Pelee Melee

Rusty Blackbird Euphagus carolinus

Belted Kingfisher Megaceryle alcyon

Belted Kingfisher Megaceryle alcyon

Belted Kingfisher Megaceryle alcyon

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Archilochus colubris

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Archilochus colubris
(oddly-marked about the head, I thought)

Palm Warbler Setophaga palmarum

Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus

Sanderling Calidris alba with
Ring-billed Gull Larus delawarensis

Lesser Black-backed Gulls Larus fuscus
(and friends)

Monarch Danaus plexippus

Woodland Nature Trail

The Tip

I was briefly the southernmost person in mainland Canada

The Zissou, at the Tip

Dan tries The Zissou

The Marsh Boardwalk

Point Pelee National Park, Ontario, September 26, 2022

  Dan and I have been planning to go to Point Pelee together for a very long time. We most recently had a trip planned and booked in 2016, but it was scuppered at the last minute. So when Dan got access to his brother’s fancy car and some time off, we jumped on the opportunity. Life is short, after all. The trip wasn’t solely a birding trip, as there were many side quests to complete, but Pelee was the destination, in my mind. We only had a day there, which was definitely not enough. While I felt like I could have birded for weeks there, it was awesome to finally get a feel for the legendary birding location. There will definitely be a return trip at some point.

  The morning started off slowly in the Woodland Nature Trail at dawn, with faint calls from reticent birds barely audible over the deafening winds. Things picked up when we turned back north and got into some of the swampier, more open bits.

  Among the Spotted Touch-me-nots, we had an oddly-marked Ruby-throated Hummingbird. It had white markings on its forehead, and a dark stripe in the middle of its throat. I’m guessing the white was possibly pollen, and the throat markings were just some vestigial breeding plumage.

  The next spot we birded was the Tip, which we reached via a train-truck shuttle thing. It was neat to be the southernmost human in mainland Canada, if only for a few moments. The wind at the Tip was a marvellous, brutal, soul-cleansing onslaught, and it was hard to stand up straight against its power.

  Several Lesser Black-backed Gulls were seen tucked in among the more common gulls there, a long-awaited lifer. Sanderlings darted between the roosting gulls, using them for shelter from the wind. There were thin warbler ripples at the Sparrow Field Footpath, and back along the beach. Monarchs were found clumped up on trees at the Tip, clinging on tenaciously with their powerful little…feet? Paws? Talons?

  The last spot we birded at Pelee was the Marsh Boardwalk. At the boardwalk’s conclusion, we ran into a small squadron of Rusty Blackbirds. We got great looks at the much-declining species, as they skulked in the low vegetation. Lovely birds.

  Near the parking lot at the marsh, I had the misfortune of encountering the rudest birder ever. As we crossed paths, I quietly gave her a standard birder greeting: “See anything interesting this morning?” She hissed “BIRDS!” at me, then turned away like I’d slapped her, made some confusing and dismissive arm gestures at me, then loped away in a huff. Maybe I ran into a famous ‘local character,’ who knows.

  The Pelee day ended with 57-ish species (9 warbler sp.), and a vow to return.