Pelee birdin'

It just gets better day after day!
I'm seeing lots of great birds like Kirtland's Warbler and Yellow-throated Warbler and am having a lot of fun. But it is a little annoying when you hear about Swainson's Hawk, Black Vulture, Henslow's Sparrow and Kentucky Warbler but I might see some of those yet! And maybe even something else better...

I'm enjoying the hikes too. It's really rewarding when the whole groups gets to see a Yellow-breasted Chat or Prothonotary Warbler and even a Kirtland's Warbler for one group!

Today I searched for a Kentucky Warbler and came up empty handed but I did see a Canada Warbler:

And this Ruby-throated Hummingbird:

A big mob of people were surrounding the Kirtland's Warbler the other day but I didn't manage to get a photo of the bird, I'm sure many others did though:

And back home in Newfoundland my dog added a new bird to my bedroom list, baby chickens!

My father got 5 chickens and is raising them in my room before putting them outside in the hen house!

Day 5 (or is it 6?) at Pelee

Lots of great birding still to be had and lots of new birds for the year and the life list rolling in. Picked up some good ones over the past couple days including Snowy Egret and Worm-eating Warbler. Found 2 Long-billed Dowitchers yesterday late afternoon and re-found them this morning and afternoon. I also managed to get on a Black Tern as it flew around the distant side of the marsh. And this morning while out scouting some hiking trails with the other hike leaders we found a Clay-coloured Sparrow! So my year list has been climbing up and I'm sure the next couple of weeks will add some good birds.

Anyway, enough bragging, more pictures, I know what you're thinking!

After chasing Hooded Warbler sightings around the park several times I finally found my own male one morning and then by the end of the day I had seen 4 different individuals! It seems that once I find one I find a bunch. Same thing happened with White-eyed Vireo, Yellow-throated Vireo, Blue-winged Warbler....etc

Female Hooded Warbler:

Male Hooded Warbler:

And with the Yellow-breasted Chat too. I found this guy just after seeing a Prothonotary Warbler and while enjoying a White-eyed Vireo! I know, it's just too good here. I may as well go home.

There must be at least 4 Red-headed Woodpeckers in the park:

There were several Eastern Bluebirds on one of my hikes that I led and I managed this photo just before the hike began:

Same with this Yellow-throated Vireo:

I managed to mooch a ride to see this Snowy Egret in ... I don't know where actually. Somewhere West of the park. It had a super long bill! This blurry photo doesn't show it well though.

I've also been enjoying the butterflies and flowers in the park and have been learning a lot!

Lots of people out today in the warm weather at the tip:

The Great Horned Owl nest at the North of the park is doing well and I saw an owlet from another nest out walking around the branches.

This orange variant Scarlet Tanager was neat. From what I understand/remember from Bridget Stuchbury's books is that they eat some sort of red berry down South to get the red pigmentation in their feathers. They can't produce it themselves so if they can't find any of those berries they'll be orange! Which I suppose you could say is their 'natural' colour. Someone else thought it ate too many cheesies. Who knows.

Lots of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers around:

More migrants to come overnight I hope, as does everyone else at the park!

Pelee Highlights

Well not much to say except that this place is as good as it's all hyped up to be!

This morning I found a Prothonotary Warbler which happened to be a lifer for me and my 200th bird for the year so I felt pretty good about that. After telling the Pelee world about this endangered bird I returned to take some photos of it.

It was constantly looking around for food in every direction.

What's down there?

How about over here?

Or up there?

A mere 50 meters down the trail was another endangered species. A Yellow-breasted Chat popped up out of the undergrowth to feed from a Sumac tree:

Not a bad morning!
By the end of the day I had seen 3 individual Prothonotary Warblers!

Yesterday I visited Ken Burrell and Brandon Holden on Pelee Island where I joined them in some intense rare bird searches. Ken's amazing ears picked out a Golden-winged Warbler almost immediately after stepping out of the car.

But those certainly weren't the only warblers seen in the park these past few days. Some of the more common ones include:

Yellow Warbler at the tip:

Black-throated Blue Warbler:

Black-throated Green Warbler:

Blackburnian Warbler:

Palm Warbler:

And today I found 4 Blue-winged Warblers!:

Other fun birds around the park include

Blue-headed Vireo:

Ruby-crowned Kinglet:

Northern Mockingbird:

38 Willets at the tip today (lots more pictures at the end of this post):

Veery:

The Willets remained at the tip for at least most of the morning and allowed me to get many pictures:

Blue-headed Vireo:

Grackle keeping the enemies off of his food:

Who's that down there?

This Yellow Warbler was trying to attract attention by behaving like a Prothonotary Warbler:

Willet eating a smelt:

The Prothonotary came within 2 meters!