Point Pelee and Ohio
Spring 2011

It's no myth. The songbirds really do drip from the trees in Ohio and Ontario. Tired migrants were plentiful and close enough to touch at the famed Magee Marsh in nothern Ohio and at Ontario's legendary Point Pelee National Park. You know something big is brewing when, in your first stop at Magee Marsh, the big willow next to your parking spot is loaded with a dozen Cape May Warblers. To the right is a heady montage from just a portion of the warbler show.

This trip offered more than point-blank songbirds. True to Bryan's birdwatching mission, participants studied and learned the finer points of shorebird and tern identification, we visited a delightful prairie preserve for Lark Sparrows and striking butterflies, and we even found a rare month-of-May Iceland Gull while Bryan made sense of gull identification for trip participants. Among the major highlights:

• The airborne giants -- Trumpeter Swan and Sandhill Crane
• Both cuckoo species in one day
• Six vireo species, including Bell's Vireo
• Yellow-headed Blackbird
• 31 warbler species, including Prothonotary, Kentucky and Cerulean. (By the way, our Cerulean views were impecable, far better than the head shot represented in the montage to the right; Bryan, intent on finding birds, was without his camera for much of this trip.)

DUCKS, GEESE, and SWANS
  Canada Goose
  Mute Swan
  Trumpeter Swan
  Wood Duck
  Gadwall
  American Black Duck
  Mallard
  Blue-winged Teal
  Northern Shoveler
  Northern Pintail
  Ring-necked Duck
  Greater Scaup
  Lesser Scaup
  Surf Scoter
  White-winged Scoter
  Hooded Merganser
  Common Merganser
  Red-breasted Merganser
  Ruddy Duck
PARTRIDGES, GROUSE, TURKEYS
  Wild Turkey
LOONS
  Common Loon
GREBES
  Pied-billed Grebe
CORMORANTS
  Double-crested Cormorant
BITTERNS and HERONS
  Great Blue Heron
  Great Egret
  Green Heron
  Black-crowned Night-Heron
NEW WORLD VULTURES
  Turkey Vulture
KITES, HAWKS and EAGLES
  Osprey
  Bald Eagle
  Sharp-shinned Hawk
  Cooper's Hawk
  Broad-winged Hawk
  Red-tailed Hawk
FALCONS
  American Kestrel
  Peregrine Falcon
RAILS, GALLINULES and COOTS
  Sora
  Virginia Rail
  (We've seen King Rail on a previous trip here)
  Common Moorhen
  American Coot
CRANES
  Sandhill Crane
PLOVERS
  Black-bellied Plover
  Semipalmated Plover
  Killdeer
SANDPIPERS and PHALAROPES
  Spotted Sandpiper
  Solitary Sandpiper
  Greater Yellowlegs
  Lesser Yellowlegs
  Ruddy Turnstone
  Semipalmated Sandpiper
  Least Sandpiper
  Dunlin
  Short-billed Dowitcher
  American Woodcock
  Wilson's Phalarope
GULLS and TERNS
  Bonaparte's Gull
  Ring-billed Gull
  Herring Gull
  Iceland Gull
  Great Black-backed Gull
  Caspian Tern
  Black Tern
  Common Tern
  Forster's Tern
PIGEONS and DOVES
  Rock Pigeon
  Mourning Dove
CUCKOOS
  Yellow-billed Cuckoo
  Black-billed Cuckoo
OWLS
  Eastern Screech-Owl
  Great Horned Owl
GOATSUCKERS
  Common Nighthawk
  Whip-poor-will
SWIFTS
  Chimney Swift
HUMMINGBIRDS
  Ruby-throated Hummingbird
KINGFISHERS
  Belted Kingfisher
WOODPECKERS
  Red-headed Woodpecker
  Red-bellied Woodpecker
  Downy Woodpecker
  Hairy Woodpecker
  Northern Flicker
FLYCATCHERS
  Eastern Wood-Pewee
  Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
  Willow Flycatcher
  Least Flycatcher
  Eastern Phoebe
  Great Crested Flycatcher
  Eastern Kingbird
VIREOS
  Bell's Vireo
  Yellow-throated Vireo
  Blue-headed Vireo
  Warbling Vireo
  Philadelphia Vireo
  Red-eyed Vireo
JAYS and CROWS
  Blue Jay
  American Crow
LARKS
  Horned Lark
SWALLOWS
  Purple Martin
  Tree Swallow
  Northern Rough-winged Swallow
  Bank Swallow
  Barn Swallow
CHICKADEES and TITMICE
  Black-capped Chickadee
  Tufted Titmouse
NUTHATCHES
  Red-breasted Nuthatch
  White-breasted Nuthatch
CREEPERS
  Brown Creeper
WRENS
  Carolina Wren
  House Wren
  Marsh Wren
KINGLETS
  Golden-crowned Kinglet
  Ruby-crowned Kinglet
GNATCATCHERS
  Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
THRUSHES
  Eastern Bluebird
  Veery
  Gray-cheeked Thrush
  Swainson's Thrush
  Hermit Thrush
  Wood Thrush
  American Robin
MOCKINGBIRDS and THRASHERS
  Gray Catbird
STARLINGS
  European Starling
PIPITS
  American Pipit
WAXWINGS
  Cedar Waxwing
WOOD-WARBLERS
  Blue-winged Warbler
  Tennessee Warbler
  Orange-crowned Warbler
  Nashville Warbler
  Northern Parula
  Yellow Warbler
  Chestnut-sided Warbler
  Magnolia Warbler
  Cape May Warbler
  Black-throated Blue Warbler
  Yellow-rumped Warbler
  Black-throated Green Warbler
  Blackburnian Warbler
  Yellow-throated Warbler
  Pine Warbler
  Palm Warbler
  Bay-breasted Warbler
  Blackpoll Warbler
  Cerulean Warbler
  Black-and-white Warbler
  American Redstart
  Prothonotary Warbler
  Ovenbird
  Northern Waterthrush
  Louisiana Waterthrush
  Kentucky Warbler
  Mourning Warbler
  Common Yellowthroat
  Hooded Warbler
  Wilson's Warbler
  Canada Warbler
TANAGERS
  Summer Tanager
  Scarlet Tanager
SPARROWS and ALLIES
  Eastern Towhee
  Chipping Sparrow
  Field Sparrow
  Lark Sparrow
  Savannah Sparrow
  Song Sparrow
  Lincoln's Sparrow
  Swamp Sparrow
  White-throated Sparrow
  White-crowned Sparrow
  Dark-eyed Junco
CARDINALS and GROSBEAKS
  Northern Cardinal
  Rose-breasted Grosbeak
  Indigo Bunting
BLACKBIRDS
  Red-winged Blackbird
  Yellow-headed Blackbird
  Common Grackle
  Brown-headed Cowbird
  Orchard Oriole
  Baltimore Oriole
FINCHES and ALLIES
  House Finch
  American Goldfinch
  House Sparrow

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