Saturday Lakewatch to Sunday Birding

Saturday looked good for a lakewatch at the Tip of Point Pelee.  The winds were good.  I had the Tip to myself for about 2.5h, as it was too early for the "Afternoon Shift".  The wind picked up over time, but there were no "good" birds to be seen.  Perhaps the recent hot weather kept the good gulls and jaegers to the north!  It is early in the season though, so many more chances to come.

The only bird of interest was a phalarope heading south off the east side.  It was quite distant and I honestly could not call it a Red, even though it was likely so.

Tip Gulls

Land birding was slow due to the strong winds so I did not spend much time on that front.  I only found 3 individual warblers!
A few hawks were around.

On the way home I stopped at St. Clair NWA.  You never know what is around until you check it out, but there was nothing of note.
This Blackburnian Warbler was right at the viewing tower.

With the change in weather Saturday night, birding looked good for Sunday morning at Rondeau Park.  I got up at 06:00 and listened out the window.  I could hear the flight calls of many birds migrating overhead, so I headed out.

There were lots of birds to look at and it was certainly the best day yet this fall.  I counted 19 species of warblers, with multiples of each.
Blackpoll Warbler was the most common.  Often we get days in the fall with large numbers of these.  I recall once (8 September 2007) at Rondeau I estimated there had to be an astounding 700 in the park!

Vireos were plentiful today, especially Red-eyed.  We even saw a Yellow-throated as well as a Blue-headed.

Thrushes were numerous.  They littered the road on the way in to the park this morning.

Some Merlins were around as expected.

Shorebirds were not plentiful today. I stopped at Ridgetown on the way home and not a single shorebird was there.  One is always hopeful for a Hudsonian Godwit or something of that nature!

Puddle Passerines