Pelee Birding (November 26)

Today I was scheduled to go down to Point Pelee, so off I went!  It was not an ideal day for a Tip watch, but it is a good place to start and you never know what will show up this time of year.
I was joined by Kit McCann, Steve Pike, Marianne Reid, Jeremy Hatt and Richard Carr.

Quite a few gulls were around first thing including 2 Lesser Black-backed on the Tip.

Only about a half dozen Common Loons were seen and a couple of Horned Grebes.

Several White-winged Scoters went by a various times and lots of scaup were around.

Early on, a white dove circled the Tip and headed back in.  I have seen these type several times here.  Also I saw another four somewhere west of Wheatley on my way home!

As we walked back from the Tip, a nice Red-shouldered Hawk flew over, but I got on it a bit late.

The Cactus Trail was next on the agenda which was a good choice as there were lots of birds including a couple dozen Eastern Bluebirds.

Some Yellow-rumped Warblers were also mixed in as were Hermit Thrushes and American Robins.  A couple of Northern Flickers were also in the area.

Cactus Trail

After a meeting at the visitor centre, I stopped by De Laurier for a walk in mid-afternoon.  The trail actually had quite a few birds at the back.  Highlight was a White-eyed Vireo which I could not get on with the camera.  Nice to find as they are scarce at any time anymore.
Lots of White-throated Sparrows and a couple of Fox Sparrows were also in the mix.

Moving on, I found another group of birds near the useless viewing stand.  Included was a Gray Catbird.

Meanwhile, I had sent a text to Jeremy Hatt to alert the others about the vireo.  I was not sure if we could refind it, but we did, albeit more distant.

On the way home, I saw 3 Turkey Vultures NW of Wheatley.
About a 100 Tundra Swans were NW of Pain Court south of Maple Line.

Tomorrow looks like a decent day with some sun.  We had a brief bout of sun this morning, but for the most part it was dreary.