Monday, April 26, 2010

April Birding

I had a couple of hours to kill today so I went to Point Pelee. It was 4:00pm so I decided to bird West Beach and north to almost the park gates.

At NorthWest Beach I met Bob Cermak, Mike Tate, and Caroline. They had an okay day and said they saw a Louisiana Waterthrush, lots of Yellow-rumped Warblers and a Black-throated Green Warbler today. I birded with Bob Cermak and Caroline and Bob showed me where they planted some grass seed at the parking lot. About 20 White-throated Sparrows were feeding on the seeds along with a Song Sparrow. We also saw 2 Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, a Nashville Warbler, 3 Yellow-rumped Warblers, a couple of Hermit Thrushes, and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. We then parted ways and I birded by myself.

Along the NorthWest Beach Parking Lot I picked up a male Black-and White Warbler, a Field Sparrow, 3 more Yellow-rumped Warblers and another Hermit Thrush. I then drove north to the old administration parking lot and walked along the beach there. Here I had a male Yellow Warbler, a male Black-and-white Warbler, 8 Yellow-rumped Warblers, 2 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 2 Flickers, 1 Downy Woodpecker, 3 Chipping Sparrows, 1 male Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, and 4 Palm Warblers. One of these was a "Yellow" Palm Warbler, having the entire underparts yellow and bold streaks down the side.

"Western" Palm Warbler (left) and "Yellow" Palm Warbler (right). Image from Sibley's Field Guide to Birds of North America.

Saw my first dragonfly for the year as well, though I couldn't get an ID on it. The only butterfly I saw was a Cabbage White.

So not to bad for a couple of hours of birding. I think if we get some wind from the south it will start getting even more exciting! Let the May Madness commence!!

3 comments:

  1. Hi Marianne,

    I'll update my blog with your new address. See you at Pelee!

    Paul

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  2. Beautiful new layout. I want to revamp my own blog like this. Can't believe how many warblers you're already getting. I only have Yellow-rumped and Palm so far this year!

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  3. Marianne, you had many more birds on Monday in two hours than I did all morning Saturday! Weekdays are always better.
    Nice you got the "yellow" Palm Warbler. I have seen them in both spring and fall. I had one at Rondeau last fall.
    See you soon!

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