Ever since I opened 'The art of bird photography' by Arthur Morris one Christmas morning many years ago and saw a photo of a Black-throated Green Warbler from Point Pelee, my heart has been set ever since on visiting this part of Ontario to see the spring warbler migration when they are looking at their best in their gaudy summer plumage. At this this time of year, birds are arriving from their South American wintering grounds, where they cross Lake Eerie and make landfall at points along the Ontario shore. Having mulled over a visit for the last few years, this year, I decided to take the plunge and make a short solo trip.
2nd May
Having had a stressful journey to Heathrow with news of a
Hoopoe seen briefly on my Nunnery Lakes patch just as I was leaving Thetford,
and a slight delay in the flight, I arrived at Toronto Pearson International
Airport at about 4pm. As is apparently customary at this airport, the baggage
took a long time to arrive on the conveyors, and by the time I had collected my
bag and hire car, it was now 6pm, and scuppered any plan of going to a local
well-known birding spot, Colonel Samuel Smith Park, for a leg stretch, and so
instead headed toward Simcoe where I was staying for the first couple of
nights. As it was still light when I got near Simcoe, I checked Google maps and
found a few lakes at Waterford North Conservation Area and was able to get the
list up and running with a Broad-winged Hawk sat low down in a roadside tree,
despite the rain falling quite heavily. With the rain easing as I arrived at
Waterford North Conservation Area, lots of hirundines, mostly Tree Swallows
with some Swallows and a few Purple Martins were buzzing around over the lakes
and a Killdeer was along the shoreline. As I sat in the shelter of the car
watching these, a Muskrat swam close along the near shore, but my camera was
still in its bag in the boot. A short walk along one of the trails alongside a
marsh at dusk produced calling Virginia Rail, along with singing Song Sparrow
and Northern Cardinal, a nice easy taster for days to come.
3rd May
Waking up at 5am, and with no breakfast on offer at the Travelodge, I went to my old faithful Canadian eatery – Tim Hortons, where they tried to poison me with giving me coffee instead of my usual tea, not a good start to the day! After a quick breakfast and back to the Travelodge for a shower, I headed to Long Point where I arrived to a brisk, and freezing cold north-westerly wind, not ideal conditions for migration. As expected, a walk around the point was very quiet, and although a tour group saw an Orange-crowned Warbler, I couldn’t locate it between the heavy showers. There were some birds to enjoy though, Red-winged Blackbirds were everywhere, singing from any perch, while Common Grackle, American Robin and Brown-headed Cowbirds were very common, a definite theme for the next few days.
A very confiding Field Sparrow was my first lifer of the day, which was followed by a skulking Swamp Sparrow on the edge of the marsh. A couple of Turkey Vultures gave close flybys, while Mourning Dove, a couple of Lesser Yellowlegs and a very smart-looking Brown Thrasher were also seen. With the rain persisting, and the birding not looking inspiring, especially for any warblers, I headed back to the lakes at Waterford for a change of scenery for the rest of the afternoon.
The weather at Waterford wasn’t any more ideal, with frequent, and frustrating heavy showers causing me to have to keep diving back into the car for shelter. Between the showers, a few birds did materalise, including the first warblers of the trip; first a dazzling Yellow Warbler (the first of many seen in the next few days, I didn’t expect to become blasé about them so quickly!), soon followed by single Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers around the car park, but always when the rain was at its heaviest and so I couldn’t get the camera out. Eventually the rain subsided, but so did the warblers, but the lakes again held many hirundines, including Rough-winged Swallow and Purple Martin, which I had fun trying to photograph in flight, and with some success, along with 6 Caspian Terns that were diving close in and an Osprey that circled overhead before carrying on.
The same trail as yesterday evening again produced a Virginia Rail, which twice ran across the path and once showed briefly at very close range, but I wasn’t quick enough with the camera on either occasion. A Swamp Sparrow was singing distantly along the back edge of the marsh along with a Song Sparrow.
4th May
Another early start, and this time an unsuccessful poisoning
attempt by Tim Hortons as I was ready for them to correct them to make me the
correct beverage! A short visit first thing to the lakes at Waterford in much
brighter weather than yesterday was an excellent start to the day, where both
the Yellow and Yellow-rumped Warblers showed much better.
Up to 3 Swamp Sparrows were singing along the edge of the
marsh trail, occasionally right next to the path and giving superb views, it’s
easy to forget how musical American sparrows are compared with ours. The nearby
lakes again held up to 8 Caspian Terns and the usual assortment of hirundines,
along with a brief Spotted Sandpiper and flyover Great Northern Diver and a
party of 17 stunning summer plumaged Bonaparte’s Gulls that unfortunately
didn’t linger and went straight through.
A drive down to Rondeau Provincial Park enroute to Point Pelee was interrupted while I got a slow puncture fixed. Rondeau itself, as with Long Point was also very quiet, a single Yellow-rumped Warbler and a Golden-crowned Kinglet were the highlights along one of the trails, and White-breasted Nuthatch and Blue Jay on feeders by the visitor centre, along with a tame Eastern Chipmunk picking up scraps. Even though it cost $18 to get into the park, I decided to cut the visit short and press on toward Leamington.
Having checked in to the Duck Pond B&B, just north of Leamington, I had a few hours of daylight left on a glorious evening, and so rather than rush down to Point Pelee, I instead had a more leisurely walk around Hillman Marsh. This site is split into two cells, a wetland cell and a shorebird cell, and although the wetland cell was devoid of any birdlife, the shorebird cell held a single Trumpeter Swan, a Night Heron, a few Lesser Scaup and Green-winged and Blue-winged Teal and a collection of waders, namely Lesser Yellowlegs, Dunlin, Grey Plover and a couple of Killdeer.
5th May
I was buzzing with excitement as I arrived at Point Pelee at
6.30am, just as the sun was coming up, paid my $8.50 admission and headed down
to the visitor centre, which was slowed down by a huge male Wild Turkey all
puffed up and strutting his stuff in the middle of the road causing a minor
traffic jam. Getting out of the car in an already fairly full car park, the air
was full of sound, mostly Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles, and a I
made my way first of all along the Shuster Trail, which surprisingly had no
other birders or photographers on. It also didn’t have many birds though! A
female Merlin sat on top of a tree above the path which attracted the attention
of some disgruntled blackbirds and grackles, and a Brown Thrasher sat out in
the open briefly too.
A walk back along the edge of the car park toward the visitor centre trails produced the first of many White-throated Sparrows, a single Dark-eyed Junco and an American Tree Sparrow, the latter of which I hadn’t realised at the time was an uncommon visitor there (though apparently had been there a few days) until eBird asked me for more details when I submitted my records later that evening.
A walk around the Woodland Trail behind the visitor centre was fairly productive, though many of the birders and photographers I spoke to complained how quiet it was, it seems that Canada has also been experiencing the cold spring we have been having in the UK, which has slowed migration. Almost immediately on entering the woods, I heard a song not dissimilar to a Coal Tit, which having done a bit of revising before I went immediately rang bells in my head as a Black and White Warbler. Instantly I scanned the trees above my head, and sure enough, there was a Black and White Warbler busily scampering around a tree, much like a nuthatch, and gave me much satisfaction that some of my revision had stuck (if only I had been as good at revising for my exams at school!). A few more Black and White Warblers and Yellow Warblers were present around the rest of the trail, and single Baltimore and Orchard Oriole perched side by side briefly, but the Hooded Warbler which had been seen in recent days couldn’t be found. As I neared the end of the trail, a bit of movement along a short loop revealed itself as a stunning Blue-headed Vireo, which was a species I had hoped to see.
After a short tea break, I walked down toward the tip, following the West Beach footpath. It really is a surreal experience, doing what feels like coastal birding, several thousand miles inland, but given the size of Lake Eerie, it really does feel like you are staring out to sea, especially when you can look out and see scoter and other traditional “seaducks”, it felt like I should be keeping an eye out for cetaceans too! Along the footpath, a couple of brief Hermit Thrushes and 4 Eastern Towhees scuttled around in the undergrowth and a birder I met had just been watching a Grasshopper Sparrow, which is a scarce visitor to the point, but I couldn’t find it in a short search. Carrying on to the tip, I knew from the sightings board in the visitor centre that a Sedge Wren had been seen, but given their skulking nature and the large area to search, I had no idea where abouts. By chance, I happened to notice a small movement in the grass by the path, and after a few moments, the Sedge Wren appeared on a log at my feet, and sat there for a few seconds, certainly not what I was expecting!
The rest of the tip was fairly quiet, though a Northern Parula associating with a Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher moved through the trees and a Red-breasted Nuthatch showed at close quarters. As I walked back up the West Beach footpath by the area the Sparrow had been seen, a small pale sparrow flew across the path and dived into some vegetation. A few seconds later, it popped up and the yellowy face and crown stripe confirmed this was the Grasshopper Sparrow, another unexpected bird for the trip.
On my way back to the car, I had another look for the Hooded
Warbler, again to no avail, the first Common Yellowthroat of the trip was about
the best I saw in this area. Walking along another small loop near the visitor
centre, a stunning male Rose-breasted Grosbeak busily fed by the path and then
shortly after, an Ovenbird scuttled from the side of the path and then sat
motionless under a small bush, hoping I hadn’t noticed it.
I ended the day having a walk along the Marsh Boardwalk, which other than the usual Red-winged Blackbirds was very quiet, until I saw a stunning male Northern Harrier quartering over the reeds further along the boardwalk. Unfortunately, just as I managed to get into position to photograph it, the harrier dropped into the reeds and after a while reappeared and quickly departed with some prey before I could manage any shots.
6th May
After yesterday’s haul of 65 species, I was at the entrance gate even earlier in eager anticipation of another full day on Point Pelee. Despite the near full car park, even at this early hour, I was surprised that for the first half an hour of my walk along the Woodland Trail I didn’t see another person. Walking the same loop as the previous day, I couldn’t find the Ovenbird, but an unusual song caught my attention which turned out to be a Northern Waterthrush, which was creeping around in a boggy area, but the light was too poor for any photos. Further along the trail are a series of bridges over flooded areas. The previous day, these pools just held Tree Swallows which were checking out the nest boxes put out for Prothonotary Warblers, but speaking to one of the staff, the warblers hadn’t arrived back yet as it had been such a cold spring. As I stepped on to the first bridge, a flash of yellow in a bush 20 yards away over the water caught my eye and was immediately identifiable as a male Prothonotary Warbler, a bird I had really wanted to see! I took a few quick shots of the bird and then for no reason, the warbler flew straight toward me and landed on a branch right at my feet, completely unconcerned by me being stood there, I had to zoom my lens out to fit the whole bird in!
The rest of the Woodland Trail was much quieter than yesterday, a second Prothonotary Warbler having a dispute with some Tree Swallows over ownership of a nest box, a Veery, a singing Orchard Oriole, a showy Grey Catbird, a pair of Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and several White-crowned Sparrows being the highlights, so I headed back to the West Beach Footpath and back to have a look at the tip.
The West Beach Footpath was also much quieter than yesterday, the usual Yellow Warblers were commonplace, and a couple of Hermit Thrushes and a Swainson’s Thrush showed well and a small group of Surf Scoter and Scaup were “offshore”. A Least Flycatcher appeared briefly, thankfully just as a passing group turned up who could identify it for me, as all Empidonax flycatchers look very similar to the untrained eye and ear!
As I approach the tip, the sight of a huddle of photographers pointing their cameras at the grass made it apparent that a wren was again lurking there. I assumed it was yesterday’s Sedge Wren, but when the bird eventually showed properly, it turned out to be a Marsh Wren instead. As it turned out, the Sedge Wren was still present just a few yards away.
Other than a Warbling Vireo in treetops and an Eastern Bluebird by the path, there wasn’t much activity at the tip and so I walked back north, this time along the seasonal Sparrow Field footpath. After only a short walk, a Black and White Warbler was feeding, and for once at eye level rather than higher up in the trees, and then slightly further up the path I came across a Nashville Warbler, which I was happy to show to a few passing birders, including a group from England.
Cutting back through the Woodland Trail, another gathering of photographers were watching the species that had started my dream, a gorgeous male Black-throated Green Warbler. Initially it was quite a way off the path, but eventually came closer and I was able to get some lovely shots of it.
One of the English group watching the Nashville Warbler told me they had earlier seen another of my most wanted species - Blackburnian Warbler, along the Tilden Trail. Ever hopeful, I set off along this trail, and although I couldn’t find the warbler, a showy Wood Thrush on the edge of a small pool was ample compensation.
Unsure how to spend the rest of the day, I again checked the sightings board in the visitor centre, and a Blue-winged Warbler at the Northwest Beach sounded like it was worth a try. This trail is a very short trail, but within the first few minutes a Hermit Thrush showed well, and as I was taking that in, I heard a nearby birder shout “Blackburnian”. I swung around, looked up, and there was the unmistakeable orange throat of a stunning male Blackburnian Warbler feeding in the trees above the path, and what an absolute gem of a bird.
It immediately became obvious that a small flurry of warblers had arrived and the atmosphere among the gathered birders and photographers was electric as a Cape May Warbler was then found close by, feeding in a gully by the bridge, quickly followed by a smart male Black-throated Blue Warbler and a couple of Yellow-rumped Warblers. Shortly afterwards the Blue-winged Warbler was refound, and showed well by the path, busily feeding on spiders.
Tearing myself away I decided to have a quick look at
Sanctuary where a brief male American Redstart appeared along with a few Yellow
Warbler, a House Wren and a pair of Northern Flickers. At this point my feet
were killing me having walked about 15km for the second consecutive day and so
I chose not to continue on any further paths and call it a day, which I found
out was a mistake as a I found out the following morning that Natally, a photographer
I was chatting to at Sanctuary, found a Chestnut-sided Warbler just after I had
left, oh well, you can’t win them all!
These final couple of hours of the day were exactly the reason I had chosen to visit Point Pelee, and all evening I was buzzing as I downloaded my photos and couldn’t wait for another, and sadly to be my final, morning at Point Pelee. I finished the day on 72 species, which I was more than happy with.
7th May
With my flight home not until 10pm, I knew I had the morning
to return to Point Pelee, giving myself the deadline of 1pm before I would have
to set off back to Toronto, just in case of any traffic hold ups on the way.
Rather than rush down to the tip, I instead decided to just return to Northwest
Beach where I had spent that exciting evening previously. I was surprised that
given how good it was the previous day that the car park was virtually empty,
and Natally was the first person I met. As we stood chatting about the previous
day’s birding, a lady walked up to us and said, “Look what I’ve just seen” and
showed us the back of her camera and a picture of a Coyote. We immediately
rushed down the path and the Coyote was still there, among the trees and
although it gave us a couple of wary looks as we tried to get a clearer photograph
through the trees, it wasn’t too concerned and eventually picked up its prey
and trotted off into the trees.
I spent the rest of the morning here, just walking the short trail back and forth, and many of the warblers from the previous day were still in evidence. There had been a further arrival of Yellow-rumped Warblers with at least half a dozen birds around the trail, while 3 Blackburnian, 2 Black-throated Green, 2 Cape May, 2 Black and White, 2 Palm, a Magnolia and at least 1 Black-throated Blue were also present.
It wasn’t just about the warblers here, as a male Scarlet Tanager shone in the trees, an Eastern Kingbird briefly and a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird chasing some kinglets all lit up the morning, and slightly less spectacular-looking, a Least Flycatcher and a Savannah Sparrow were more confiding.
As the morning wore on, the birding slowed down, and a short
look at Sanctuary in the hope of relocating yesterday’s Chestnut-sided Warbler,
but with time running out before I would have to drag myself away, I was only
able to find a Cape May Warbler, a group of 4 Cedar Waxwings and a few
Yellow-rumped and Yellow Warblers.
Inevitably, I made good time getting back to Toronto, and as
I had a couple of hours to kill before I needed to be at the airport, I went to
Colonel Samuel Smith Park for my final taste of Canadian birding. It was very
overcast when I arrived, but a short walk around the park produced a single
Warbling Vireo, while on the small lakes, a single drake Bufflehead showed
close in and several pairs of Red-necked Grebes were present and calling to one
another.
Out on Lake Ontario on which the park sits, as at Point Pelee, the surreal sight of groups of Long-tailed Duck, a species in the UK we only see in the winter and at sea. Watching summer plumage birds among Red-breasted Mergansers so far inland did feel odd! After a few minutes photographing some confiding Tree Swallows, it was time to head to the airport and my flight home.
Although my trip to Canada was brief and the warbler migration wasn’t as spectacular as in some years, it was an amazing trip with 128 species of bird and 6 species of mammals seen, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute. It was great to meet so many friendly photographers and birders who were happy to share their knowledge and I am already planning to return next spring!
