Spring migration in Ontario - Point Pelee

[kestrel]

I had the pleasure of taking in the liveliness of southwestern Ontario's migration hotspots from May 20th to 26th, namely Point Pelee, Rondeau Provincial Park, and Long Point. This whole region is dominated by Carolinian forest, a type of deciduous forest that occurs nowhere else in Canada. The weather was good most of the time, which was nice. For this trip, I once again hired Gavin McKinnon, from Meadowlark Birding Tours, as my guide.

At Pelee it sounded like a jungle every morning, with Red-winged blackbirds being the most vocal. A Connecticut warbler was a good surprise, as was a Forster's tern that flew over the tip of the point.

Carolina wren by Joel Schmidt, on Flickr

Finding this pair of Prothonotary warblers was awesome, as it was one of my target species:
Prothonotary warblers by Joel Schmidt, on Flickr

Rose-breasted grosbeak by Joel Schmidt, on Flickr

Found my lifer Black terns along the marsh boardwalk, near the north end of the park:
Black tern by Joel Schmidt, on Flickr

Stay tuned for Part 2

[birder1942]

Awesome photos! Congratulations on a successful trip? John V

[Chris]

Awesome, Joel. Connecticut Warbler can be tough to get during migration. More commonly seen on their breeding grounds.

Really like the Prothonotary Warbler photo.

[kestrel]

Thanks, John! Yeah it was very successful. My only disappointment stemmed from many of my lifers being heard-only observations. Next time I go, I'll aim for earlier in May, when numbers of each species are higher. Other than that, I had a great time !

[dpeppar]

Good stuff. Point Pelee is great but we first went to the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge which is just east of Toledo Ohio. We were driving from BC and did the southern route so it was on the way to Ontario. We did add a few more birds at Pelee but Toledo was more compact and on a board walk. Every Canadian birder must do Pelee once.

DaveP
Chilliwack