Point Pelee National Park (Part 1)

I just returned on Sunday from a 5 day bird watching extravaganza down in the Pelee region which included trips to Point Pelee National Park and Pelee Island.  In total I saw 161 species of birds while away bringing my 2015 total to 218 bird species!  The highlights included Kentucky, Hooded, Cerulean, Prairie and Golden-winged Warblers and Summer Tanagers!  There were too many highlights to discuss everything, so I will mostly let the photos do the talking.

I managed to take a few shots of the warblers with my trusty point and shoot, a real exercise in frustration at times due to the jerky movement of these species and their preference for dense tangles of vegetation.

Black-and-white Warbler

Palm Warbler

Blue-winged Warbler

This Golden-winged Warbler along with a female gave a good show at close range for many happy bird watchers in Tilden's Woods at Point Pelee.  They liked to forage in the dead leaves, looking for tiny insects hiding within.

Golden-winged Warbler

Cerulean Warbler is probably one of my favourite warblers.  The light blue colouration on this young male bird was stunning!

Cerulean Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

We saw 2 separate Hooded Warblers at the Point including this bird that was quite secretive and hard to photograph.

Hooded Warbler

It gave me one excellent chance as it sat on a log, but my autofocus thought that the shrubs out front were far more interesting!

Hooded Warbler

Prairie Warbler! A bird we had been searching for in the morning, Ken and I finally got great looks at this male right along the main road!

Prairie Warbler

Prairie Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Besides warblers, I saw many other beautiful and interesting migrants in the national park including these!  Scarlet Tanagers, although not as rare as the Summer Tanager are equally as beautiful.  This photo really doesn't do this bird justice.

Scarlet Tanager

This Whip-poor-will was sleeping right near one of the trails right out in the open, but you can see how it would be easily missed! The camouflage is amazing!  Most people are more familiar with this species at night when they come alive to feed on insects and sing.

Sleeping Whip-poor-Will

I have many more photos to come in the next few posts including some of the Eared Grebe that we saw and some other rarities, stay tuned!