Saturday, May 8, 2010

The Biggest Week in American Birding...from Canada?

Wild Turkeys doing that Wild Turkey thing up a tree...
It's Canada, no Thanksgiving Day feast to worry about up here!

I know, it's been a while since I posted. The weather at the BirdMobile hasn't been conducive to getting an internet connection. Friday night we had tornado warnings and today is a real windy day at Magee Marsh. I had a table set up for a short time, but the tent started to blow away with the Doodles still hanging on. So, for today, I'm giving up and sitting in the car posting at last.

You're probably wondering why this first post from BWIAB is about Canada...or not. We took a boat trip across Lake Erie to Point Pelee Park in Ottawa to catch a few warblers or anything else with wings... The weather was good that day, no sea sickness! The birding was a little quiet, a good number of species, but single birds. Well, here's a few photos before my battery goes dead!
Enjoy!

There are always plenty of Yellow Warblers singing from the tree tops...though this guy doesn't appear to be singing right now...

Oooohh...a Scarlet Tanager! We also saw a female along with a gang of other males trying to put the moves on her!

You may think you know what this bird is, but you may be wrong!
It's a Red-headed "Weedpicker!"
That's what happens to woodpeckers that are afraid of heights...

You can tell the male and female Red-bellied Woodpeckers by their bills...the females is open,
the males is very closed...very, very closed. Smart bird, eh?

We spotted a few Northern Waterthrushes in the area...and this one even stood still!

These three Dunlin zoomed in and zoomed out before anyone else saw them. I was lucky enough to get one shot!

I managed to spot two different Blue-gray Gnatcatchers building nests!

Hundreds of Barn Swallow were circling around one of the nature centers...and a couple even sat for their portraits.

For now I'll leave you with this parting shot of a Baltimore Oriole.

I helped push a van(Matt Mendenhall's of Birders World Mag) out of the mud here at our vendor area and managed to get myself covered in mud. All in all an exciting day so far! When I recharge the batteries, download more birdy butts and get organized, I post more details!

4 comments:

  1. So lucky!! and I know exactly where that Barn Swallow is nesting! have lots of fun!Oh, and fyi, the little picture of me that accompanies the comments was taken right at the very point of Pelee!

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  2. Hi Susan, I figured I was in Canada and I looked for you, didn't see you...

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  3. Nice images here... the Barn Swallow image is a winner!!

    Regards,
    Angad

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