Point Pelee Revisited

I’m out early, walking the trails, enjoying the morning air perfumed with Sweet Cicely, which white flowers carpet sections of the woods. Vaguely, eucalyptus-like, to me at any rate. Bird song everywhere too. Magical. Not much moving in the bushes yet. I have hopes for the boardwalk. No wind this morning and the light is great – photographer’s light. Somewhere in the reeds, a Green Heron squawks reveille and various sparrows kick in. I’d like to linger but it’s time to go. I’m meeting my brother at the Visitor’s Center and I know the parking this time of year will be brutal.

Point Pelee Woodland

Point Pelee Boardwalk

What the early morning light reveals

White-throated Sparrow

V and I were here last fall but most of the warblers had departed, and the forest green, so vibrant now had muted. Scads of Sharp-shinned Hawks overflying the peninsula didn’t help the birding much but you take what you can get.

Timing is everything with birds – when they’re gone they’re gone. Right now, they’re here. Just. Many migrants have already passed through on their way to the Boreal Forest. Not all the Blackburnian Warblers though. One pops up beside the path. A favourite of mine, the Blackburnian. Striking little bird.

Blackburnian Warbler

This year Baltimore Orioles seem to be the flavour of the day. Now that the sun is up, they’re everywhere, flashing orange, black and yellow in the canopy. Yellow Warblers are also abundant, lisping out their ‘sweet, sweet, sweet, I’m so sweet song’ from every thicket. Brother Steve makes the discovery of the day – a Common Nighthawk snoozing on a branch, it’s chest covered with cryptic hieroglyphs. Out at the tip, a squadron of Common Terns have found something interesting. Delicate, pretty birds, agile on the wing. They’re hungry and so, reminded, are we. Time for lunch!

Common Terns

Eastern Painted Turtle

Baltimore Oriole

Common Nighthawk