More Thanksgiving Birding

Sunday I headed back down to Rondeau Park.  It was almost as "birdy" as the day before and was certainly enjoyable.  I spent most of the time with Steve Charbonneau and Keith and Jim Burk.
This time of year, we always start with a lakewatch at Dog Beach.  Certainly more gulls were on the move Sunday, but again no rarities.

Vireo with a blue head

A lone Black-bellied Plover was on the beach.  It later joined another farther up.

The flurry of birds at the start of south point trail we had Saturday, was long gone, but farther down the trail we found a multitude of birds.  A pretty good variety of warblers including a couple of shy Bay-breasted and several Tennessee.

Bay-breasted Warbler

Some Northern Parula were in the mix to add colour.

There was a cornucopia of Palm Warblers, but all the western type this day.

Pine Warbler (initially seen in a Pine tree!)

Thanksgiving Monday I did a change of pace and headed down to Hillman Marsh.  The shorebird cell is quite inviting to shorebirds and waterfowl right now.  I found quite a few shorebirds, but many were difficult to make out in the weeds.
I found at least ten Wilson's Snipe, but they certainly blended in well as you can see from the digiscoped view.

At least 20 Lesser Yellowlegs were present, which is a good number at this date.  Others included a few Greater Yellowlegs, a couple of Pectoral Sandpipers and many Least Sandpipers.

I walked back via the trail near the boardwalk.  From the boardwalk area to the parking lot I found a crazy number of Swamp Sparrows in the weeds.  They just kept popping up!

It was also evident that other sparrows and Ruby-crowned Kinglets came en masse overnight.  The Ruby-crowned were all over the place.

Lots of these today!

After Hillman, I decided to head to Point Pelee.  Along the way, I found this accipiter atop a hydro pole.

I stopped at De Laurier and met up with Mike Nelson and we took an hour to walk the trail.  Ruby-crowned Kinglets were littering the place and I certainly underestimated them in my list.
There were not many warblers, but a few Yellow-rumped, a Nashville, and 3 male Black-throated Blues.

While at the parking lot, a Tufted Titmouse made a brief appearance. Rare for Point Pelee, and probably only the third time I have seen one in the park.

I briefly stopped at Sanctuary trails area and found Ruby-crowned Kinglets all over once again.

By the way, Common Checkered-Skippers are all over the place again.They were at every stop, including the shore trail at Mitchell's Bay today.  Also one here in the yard.

Although no rarities this weekend, it was a good time sorting through all the birds.