May 3, 2009 - DAY ONE

The alarm goes off at 4:45am. It's dark outside and there's a chill in the room as I get out from under the warmth of my comforter. It's day one and I'm more excited than any other day of the year. Two full weeks of extensive birding and days full of excitement, nervousness, exhaustion, and a great group of people sharing the same passion together.

Marianne and I arrived at Pelee just before the 6am train to the tip. Things weren't especially happening on my first day but since every migrant was new for me, I had a great time. The list has begun. I figure I'll go for 175 species to tie my record of last year...as always, I have my doubts but once I start to get close, I'll put in all the effort necessary to achieve the goal.

The weather was pretty gorgeous today but not many new migrants came through apparently. However, there were still some warbler pockets here and there, it was a 3-Scoter day, which was a nice touch, and of course, it provided a chance to visit with friends I haven't seen for a year in some cases.

Some highlights:

Last year, Marianne and I heard a Yellow Warbler who had an addition to its regular song. The standard bird will give a quick, high-pitched, bursting sweet, sweet, sweet, I'm so sweet!!!. This pompous male gave a sweet, sweet, sweet, I'm so sweet SWEET!!!. So this year, we're at the tip and I turn to Marianne and say, you know what I hope we hear this year? That extra-sweet Yellow Warbler. Within A SECOND (we're talking like right after I said it), we hear sweet, sweet, sweet, I'm so sweet SWEET!!!. We nearly died on the spot. The chances of this occurring are millions to one.

Some bird highlights include a female Prothonotary Warbler on the Woodland Trail, all three Scoter species, a large flock of Black-bellied Plovers in the Onion Fields and Shorebird Cell, a Philadelphia Warbler near the park entrance, and an unexpected surprise when Marianne dropped me off at home.

We pulled in and Marianne suddenly pointed and asked what happened to this House Sparrow. It was hanging by a string that it had wrapped around its leg and couldn't fly up to a branch or break free. Next thing we knew, a Common Grackle, an omnivorous species that is known to kill baby birds right in the nest, showed up and started to stab the sparrow with its beak!! I've never seen behaviour like this and it was so interesting to see a Grackle take on a dying sparrow like that. The Grackle eventually left when my Dad got sentimental and saved the sparrow, but nonetheless, it was really interesting behaviour.

Oh, and the other highlight? We got to over 100 species! Around 4:30, we were eating supper and realized we were at 85 birds for the day so we toughed it out and kept birding at Hillman Marsh to get to 100. Later that night, in Wheatley, I got a couple more birds for the day including Chimney Swift and a Red-tailed Hawk just outside of town.

The list:

Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Northern Shoveler
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Greater Scaup
Lesser Scaup
Surf Scoter
White-winged Scoter
Black Scoter
Surf Scoter
Bufflehead
Red-breasted Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Ring-necked Pheasant
Common Moorhen
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Lesser Yellowlegs
Dunlin
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Caspian Tern
Forster's Tern
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Wood Pewee
Eastern Phoebe
Least Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird
Philadelphia Vireo
White-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo
Blue Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Chimney Swift
Purple Martin
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
American Robin
Wood Thrush
Veery
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Brown Thrasher
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Northern Parula
Northern Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Northern Waterthrush
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Cardinal
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Indigo Bunting
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Brown-headed Cowbird
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Baltimore Oriole
Orchard Oriole
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Total Species: 105