NORTH AMERICAN SPRING MIGRATION SPECTACULAR POINT PELEE (CANADA) AND MAGEE MARSH (USA) 8-19 MAY 2019

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1 NORTH AMERICAN SPRING MIGRATION SPECTACULAR POINT PELEE (CANADA) AND MAGEE MARSH (USA) 8-19 MAY 2019 TOUR OVERVIEW: The amazing phenomenon of North American spring migration is at its most spectacular in mid-may and to best witness this, nowhere surpasses the shores of Lake Erie, the southernmost of the continent s Great Lakes. Point Pelee is a peninsula which projects south into the lake from Ontario Province in Canada. A magnet for tired migrant birds and on a major flyway, it can be teeming with birds, including up to 30 species of colourful American wood warblers each day, and all in stunning breeding plumage. These are joined by thrushes, orioles, tanagers, and much more, with the trees often dripping with birds especially after a major fallout when weather and fate combine to produce prime landfall conditions. The lake and surrounding areas also host excellent wader and waterfowl habitats adding to the rich variety of species on offer. Almost directly opposite on the southern shore of Lake Erie is Magee Marsh in the State of Ohio, USA. In recent years Magee has become the pretender to Pelee s crown. Here too, mind boggling numbers of migrating birds pause before either crossing the lake or having reached their northern most limits, rest before turning back. Eye-wateringly close views of the birds with wonderful photographic opportunities exist along the famous mile-long boardwalk, which winds through the swamp forest here. Both Pelee and Magee are the self proclaimed warbler capitals of the world and justifiably so in our opinion. However, you don t have to decide which of these iconic places to visit, because we visit BOTH on our trip (and many more great birding sites too), leaving you to decide which is your favourite though we think you will probably be calling it a draw, a photo-finish perhaps! Blackburnian Warbler - daily sightings and simply dazzling!

2 TOUR DESCRIPTION: This 12 day tour begins at Toronto International Airport. We use comfortable hotel accommodation, and will visit several globally acclaimed migration hotspots around Lake Erie. We first spend three nights at Leamington, gateway to Point Pelee, and then cross by a road journey of three hours to the USA for three nights at Port Clinton, a town ideally situated for a visit to Magee Marsh. We then return to Canada for two more nights at Pelee, before heading to Long Point for a further two nights, where we visit the world renowned bird observatory. Here we will join some ringing sessions seeing many birds in the hand, before we head to Toronto and our overnight flight home arriving on the morning of day 12. PHOTOGRAPHIC OPPORTUNITIES: Excellent, with close encounters of many colourful warblers and other species being a daily experience. Miles of varied trails and boardwalks at the various reserves allow for peace and quiet and to escape the birding crowds, which it should be said are impeccably well behaved and friendly. Scarlet Tanager a dashing flame in the tree tops BIRD LIST: Highlights include Trumpeter Swan, Blue-winged Teal, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup, Wood Duck, Wild Turkey, Great Northern Diver, Pied-billed Grebe, Doublecrested Cormorant, American Bittern, Green Heron, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle, Sharpshinned Hawk, Cooper s Hawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Sora, Virginia Rail, Sandhill Crane, American Golden Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Short-billed Dowitcher, American Woodcock, Wilson s Phalarope, Ring-billed Gull, Bonaparte s Gull, Forster s Tern, Yellowbilled and Black-billed Cuckoos, Eastern Screech-owl, Common Nighthawk, Whip-poor-will, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, woodpeckers (Red-headed, Red-bellied, Downy, Hairy, Pileated), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Northern Flicker, Eastern Wood-pewee, flycatchers (Olive-sided, Least, Willow, Alder, Acadian, Great Crested), Eastern Kingbird, vireos (Whiteeyed, Yellow-throated, Warbling, Philadelphia, Red-eyed), Blue Jay, Purple Martin, Tree and

3 Cliff Swallows, Black-capped Chickadee, Red & White-breasted Nuthatches, Marsh Wren, Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Bluebird, thrushes (Grey-cheeked, Swainson s, Hermit, Veery, Wood), American Robin, Grey Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Cedar Waxwing, Northern and Louisiana Waterthrush, warblers (Golden-winged, Blue-winged, Black and White, Prothonotary, Tennessee, Orange-crowned, Nashville, Mourning, Hooded, Cape May, Cerulean, Northern Parula, Magnolia, Bay-breasted, Blackburnian, Yellow, Chestnut-sided, Blackpoll, Black-throated Blue, Palm, Pine, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Green, Canada and Wilson s with chances of the scarcer Connecticut, Kentucky and even Kirtland s), Eastern Towhee, sparrows (Chipping, Clay-coloured, Field, Savannah, Song, Lincoln s, Swamp, White-throated and White-crowned), Summer and Scarlet Tanagers, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Common Grackle, Orchard and Baltimore Orioles, American Goldfinch, Bobolink. Rarities are found each spring, usually southern overshoots, western strays or lingering winter stayers. MAMMALS AND OTHER WILDLIFE: Carolinian Forest and marshland, the principle habitat types in the region, are home to Beaver, Muskrat, Skunk, Racoon, Coyote, Whitetailed Deer, Grey Squirrel (black phase), Least Chipmunk and Eastern Cottontail. With six species of turtle, Bullfrog and Chorus Frog and many butterflies and wild flowers just emerging, there is plenty of other wildlife to enjoy. Red-headed Woodpecker one of several striking woodpecker species we can expect EASE AND PACE: We will breakfast at in order to be out early and spend full days in the field, with midday rests over outdoor picnic lunches or quick siestas at the hotel, dependent upon the level of bird activity. Breaks for coffee/tea will be taken as we feel are needed. Distances covered on foot will not be large (probably only two miles a day and sometimes much less) and we will use the managed trails and boardwalks within the reserves. A shuttle bus operates at Pelee from the main visitor centre to the point and back,

4 enabling us to return to the facilities there (washrooms, refreshments, shops, rest areas) whenever we wish. We will generally be back at the hotel between each day. ACCOMMODATION AND FOOD: Our modern hotels are members of well known global chains, all being of 3 to 4 star standard and each providing queen sized, twin-bedded ensuite rooms. These have been chosen after careful consideration. First-hand experience has shown there is a wide variation in both hotel quality and price in Canada and the USA; lower price equating to poorer quality. By paying a little more, we believe that our hotels will meet your expectations and enhance, rather than detract from, your comfort and enjoyment. Breakfasts are continental style though something hot is always provided (e.g. scrambled eggs, toast). Evening meals are also provided by the hotels, though the menus tend to be limited, so we can choose on the day whether to visit nearby restaurants which will offer a wider selection of food for differing budgets. Lunch will be a picnic lunch or cafe snack. WEATHER: The weather in mid-may is variable (contributing of course to the conditions required for large fallouts). Temperatures will range from around 8 degrees to 20 degrees through the day, depending upon wind direction and strength. We can expect the odd rain shower. Spring is short but towards the end of the trip summer will seem to have arrived. PRICE: The price is 1990 to include all ground transportation in Canada and in the USA, Birding Abroad guiding throughout, quality bed and breakfast accommodation and picnic lunches (starting with breakfast on 9 th and ending with lunch on 18 th ), national park entrance fees. The single room supplement is available on request. To secure a place on this tour, a deposit of 300 is required with your completed booking form.

5 Not included are scheduled international flights, your evening meals and drinks. You should allow approximately 25 a day (in local currency) for evening meals and drinks. Participants will require a Canadian entry visa and US ESTA, both of which take only a few minutes to complete on-line and cost about 5 and 12 respectively. GROUP SIZE: The tour will proceed with 5 group members plus a Birding Abroad leader and maximum group size will be 10 including two leaders. FLIGHTS: Your Birding Abroad leader(s) will be taking a daytime flight from London on May 8 th to arrive in Toronto during the afternoon, details of which will be made known when schedules are available. You can then choose to travel on the same flight. If you decide to travel independently to Canada, you should ensure that your plans dove-tail with the commencement and conclusion of the ground tour at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Return flights from the UK to Toronto start at around 500, depending on airline and seat grading. DAY TO DAY ITINERARY Day 1 May 8 The tour commences at Toronto International airport in the late afternoon. After collecting our hire vehicles, we head south-west through Ontario Province to Point Pelee, where we check into our comfortable hotel. The drive takes about four hours including a refreshment stop en-route, and roadside birds will include Red-tailed Hawks, Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles. Night Leamington. Days 2 and 3 May 9 and 10 Few places can rival the excitement of early morning at Point Pelee, so after breakfast at we will make the 15 minute drive down to the national park. Just approaching the iconic park entrance elicits a sense of real anticipation, as we wonder what numbers and varieties of birds might be waiting for us. The main visitor centre is the hub of live-time information, so regular visits there will assist in planning our approach to each day s bird watching. Most often we will take the shuttle bus to the point and bird watch back from there, but there are also 16 km of trails and seasonal footpaths to explore, these criss-crossing the mosaic of habitats along the peninsula. The cries of Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker and Blue Jay often herald the start of the day, and Wild Turkeys can be seen boldly strutting the road sides. Soon warblers start to appear: Black and White, Blackpoll, Tennessee, Nashville, Yellow, American Redstart, Orangecrowned, Cape May, Northern Parula, Blackburnian, Chestnut-sided, Black-throated Blue, Magnolia, Palm, Yellow-rumped and Black-throated Green, all quite breathtakingly beautiful and easily seen amongst the newly emerging greenery. Paths through any damp woodland play host to a variety of thrushes such as Veery, Swainson s, Grey-cheeked, Hermit and Wood, all busily searching the leaf litter. Baltimore and Orchard Orioles flit through the canopy, whilst more open areas often produce several species of sparrow including Whitethroated, White-crowned, Chipping and Field. Dazzling Scarlet Tanagers and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks feed overhead, whilst a mix of the small empid flycatcher species will flit from branch to branch, testing our field skills. Offshore, water birds are also on the move with Black Terns, Bonaparte s Gulls and Great Northern Divers to be expected daily. Swamp Sparrows and Common Yellowthroats sing from exposed perches and Northern Harrier regularly quarter the marsh. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds zip past, almost like dragonflies, on their northward journeys. Our two full days in and around Pelee will be action packed and we will understand why the park is world famous. Nights Leamington.

6 Cape May Warbler just arrived back from the Caribbean Rose-breasted Grosbeak an aptly named beauty

7 Day 4 May 11 Firstly we will spend the morning exploring new areas of Point Pelee or catching up with species we have not yet seen. Then after lunch we drive to the US border near Detroit (about an hour s drive with a fine view over the motor city as we cross the bridge to the USA). We will have a delay of about one hour as US Immigration carry out necessary checks of our documentation, before the onward two hours drive to Port Clinton, arriving at our hotel late afternoon. There will hopefully be time for a quick walk around this small lakeside town before our evening meal. Night Port Clinton. Witness the stunning colours of a Prothonotary Warbler Days 5 and 6 May 12 and 13 There is no need to rise early as we aim to be at nearby Magee Marsh each morning between 08:30 and Those taking a pre-breakfast stroll will no doubt see Bald Eagles soaring overhead, here much more numerous than on the north shore. For the next two days, we will experience the excitement of Magee with its famous mile-long twisting boardwalk. There is an air of razzmatazz about the Magee Bird Festival, with stalls and displays, so there is plenty to soak up in addition to the birds. However once we have entered the boardwalk, we will be taken into another world of spellbindingly close views of up to 30 species of warbler in a day. The walk through the swamp forest takes a full morning to complete, by which time another fresh set of birds will have moved in, so it can be done all over again! There is perhaps a greater consistency of high numbers at Magee compared to Pelee, which relies more on pulses of birds migrating north. We can expect both Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos, and several species of vireo (Warbling, Yellow-throated, Philadelphia and Red-eyed), whilst feeders attract American Goldfinches, House Finches, orioles, Northern Cardinals and Indigo Buntings as well as the tiny Ruby - throated Hummingbird. Prothonotary Warblers nest here and you can virtually touch some species which are normally cryptically hidden, such as an American Woodcock and Whip-poor-will at your feet, or Common Nighthawk roosting on overhanging branches. Magee is part of a greater complex of reserves in the south-west corner of Lake

8 Erie, so there are plenty of other sites nearby including the Black Swamp Bird Observatory, Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and the Metzger Marsh Wildlife Area, all with good visitor facilities. We will spread our time accordingly to encapsulate all the excitement and enjoyment of this wonderful area. Nights Port Clinton. Day 7 May 14 After breakfast we will check-out and head to Magee and Black Swamp Bird Observatory for a final morning s birding. There is always something new each day. Setting off back via Detroit s interstate highways into Canada, we stop en route at a roadside cafe for lunch, before retracing our steps to Pelee, arriving by late afternoon. Night Leamington. Day 8 May 15 - Having been away from Pelee for a few days we will be eager to discover what new species are around and since the dates have moved on, whether the mix of bird species has changed. Some later arriving warblers and other species will gradually reveal themselves, and with patience we should see Golden-winged, Mourning, Hooded, Cerulean, Canada, Yellow-throated and Northern Waterthrush. Prize targets amongst the wood warblers will be the more skulking Kentucky, Connecticut and Worm-eating with the legendary Kirtland s top of the list of course. The latter have been rescued from extinction and breeding numbers in Michigan are increasing, so sightings at Pelee have become annual in the last few years (sometimes up to three in a spring and they show well once located!). Well maintained wader habitat at Hillman s Marsh, just outside the park, usually provides another of our birding sessions, playing host to both yellowlegs species, Least, Semipalmated, White-rumped and Pectoral Sandpipers, with Short-billed Dowitchers in fine breeding attire. Night Leamington. Wilson s Phalarope

9 Day 9 May 16 - Following a leisurely breakfast we drive north-east following the shore of Lake Erie to call in at Rondeau National Park which has the largest remaining stand of Carolinian forest in Canada. Nesting birds include Acadian Flycatcher and White-eyed Vireo as well as several species of woodpecker and Tufted Titmouse. After lunch we then head to Long Point, a fragile and complex sand spit which stretches 23 miles into Lake Erie. The marshes at the base of the peninsula hold Sora, Virginia Rail and American Bitterns whilst fields usually have a few Sandhill Cranes feeding on spilled corn. A number of local homesteads provide nest boxes to support Eastern Bluebirds. Night Simcoe. Day 10 May 17 - This morning we will visit Long Point Bird Observatory where the spring ringing program will be underway. This will provide an opportunity to see many species in the hand and also to hear from the bird observatory staff about the various strategies adopted by differing species on their migration. Pioneering work involving satellite tracking and geo-location is now taking place here, even involving tiny, warbler sized birds, revealing amazing new knowledge. The Long Point area also hosts some superb marshland and ancient woodland tracts with breeding Prothonotary, Hooded, Cerulean and Blue-winged Warblers. Louisiana Waterthrush, which is found only very locally in the area, could announce its presence through bursts of song and even Ruffed Grouse are known to walk out onto the forestry back roads. Even as we draw towards the end of the trip, there are still new birds to be seen, perhaps a Broad-winged Hawk soaring overhead for instance. Night Simcoe. Canada Warbler at Long Point Bird Observatory

10 Day 11 May 18 - today is our last day in the field and after a final stroll along the bird-filled woodland tracts north of Long Point we must reluctantly move on. All great birding trips have a requisite visit to a sewage farm, and accordingly we will visit one well known to attract a very good selection of waders, including Wilson s Phalaropes. A short stop at some ancient prairie-like grassland habitat will hopefully produce Eastern Meadowlarks and some fine male Bobolinks in display. By late afternoon we must be in Toronto ready for our evening flight overnight back to the UK. Day 12 May 19 we arrive back into the UK. Bald Eagle Copyright Birding Abroad Limited For booking form please see the Booking page on For queries please contact: lance@birdingabroad.com mobile telephone nickwhitehouse@btinternet.com mobile telephone