A Visit to Point Pelee April 2

Sunday had fine weather as I headed down to Point Pelee.  There was quite a bit of excitement at Canada's southernmost National Park a few days earlier.  The marsh was on fire!
An extensive portion burned.  The origin was suspicious, but in any case, it was probably a good thing that will rejuvenate the marsh.
There were many who thought it was horrible, but it is early spring and not much wildlife was present to be harmed.
Allen Woodliffe wrote an excellent blog post yesterday commenting on this and about fires.  Check it out at:

http://pawsnaturenuggets.blogspot.ca/

My first stop on Sunday was the tower at the marsh boardwalk.  I took a quick cell phone photo:

I then headed down to the Tip and met Jeremy Hatt for a Tip Watch.  There was not as much activity as we had hoped, but the skies were clear and a SW wind was blowing.  Quite different from a recent previous visit:

More cormorants were moving and we talked of the Great Cormorant and Neotropic Cormorant both seen just across the lake at Cleveland.  Neotropic has become more common in recent years, but a Great Cormorant would be great (no pun intended!).  The only Great Cormorants I have seen were the two perched on the Ridgetown at Port Credit many moons ago.

Horned Grebes have been plenty in the last week or so, and we saw a few.

Lakeside Grebe

They are being seen everywhere, in ponds, flooded fields and shorebird cells.  Later, as I walked De Laurier Trail, I found one on the pond at the north end of the trail.  An odd spot for one!

Trailside Grebe

Above, you can see how wary it was, as it looked skyward while a Turkey Vulture soared overhead.

Jeremy and I spent some time at the Tip, then walked up to Sparrow Field, over to the serengeti tree, then back to the parking lot.
We did not come across much.  A couple of newly-arrived Field Sparrows were seen, and lots of Brown Creepers and Kinglets.

Field Sparrow at Tip

I also walked Tilden's Woods and Woodland Trail.  I came across a couple of Yellow-rumped Warblers plus a couple of White-breasted Nuthatches (one in Tilden's, one on Woodland Trail).  The nuthatches are somewhat uncommon in Point Pelee.

After lunch we all got together in the VC for a meeting.  A group of us have formed a Point Pelee Bird Records Committee to monitor and record bird sightings records through the year.  A report on winter sightings has already been compiled.

On another note, I will be serving on the Ontario Bird Records Committee (OBRC).  Although no official announcement has been made, the cat was inadvertently 'let out of the bag' last evening as most you already know!
I previously served starting in 2008-2009. Looking forward to this round.

In little over a week, this phoebe will be an Easter Phoebe!