Another long weekend at Pelee

After a quick three-day week where I managed to put in all my hours, I was on my way again to Point Pelee and area on Thursday morning for a 5 day trip, this time with Dominic Cormier, a friend of mine that I met at the University of Guelph. Dominic is from Nova Scotia and we try to meet up for a day of birding when I'm out that way visiting Laura. We also worked together for a summer during 2012, going on trips to Rainy River.

We had an awesome time at Pelee, seeing a bunch of good birds including a few rarities among our 177 species. I'll be posting day-by-day recaps this week, but for now, here are the highlights

-going on an impromptu Big Day with Kory Renaud and Jeremy Bensette, seeing 160 species between Rondeau and Point Pelee
-Pacific Loon found by Jean Iron that we relocated off of Sparrow Field during our Big Day with Luke Berg and his father (a new Point Pelee and Essex County bird for me, #296 and #301)
-finding a Henslow's Sparrow right about the loon - a pretty sweet 15 minutes
-side-by-side Laughing and Franklin's Gulls in a field north of Hillman Marsh
-Bell's Vireo singing at the tram loop, found earlier in the day by Tom Preney
-a few other nice birds (Olive-sided Flycatcher, White-eyed Vireo, Canvasbacks, Snowy Owl, Clay-colored Sparrows)
-26 warbler species (not bad for the semi-late date, with highlights being Prairie, 2 Prothonotarys, Kentucky and 2 Yellow-breasted Chats)

Here are a few "photogenic" (= cold and hungry) tanagers, swallows, and warblers from the tip on May 16.

Cape May Warbler - Point Pelee National Park

Cliff Swallow - Point Pelee National Park

female Scarlet Tanager - Point Pelee National Park

I had to reduce the saturation on this tanager shot, and even still it is "too" bright! These things glow, I tell you...

male Scarlet Tanager - Point Pelee National Park