Day 1 - May 10, '08 - Lifer! Mottled Duck

When my alarm went off at 6:00am on my first day, I had one thought on my mind: Mottled Duck. Throwing together everything as quickly as humanly possible, I hopped into the silver bullet. That's what Marianne calls my family's Ford Windstar when it's used as a birding vehicle...mostly because it does a lot of speeding for rarities. Years ago, when a stunning 'orange' Ruff was present at Wheatley Harbour, I drove 140 without my license to see the bird. Well, I'm a bit smarter nowadays (back then I was in highschool, you see) and as surprising as it might sound, I do put more value on my life than a lifer.

Well, good news. I saw the bird!!! When I got to the shorebird cell, Kevin Maclaughlin was already there and we started to scan for the bird. Eventually we found a bird that looked good and after careful study of the appropriate field marks (thin neck, darker overall body tone than female Mallard, black pockmark at the gape, and warm, buffy throat), I added one more species to my life list. Fortunately, the bird stuck around for my entire week home to I got quit a few good looks with better lighting on later days. This bird is certainly out of its range (Florida and the Gulf Coast) and it's thought that it probably joined up with a flock of Black Ducks or Mallards and made its way north). Whether the bird will be accepted by the OBRC is the next question, but I doubt they won't accept this one. The bird had no leg bands, it's not tame, and it looked and acted like a wild bird to me). This was the first time this species has ever been seen in Canada so it was definitely one of the highlights of my week off at Pelee. Also nice was a trio of Cackling Geese that was swimming in the shorebird cell near the Mottled Duck. Not a bad start.

My first day was a mix of heavy birding and visiting. Seeing as I was out of Pelee last May, there were friends I hadn't seen for over a year, which meant a lot of catching up.

Here's the day's list:

Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Mute Swan - a single bird in the shorebird cell
Tundra Swan - a bird has been hanging out on Concession E for quite some time apparently. Maybe it's an injured bird?
Wood Duck
American Wigeon
American Black Duck
Mottled Duck - !!!!!!!!!!!
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Redhead - a single bird in the shorebird cell at Hillman
Lesser Scaup - a lingering pair at the shorebird cell
Red-breasted Merganser
Ring-necked Pheasant - heard at Hillman
Common Loon - 2 birds flying over the shorebird cell towards the lake
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Green Heron - a single bird at the north dyke on Concession E
Turkey Vulture
*Northern Harrier - I saw this bird outside of the Pelee birding circle so couldn't count it on my day list
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk - flying over the Visitor Center parking lot in Pelee
Sandhill Crane - heard calling from the back of the Nature Trail
Black-bellied Plover - at least a thousand flying off the east side of the tip
American Golden-Plover - a single bird at the Shorebird Cell
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Semipalmated Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Phalarope - a male bird at the Cell
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Caspian Tern
Black Tern
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Chimney Swift
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Least Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Yellow-throated Vireo - I don't know if I just got lucky, but I saw so many Yellow-throated Vireo's this year. I felt spoiled!
Warbling Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Purple Martin - this was my 100th bird for the day
Tree Swallow
*Northern Rough-winged Swallow - seen outside the Pelee Circle
Cliff Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Wood Thrush
American Robin
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
European Starling
Tennessee Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Northern Parula
Yellow Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Prothonotary Warbler - 2 birds, male and female at the Woodland Nature Trail bridges. The Nature Trail was the place to be for passerines on Saturday. There was a great diversity and abundance of warblers at the water areas on the trail.
Ovenbird
Northern Waterthrush
Louisiana Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Wilson's Warbler
Canada Warbler
Scarlet Tanager - it took me until midway through the week to see a male!
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
*Vesper Sparrow - 2 birds outside of the Pelee Birding Circle. I never did end up getting this species within the circle, which is always frustrating.
Savannah Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
*Bobolink - this was one of my most frustrating species! For all the effort, I never saw or heard a single bird within the Pelee Circle during my week off.
Red-winged Blackbird
Rusty Blackbird - Woodland Trail is always reliable for this species
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Oriole
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Total Species: 113
Total Warblers: 20 (I think this was my best warbler day in fact)