I finally had a chance to head over to Pelee for the first time in a few weeks. So far I had missed out on a number of interesting birds that had been seen there recently, such as Bell's Vireo, Swainson's Hawk, Fish Crow, 37 species of warblers, etc.
Checked out DeLaurier for a change first thing in the morning. This was probably by best location all day. No real highlights, but I did see/hear about 15 species of warblers.
I headed down the West Beach footpath towards the tip. This has always been my favorite trail at Pelee - fewer birders, a clean view of the sky, and always a chance for rarities. A few of my better Pelee finds last year (Henslow's Sparrow and Kirtland's Warbler) came from here. On Thursday, a Dickcissel flew over me along this path as well.
Today was really slow, though a few singing Mourning Warblers were nice.
At the tip I ran into Brandon Holden and Ken Burrell who had just returned from a month of birding on Pelee Island. Ken and Brandon had a probable female Western Tanager reverse-migrate not long before I arrived. While walking near the tip with them, Ken's sharp ears picked out the distinctive song of a Prothonotary warbler. I took a look at the "Yellow-legged" gull at the tip as well. I'm not convinced that's what it is!
Hillman Marsh wasn't bad later that evening and I did see a couple of White-rumped Sandpipers which were new for the year. Apparently others had seen Baird's (REALLY good spring record) and Western Sandpipers there that evening as well. Finished the day with about 120 species.
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