May 17, 2012

Pelee Snippit

singing male Yellow Warbler

Angie and I just returned from the Leamington area, a 4 day vacation with our friends Jim and Lynda, hitting the "birding capital" of Ontario being Point Pelee National Park. It was an excellent time with mostly great weather. Our species total hit 86 by the end of it all which is pretty darn good going 95% by sight over sound. If we could ID a few more by songs only, we certainly would have hit 100 species.

It's been a funny Spring this year. It hit early, even as much as April was cooler than usual, everything is earlier. This year was far different than last year when we visited. We saw almost double the Warbler species in 2011. We saw a lot more Orchard Orioles in 2011 while this year we saw less than 10 in total. Much of the time the birds were high up in the trees and we were teased with their beautiful songs being heard while the birds were hidden behind the leaves. But it's a fun time, especially with having my other half being just as passionate about the birds as I am... and a couple great friends on the same level. We found a lot more nests in the park this year and even had a few Owl species as well (which was awesome as both were lifers for our friends); but this time of year, it is all about the songbirds passing through as you can see in the couple shots I am sharing.

I will post a lengthier blog in the next week or so with a few great memories from this trip. Stay tuned!

singing male American Redstart

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