So flight into Toronto 12/9 arriving at a reasonable time of 3pm which gave me enough time to clear immigration and get my car and head out of Toronto on the 401 before it was too busy and dark!
Traffic was heavy but moving and by my first pit stop 2 hours later I had already bagged Mourning dove, sharp shinned hawk along with many starlings.
Five hours after leaving Toronto (and now in torrential rain) I arrived at my first destination Leamington Days Inn near point pelee.
13/9 - A quick call into Pelee Wings Nature Store (birding shop on the way to Point Pelee) I picked up two excellent guides, Birds of Eastern and Central N. America (Peterson) and A birders guide to Point Pelee (and surrounding region) Tom Hince (owner of the wild rose guest house). Armed with guides off I went to the reserve. By the way its still raining but very warm and humid. As I drove down the reserve road to the visitor centre I saw a group of 6 very bedraggled wild Turkey's . The Visitor centre had a good exhibition of Monarch butterflies, explaining their migration which apparently was on as well...so I was ready to keep my eyes peeled when the sun came out.
A 40 minute walk in the wood (due to the now heavy warm rain) produced my first american robin and northern water thrush, along with black squirrel, frogs and billions of mosquitos!!! if you come to this area, remember the repellent!
I went back to the hotel (only 5 mins drive) to dry out and have a quick nap before going out again at 4pm when it had dried off. This time I popped over to Hillman marsh conservation area, 15 mins away and saw: Gt Blue Heron, Eastern King Bird Great Egret, wood ducks, mourning dove, rock dove, Northern red cardinal, greater yellowlegs, lesser yellow-legs and a solitary monarch butterfly. It started to rain again at 6.30 so I popped into the local shops for some retail therapy!
14/9 Today it was dry! but winds were still south westerly and threats of the tail end of Hurricane Ike hitting Ontario are on the news. I thought I would check out Holiday beach Conservation Area as they were at the start of the Hawk Migration. Each year from Sept through to October hundreds of thousands of Hawks pass this point and Metro Beach Michigan on their migration path. The Hawk fest, is an educational and enjoyable way to be with experienced spotters! who point out and assist us Brits on what is coming through.
Im a lazy birder!! I dont do early starts so managed to get there around 9am and there were only a couple of people there so thought I had the wrong place! its only 40 mins from Leamington towards the US border on lake Eerie.
Met some really great people through out the day and even managed to be interviewed on AC TV! my 5 mins of fame! anyway back to the birds -
over 4 hours saw many American kestrals, Ospreys, Northern Harriers, Bald Headed Eagles, Red Tailed Hawks, Coopers and sharp shinned Hawks and Merlin. Some of the Eagles and Hawks just sit in the surrounding trees, its surreal to see so many varieties together and so many. I was hoping to see a kettle as they often have over 60,000 hawks in one day!! no kids - visit their web sites. But weather conditions were not ideal and later in the week on another visit they had 1600 go through and were disappointed!! I was delighted at seeing my few but varied species! While I was up in the Hawk Tower, you also get an excellent view of the reserve and spotted:
belted kingfisher, double crested cormorant, mute swan, gt egret, blue heron, little blue heron, american coot, canadian geese, moor hen, black crowned night heron on a fly past by the tower! Caspian Tern right over my head, chimney swifts, a solitary sandpiper in the small carp pool, a magnolia warbler was caught in the ringing mist nets, a gray cat bird, pied billed grebes,american goldfinches, teal and red cardinals. Mammals included the black squirrels (they seem to be everywhere and are dinky like our red squirrels!) and a swimming muskrat!
15/9 Back to Point Pelee today as it was breezy (still SW winds) but warm. Got to the point at 8am - still feeling a little jet lagged! Met some terrific Point Pelee regular Birders who were great company and we shared knowledge of birds and different types of UK/USA birds.So warm thanks to the guys! Birds on the point were: Bonapart's gulls, caspian terns, ring billed gulls, gt black backs, american herring gull, sanderlings, ruddy turnstone. A then very curious MINK decided to join us and ran around our feet to great amusement of all! So no birds were spotted for a good half hour as photos were taken and mink entertained us.
The guys were all on the look out for a frigate bird that was apparently lost on the lake somewhere! No luck though. But I was glad to bag: greater scaup and green winged teal (US version). Flocks of cedar waxwing (50+)passed through with large flocks of swallows (100+). There were a few more monarch butterflies but not the masses I had been promised. On the way back to the visitor centre via the woods I spotted:
6 blue jays - what characters! Northern Harrier, canada geese, bald headed eagles x 3 water thrush and swallowtail caterpillars.
16/9 did a bit of the tourist trail today then in the afternoon drove from Chatham back to Holiday Beach Resort to see if more hawks were going through. On the way saw 30 Killdeer on a wet piece of farm land, all over the farm land were masses of starlings and so many sparrows that I couldnt identify them - sorry. I saw more harriers and hawks to the reserve so was certain it was a better day. Alas, no not to their standards but I was happy with over 1500! Im used to seeing 5 or six marsh harriers in a day so that figure was great for me.Appart from some of the other birds already mentioned the other day also saw: Green Heron and Broadwing Hawks (over 30+).
17/9 another day at Point Pelee and a wander around Wheatly Harbour and Wheatly provincial park produced the following new species for me: Black capped chickadees, american crow, downy woodpecker, northern flicker, and over 600 monach butterflies dripping off trees and bushes at point pelee (an incredible sight). There were also masses of saddleback dragon flies today on their migration....it was a good day and large flocks of most common birds to that area passed through. There were also lots of yellow/brown warblers but I was not skilled enough to identify them as they flitted around and then took off again!
On the 18th I visited Toronto (more retail therapy!) and on 19th took the big drive from Leamington to Owen sound. I saw over 40+ broadwings on route making their way south as I went north, large skeens of canada geese were also flying south.
20th September - I travelled around the Bruce Penninsula from 730am til 9pm and clocked up over 200 miles and a few worrying moments about my tyres. At this point I will tell you that I hired an economy car! they were going to give me a smart car but when they saw my face thought better of it and gave me a toyota - Great on fuel but not an off road vehicle. I have never driven in canada before so thought it would be like the UK - big mistake, one road I went down near Lions Head was so full of rocks it was worse than any forest trail that you would take a mountain bike down here! Still there is something about going slow in a car, it affords you more time to look for birds
and luckily there are hardly any road users in that part of the country!So new species that day were a stunning loon on lake huron, gray partridge, turkey vultures on a dead cow (photo looks like it has been taken on the savannah
) at Cabot Head, hairy woodpecker, red breasted nuthatch, red eyed vireo, yellow throated vireo, ravens, common mergansers and lots of warblers too quick for me to identify. Rumour had it that there was a Bear there the night before, so I was careful to stay on the paths and near to the visitor centre. At Millars Lake I saw lots of little chipmunks as I had a stop for refreshments and a rest. On the lake near by were 4 loons. Next main stop was Sauble Beach where all the usual gulls, geese were visible along with yellow rumped warbler and pine warblers. Sauble beach is incredible. I kept thinking it would be salty as you have a fab beach and water with waves. But the lake is fresh water and there is no salt...it really was playing on my mind especially as from time to time you see ships go by so you are just waiting to see a dolphin or whale! NOP!
21/9 Another big drive from Owen Sound to Paradise in Michigan via Tobermary and Saulte Ste Marie. This included a 2 hour ferry ride which gave me time to rest and have some food on board and give my poor little motor a rest too. It was looking like it had been round the world and back from all the dust from the off road driving.
The scenery from the Bruce Penninsula up to Spanish and around to the US border is spectacular. Prior to this it had been rather flat, wooded and I had by and large followed the lake shore. This was becoming more rugged with gentle hills and sparkling blue lakes dotted all over the place. Of course I had to keep stopping to check the ducks out (my favorite type of birds) so was constantly on the side of the road hence why the journey took from 8am til 11pm! Anyway new birds on the way apart from those already mentioned: Dark eyed junco, semi palmated plover, american golden plover, white throated sparrow and ring necked ducks Just outside of paradise and going 30mph for fear of a moose or bear jumping out of me ran a WOLF! It was so chunky and fit it was unreal. Not scrawny like the ones in zoos or animal reserves. It was one of those once in a lifetime moments. Very special. By the way I didnt see a moose or bear all trip!22/9 A short drive to whitefish point and I managed to catch up with the bird ringers and spotters who work for the observatory at the point. The two guys were really friendly, and I spent some time with them counting migrating wildfowl. Again, sadly unusual weather patterns had diluted the migration at this time of the year and we all suspect hurrican Ike had a lot to answer for. Anyway new species of the day were: Pine siskin, lesser chipmunk, philadelphia vireos, white winged scooters red breasted loons, buff breasted sandpiper, 2 white tailed deer. Many thanks to Chris and Tim - Birders on the point.
23/9 I did the tourist thing again and visited some nearby falls and on the way spotted 2 beautiful hooded mergansers. At both the upper and lower falls there were lots of birds calling but I didnt manage to see any. The canopy was still very thick (my excuse) . The fall colours of the trees were starting to turn and the drive around the area was superb.
24/9 I spent most of the day driving south to Saignaw my final stop before I saw my friend. I kept going on and off the Interstate 75 so as to see some of the local countryside and get a feeling of Haiawatha country.
25/9 Up early and off to Saignaw Bay conservation area. I was the only one there until a guy turned up and said that he was there to improve the water levels on the lakes and check the sluices. Mmm I thought he must be a ranger. So I asked , nope, he owned the fields around the conservation area and was getting reading for the hunting season! When I asked if he had seen any blue winged teal, nope hadnt shot one in 6 yrs
unreal or what!Anyway a couple of hours at this little conservation place rewarded me with the following new species: redwinged blackbird, a swimming racoon, house wren, savannah sparrows and a least bittern! I then went on to the Saignassee (?spelling) Nature Reserve and saw horned lark and a great close up of a red tailed hawk.26/9 more retail therapy at fab designer factory outlet place near Birch run south on Interstate 75 and then onto my friends in Livornia. I stayed there a couple of days (humming bird in garden) before making the drive back to toronto via Winsor and London Ontario
29/9 From London to Toronto via Hawk Cliff (just outside of Port stanley). Met up with some fab Hawk Spotters/counters - Many thanks again to Colin who gave me such a warm welcome. Hawk cliff is recognised as one of the prime autumn migration hawk watching destinations in Nth America. I could only stay a few hours (as had a plane to catch) but in those few hours I lost count of the number of kestrals and sharpies going through. The guys knew the difference between the local bald headed eagle and the migrating ones and the same with the turkey vultures! It was a great sight to behold and also great fun listening to the guy's banter and how they enjoyed their task. Other birds spotted on the way to the airport: American widgeon, northern shovler and sandhill cranes
Everyone has assured me that May is the best time to go to Point Pelee and I intend to take a look soon. However, I must say the hawks were fabulous and I felt so priviledged to have seen them and a big thanks again to all the birders that I met
