July 26, 2008
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Black-throated Blue Warbler
One of the first birds I saw the first time I visited Point Pelee National Park was a black-throated blue warbler. I was amazed and awed. Conservationists have recently made a profound discovery while obseving these birds as they nest. Males of this species sing, not only during courtship and nestbuilding, they sing throughout the summer as well duing the time they are raising their young. Single males who are not paired with females stop singing after failing to get a female. However, these males spend the rest of the summer observing what successful pairs have done right. A conservationist decided to play courting songs of these birds in areas that had poorer habitat choices. The next year several pairs nested in that area. The amazing conclusion was that these warblers, and perhaps many other species, choose nesting sites, not based on habitat selection, but on the approval of site choice by other pairs who have raised young there. Good sites in habitat did not necessarily yield observations of nesting. Only those sites which had had singing pairs before. Most incredible!
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Another favorite of mine is the hooded warbler. I observed a pair of hooded warblers a few years ago in our local wildlife reserve. I was excited beyond belief as it was uncommon to see them at all in that place.
An aerial view of Point Pelee national park in southwestern Ontario. (CP file photo)
This is the way I remember the tip of Point Pelee (seen here from the point, facing the peninsula).
I have camped at Pte. Pelee many many times, before moving to the East. This is where I learned the bulk of my repertoire of songbirds. Point Pelee is the southernmost tip of Canada, and about 40 miles southeast of Windsor, Ontario and Detroit.
ADDED: [Pte. Pelee is the southernmost tip of Canada. The very long narrow point of this peninsula, the non-vegetated sandy part, has encountered some significant problems in recent years. Even during the years I visited the park point could be vastly different from year to year. Often the sandy point after a nasty winter had eroded to almost nothing, only to be reincarnated a year or two later. During most years of my visits, a line of birders would stretch across the sand a few hundred meters from the tip to watch for unsual shorebirds. Many were almost always seen. This line of birders, for the most part, would include people with telescopes and spotting scopes. Only high powered binoculars were strong enough to recognize species from such a distance. Observers nearly always were more than willing to share their finds, however. Over many of the decades of the 20th century, sand excavating took place offshore in areas near the park. The result today is that the sandy long point is probably a sad relic of the past. The tip has receeded even into the vegetated areas. I have not visited this park since my relocation to the east coast. I am sure it would look vastly different to me now.
Point Pelee National Park is a really great place for an interested but inexperienced birder to visit. There are thousands of users from late april to mid/late may of all levels of experience with birding. Always people are willing to help spot and identify migrating birds. The whole peninsula juts into Lake Eire from the Canadian side. Slightly visible when looking across the lake from the park is the large Pelle Island in the miidle of the lake. The park is directly across from Sandusky Ohio, famous for it’s Cedar Point Amusement Park. Migrating birds usually fly at night. If they have had a tough flight, depending on weather patterns, you might be able to get as close to tiny warblers as you would in any other place in North America. Often during migration peaks, the park will be loaded with newly arrived songbirds. It is such a delight. Many very high-level professional people are more than happy to help a novice.
Over about 9-13 years, often making visits 2 or 3 times per year, I obseved that the park and area were highly used prior to birding peaks (march/april), by smelt fishermen. I felt like I wanted to be there for that, however, I was not able to do that. Smelt dippers would get smelt by the bucketfulls during smelting spawns along sandy shorelines. After birding season, and during Canadian holidays close to our own Memorial weekend, Sun worshipers and vacationers would descend by the thousands. Constant action at Point Pelee Park. Reverse bird migrations in the fall are interesting for those interested in the more drab winter plumages of songbirds. Reverse migration, however, is over a much wider span of time. Fall is really the good time for raptor visitations. Hawk migrations can be stunning! This is always paralelled by migrating butterflies (monarchs).
Below are pictures of smelt dipping:
A bogger’s comment:
Smelt are kind of like little fried gold fish that taste like potato chips.
They ARE pretty tasty.
Water and sun worshippers at Pte. Pelee…
Comments (4)
its very pointy! and the birds are really cool
That looks like a great time.
Awesome photographs!
o-oh. how did the cut-the-fat ad sneak in your post?
birds didn’t just descend from dinosaurs. birds ARE dinosaurs!