Point Pelee National Park, Ontario, Canada
Day 1~ Off We Go!
“Where are you from and what brings you to Canada?” the customs agent asks. “We will be visiting Point Pelee National Park.” “What’s in Point Pelee?” the curious man wants to know. “Elusive birds. It’s a bird watchers’ paradise,” I say. “You came all the way from California to look for birds?” The agent gives me a puzzled look and stamps our passports.
We arrive in Leamington 2 hours later, barely on time to buy groceries at Fresh Co. I can’t help thinking that I am back in California because of all the school busses dropping off field workers at the store. By the time we finish shopping, it is 9:30 pm and we are famished. Unfortunately, the only place that is still open is A&W.
We check in at the Best Western, a hotel with a giant indoor recreation area and pool, and go straight to bed because we have an early start tomorrow.
Day 2 ~ A Gorgeous, Chilly Day
Five am! The alarm beeps! Reluctantly, Bert rolls out of bed. He wants to be at the park by 6 and I decide to sleep a little longer. There’s no way I’m getting up at 2 am California time to find birds! I’m not that dedicated! Around 10, Bert picks me up. He told me the lines at the entrance and at the shuttle that morning were horrendous. This time, however, we whiz through.
Our first stop is the Marsh Boardwalk, a tranquil and peaceful 1/2 mile trail. We revel in the floating Lilly pads, wavering cat tails, and nesting Bald Eagles.
From here, we make our way to the visitor center. My goodness! There are so many people here! We decide to leave the crowds behind and eat lunch on the quiet shores of Lake Erie. Bert tells me all about his trip out to The Tip this morning and how birds literally dropped out of the sky, happy to see land and exhausted from crossing the lake.
We don’t feel like standing in line for the shuttle and simply walk the trail that leads to the point. It turns out that this little stretch of woods provides excellent birding. Tons of warblers are hiding in the trees! On top of that, it is a gorgeous, albeit chilly, day.
In the afternoon, it’s rather quiet at The Tip and we are able to take a picture of just us. The migratory birds left the stretch of land and most likely moved on to the nearby woods.
Around 5 pm, we take the shuttle back to the visitor center and leave the park. We stop at Freddy’s to eat dinner and order the clam chowder and the gobies. We are served a sizzling plate with 4 tiny pieces of fish. No sides, no nothing! We ask for some bread and they bring us a few triangular slices of pita bread. Huh? My European gastronomical brain cannot grasp this!
Day 3 ~ Twitchers Everywhere!
We have a fairly late start today because of the rain and don’t reach the park until 8 am. We are shuttled to The Tip but see no birds on the sand because it is so windy. Lake Erie looks wild with the huge waves crashing on the shore. We decide to walk back to the visitor center and start by exploring the Tip Trail first. From here, we make our way to the Woodland Nature Trail, were we hike protected from the icy cold wind. Everywhere we look are twitchers trying to catch that one elusive “lifer”.
Hopping on tree branches in search of food, we spot a Bay-breasted Warbler. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I see a bright nonage flash. It is a Blackburnian Warbler male showing off its fiery orange throat. A little further down the path, a group of birders point out a fairly large lump on a tree branch. It is the excellently camouflaged Chuck-will’s-widow, a type of flat-headed night jar. How cool!
We connect to the Tilden Woods Trail, a 1 km trail on a boardwalk and well-maintained trail that leads us through mature swamp forest. Here, every birder is searching for the Prothonotary Warbler. It proves difficult to find this small bird with its yellow head. but we don’t give up easily and find the bird hopping along twigs close by the water’s edge. Cha Ching! Bert just scored a lifer! To top it off, he ends up seeing 3!
All of a sudden, in the swamp, right next to a fallen tree trunk, I spot movement. On the mud, a Solitary Sandpiper is nervously bopping up and down because it feels threatened by all the people. we have a good look at it before it quickly flies away.
All we ate for breakfast was cake and fruit so needless to say we are pretty hungry. Luckily there are hot dogs and soup for sale at the visitor center. A cup of hot tea is welcoming too!
After lunch, it is back to Detroit, where we catch an evening flight back to San Francisco. This were a fun and crazy but too short 3 days!