Back to the Island

I flew to Pelee Island today to meet up with Ken and my parents.  The day was fairly slow but we did get one really awesome bird- a very unexpected Purple Sandpiper!  Amazingly, this is my third spring Purple Sandpiper, with another bird that I found at Alfred Sewage Lagoons last spring (May 28), and one bird at Cobourg Harbour on May 29, 2009. Here are some pics of today's bird:

Purple Sandpiper is much more likely in late fall, and much more likely further east in Ontario (Presqu'ile and Niagara in November/December are the traditional times/locations.  Interestingly, Michael Butler had another spring Purple Sandpiper about a week ago. There was some speculation that that bird may have overwintered on Lake Superior.  Today's bird was definitely traveling with a flock of newly arrived shorebirds.

Since it was nice and sunny I was hoping for some interesting insects.  The winds were wrong but there was a nice variety of expected butterflies with the "best" being this Gray Hairstreak:

Here's the full eBird checklist for today on the island. And who could resist posting a photo of a Fox Squirrel:

More from Pelee Island

Spent most of today again on Pelee Island with Ken.  We racked up another decent list considering the persistent cool temperatures and north/east winds putting a damper on migration.  New birds for me for the year were Sora (Fish Point first thing), Ovenbird (singing at Sheridan's Point), Black-and-white Warbler (along west shore road), and Red-headed Woodpecker (along west shore road).  You can have a look at the full eBird checklist for the day.

The highlight of the day was again one of the Yellow-throated Warblers that have been present since Ken arrived.  Ken heard the second one just before we saw this one at the pump house:

Here are some other photos of actual birds from the island today.

You know it's slow when...

Some nice and close Red-breasted Mergansers today

Ken claims there are "lots" of pheasants this year but I didn't see that many

Decent numbers of Hermit Thrushes this weekend

A few vultures around

A woodcock camouflaged with its surroundings

young eagle

And a few non-birds:

Fox Squirrel

Fair numbers of Question Marks and Red Admirals today

Syrphid to identify...

Got a couple more shots from the plane too:

Middle Point

Lighthouse Point and Scudder

Point Pelee

I'm back on solid land so hopefully things don't get too crazy this week...