August 14th and 15th: The Beach, The Fields, The Park

Hackberry Emperor. If you sweat, they will come! So don't scream and run! Photo by Marianne Balkwill

Had last weekend off so I decided to head out a little bit. Saturday I just checked out Seacliff Beach early in the morning before a storm came in off the lake. More Common Terns were there today than what I have seen so far, along with Forster's Tern, an adult and imm. Caspian Tern, Ring-billed, Herring and of course the Boni's! A single Great Black-backed Gull was new this trip, as were two Osprey including one carrying a fish. One thing I have learned about Seacliff Beach is that you have to get there before 7:30 am, or else people, along with those walking their dogs will walk right through the flock. Some birds do return, some do not. One of the Common Terns today was banded. I wonder from where?

Sunday I returned to the Beach. There were easily 40 Common Terns, a few Forster's, and of course the regulars. One new addition was an imm. Lesser Yellowlegs along the shore. NEAT!

Lesser Yellowlegs juv. You can easily tell it is a juvenile with bold white tips on the scapulars. Photo by Marianne Balkwill

After the beach I decided to check out the onion fields. Very muggy and hazy this morning, however there was still a great view of the fields. Tons of Bonis, along with a Caspian Tern and an imm. Caspian Tern (maybe the same pair that has been frequenting Seacliff Beach?) other highlights include the following:

Least Sandpiper (6 juv)

Semipalmated Plover (2)

Black-bellied Plover (flying over)

Upland Sandpiper (1)
Golden Plover (3 moulting adult)

Killdeer (TONS!!)

Horned Larks (tons)

Next stop was Point Pelee. I wanted to check out the west side but it was pretty windy, so I decided to take the main road, and perhaps run into a pocket of warblers, or a neat butterfly....Well birdlife was pretty minimal and the only butterflies I saw were Summer Azure, Question Mark, Hackberry Emperor and Monarch. Around the 42 parallel sign it was a different story with a few Blackburnian Warblers, an American Redstart, 2 Blue-grey Gnatcatchers, Baltimore Oriole, Yellow Warbler, and an Eastern Wood-Pewee. It was here I met up with Richard Carr and Alan Wormington who said they had a Merlin earlier.

We walked down to the tip. Not much activity but an adult and an immature Great Black-backed Gull right on the tip was neat. 2 Kestrels also flew south as well.

Walking the west beach back for butterflies produced yet again alot of Buckeyes!! Other butterflies included 3 Wild Indigo Dusky Wing,1 Least Skipper, Cabbage Whites, Orange Sulphurs, 1 Clouded Sulphur, Viceroys, Monarchs, Snouts, Crescents, Black Swallowtails, Spicebush Swallowtails, Eastern Tiger Swallowtails, Giant Swallowtails, and the ever awesome Cicada Killers!!!

Wild Indigo Dusky Wing. Photo by Marianne Balkwill.