparrows were around the parking lot area.  It is interesting to sort through them in hopes of seeing a Lark Sparrow or something!

I did walk west beach trail south of west beach parking lot, but it was very windy.  Some butterflies were seen, but the strong wind did not help.  I had at least 4 Common Buckeye, a  couple of Eastern Comma and a Cabbage White.  Earlier we saw about 4 Monarch at the Tip.

I headed home via Dover Township area in hopes of seeing some blackbirds.  Friday evening I did get a Yellow-headed in a mixed flock SW of Wallaceburg.  It is not unsual to get a Yellow-headed this time of year.






I also stopped at St. Clair NWA where the dikes have been revamped.  Sight lines are better too!

While at Point Pelee, I got the message about a Townsend's Solitaire at Rondeau Park.  It was found by Garry Sadler near the south end of Lakeshore Road.  It is only second park record, with the first in April 2011 almost in the same area. At least I saw that one!
Here is a stellar photo by Garry, which he allowed me to post here.

Photo courtesy Garry T. Sadler

The solitaire was not refound today despite some effort.  Perhaps it will show up again like the last one, also along Lakeshore Road.

This morning was calm and clear since the weekend was over.  Why we cannot get these days on weekends is beyond me!
I took a walk at Stewart Wetland and noted the scenery.

Chenal Ecarte and Walpole Island

At one point I caught sight of a White-tailed Deer swimming in the Snye off Walpole Island!

Looks like nice weather this week and certainly a good  chance to see some late butterflies.