Canada 2018 - Ending the day at Hillman Marsh

With Stephen again at the wheel we headed west towards Point Pelee, it was approximately a 3 hour drive, we were looking for flooded fields or anything that might yield something new on the way. We actually didn't see too much so we found our Motel in Leamington (pretty much the closest place to stat for access to Point Pelee) then headed off to Hillman Marsh. We had heard this wasn't as good as it used to be, maybe this was so, but we found it entertaining nonetheless.
The light was beautiful and the shallow muddy was situated on the west, where you could stand on the bank and view with the sun behind, perfect. Amongst a good number of waders 2 stood out and had drawn a crowd, AMERICAN AVOCETS, really smart birds, surrounded with LESSER and GREATER YELLOWLEGS, lots of DUNLIN, LEAST SANDPIPERS, SPOTTED SANDPIPER. Stephen did a great job finding a single SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER in among all the peeps.

American Avocets

Adding to the assembled waders were at least 40 BONAPARTE'S GULLS, 10 RING BILLED, 20 CASPIAN TERNS, a handful of COMMON TERNS and a FORSTER'S! There was plenty more to see as we scoped the rest of the marsh and walked round the main lake ducks included BUFFLEHEADS, NORTHERN SHOVELER, RING NECKED DUCKS, GREEN WINGED TEAL and 3 RUDDY DUCKS, these ones safe from any cull. HORNED GREBES were also on the water.

Mixture of Gulls and Terns

By standing in the correct spot before we walked the lake we managed to find a GREAT HORNED OWL perched some distance away a nice distraction from the waterbirds. A SANDHILL CRANE made us look to the skies, where a CHIMNEY SWIFT whizzed in and out view at speed. On the walk we found a couple of WOOD DUCK and a couple of DOWNY WOODPECKERS gave good views.

Sandhill Crane

That was a great introduction to Hillman Marsh, and I haven't mentioned the hundreds of TREE SWALLOWS in attendance...

Next stop an early start at Point Pelee.

Canada May 2018........Long Point

A fairly short drive this morning from Grimsby to Long Point approx 1 hour 30 minutes, on the way we added SPOTTED SANDPIPER, 4 in total including 3 in small puddle in a field we also added a close immature BALD EAGLE and several YELLOW WARBLERS.

My first Bald Eagle

 We arrived at Long Point and were greeted with GREY CATBIRD. A chat with a couple that knew the area headed us in the right direction towards the observatory at Old Cut. Loads of TREE SWALLOWS filled the air with the odd PURPLE MARTIN. We only stayed briefly around the obs after catching up with Paul and Dan from Spurn who were there on an exchange visit. A walk along Lighthouse Crescent produced SWAINSON'S THRUSH, VEERY, YELLOW RUMPED WARBLER and LEAST FLYCATCHER. Just passed the lighthouse itself a small area of bush held CHESTNUT SIDED WARBLER and a brief CAPE MAY WARBLER, Yellow Warblers were everywhere. HOUSE FINCHES were appropriately around the streets, a BLACK THROATED BLUE WARBLER was seen at the new park and soon we added BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER, DOWNY WOODPECKER and EASTERN TOWHEE, adult BALD EAGLES passed over head while GOLDEN CROWNED KINGLET was new back nearer the ground. EASTERN KINGBIRD was found near the beach as was our only FIELD SPARROW of the trip. In the old park, which was a pleasure to bird we added more warblers, PROTHONOTARY, AMERICAN REDSTART, PALM WARBLER, BLACK THROATED GREEN WARBLER, NORTHERN PARULA and a stunning BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER, here we also saw ROSE BREASTED GROSBEAK and WARBLING VIREO. WHITE CROWNED SPARROWS were very common, there were a couple of NASHVILLE and a TENNESSEE WARBLER here as well.Back at the car park at Old Cut Stephen found OVENBIRD and WOOD THRUSH, it was all a lot to take in and expectations were heightened at every turn. We had our quick bite to eat here, bread and cheese, danish pastry and an a apple, possibly a few crisps for good measure, this diet served us well for the whole trip :-)

Tree Swallow

Field Sparrow

Prothonotary Warbler

A quick visit to the marsh nearby added TRUMPETER SWAN, FORSTER'S TERN, PIED BILLED GREBE and HORNED GREBE. The reeds seemed weird without being filled with Warblers singing scratchy songs, in their place were mainly Red Winged Blackbirds! More scanning added several Great Blue Herons a few SANDHILL CRANES including young, behind us over the main lake CASPIAN TERNS patrolled the shore. A 78 species day with some great birds and close views, 15 species of warbler stole the day......

Trumpeter Swam

As the  first day was so good at Long Point we decided to stay in the area as long as we could for the next day before heading off in the direction of Point Pelee, we enjoyed the Old Park so much we headed back there, CEDAR WAXWINGS were arriving and the amount of White-throated Sparrows everywhere was impressive, Blue Grey Gnatcatchers and a couple Brown Thrashers added to the mix, before we headed to the New Park.

In the New park we found our first MAGNOLIA WARBLER, a little elusive to start with but we did get some reasonable views, a few other warblers were evident but moving on we found a small feeding flock that held our attention, NORTHERN PARULA, a very obliging BLACK and WHITE WARBLER, AMERICAN REDSTART and best of all BLUE WINGED WARBLER, another new bird for the trip and lifer. Finally pulling ourselves away heading towards the beach a RED HEADED WOODPECKER appeared over the dunes towards us then it switched back and did a good job of disappearing in leafless trees!! Leaving it as long as possible we decided to head to our next destination and potential highlight of the trip Point Pelee. Hopefully the next instalment will be out before the end of the year when i've forgotten everything!!!!! :-)

Typical Black and White Warbler pose!!

Yellow Warblers were very common but absolute joy!!!