Point Pelee: Spring Bird Migration

Point Pelee: Spring Bird Migration Cost: C$2,355 2008 Departure May 9 - 16 2009 Departure Fri. May 8 - Fri. May 15 Tour Leader Jean Iron Jean is a very well travelled person who follows her natural history interests to many parts of the world. Jean is a Past President of the Ontario Field Ornithologists. She has led Quest land tours to Honduras, Cuba, and Point Pelee and Quest expedition cruises to Georgian Bay, Costa Rica and Panama, and the High Arctic of Canada and Norway. . Staff Member Pamela Berton Pamela has been a member of Quest Nature Tours' sales team for over ten years, and has been involved in Nature Tourism for over twenty years. She is Quest's expert sales consultant in Canadian and International Land Tours. In fact, she has been a participant on many of them including, most recently, India and East Africa. She is able to offer valuable insights for tour participants.          Point Pelee National Park, in southwestern Ontario, Canada, attracts birders from all over the world, who gather here to witness one of nature’s most exciting and fascinating annual events. This finger of land, pointing southward into Lake Erie, is a bottleneck of the North American migration flyways, the first landfall for wing-weary birds crossing the Great Lakes. It is, deservedly, world-renowned as one of the best inland birding spots on the continent. Our Quest tour will be there, at the best possible time, as the diverse array of avian migrants enlivens the woods and thickets. POINT PELEE Itinerary (Breakfast - B, Lunch - L, Dinner - D) Day 1 Toronto to Long Point At 10:00am, we’ll meet at York Mills subway station. As we drive west out of the city, we will make a second stop for out-of-towners at a hotel near the airport. It is about a 3-hour drive to Long Point, so we’ll have lunch on the way. Long Point is an outstanding birding area that produces a wonderful variety of spring migrants, and a large number of typical woodland and marsh birds. We’ll check in first at the Old Cut Field Station, run by the continent’s oldest bird observatory - Long Point Bird Observatory, where we’ll meet with Long Point Bird Observatory staff and volunteers and visit their mist netting operations. After dinner we will plan on going out to listen for Woodcock, Whip-poor-will, Chuck-will’s-widow, and other creatures of the night. o/n Comfort Inn, Simcoe (L, D) Day 2 Long Point Area We will explore the Long Point area for the full day. We’ll visit Big Creek National Wildlife Area, and walk along its dike trail, listening to the songs of Marsh Wrens, Swamp Sparrows and rails, and looking for both bittern species as well as Black Terns and Bonaparte’s Gulls. Backus Woods is always a worthwhile stop and, while we are there, we’ll look for Louisiana Waterthrush, Barred Owl, Scarlet Tanager, Pileated Woodpecker and the large variety of spring migrants making their way through the wooded areas. One of the hotspots of the area is the Wilson Tract. It is a fairly small, forested area where it is possible to find many interesting forest species at this time of the year, including Blue-winged, Golden-winged, Cerulean and Hooded Warblers. o/n Comfort Inn, Simcoe (B, L, D) Days 3-4 Long Point to Rondeau P. P. We’ll leave for Rondeau Provincial Park shortly after breakfast and should get there before lunch. During the next day-and-a-half, we’ll walk the trails and explore this classic Carolinian forest. This beautiful park contains the largest stand of southern hardwood left in Ontario. On the Tulip Tree Trail, we’ll walk through pine-oak forests and then on to the wet sloughs, between the tree-covered dunes to look for one of the rarer southern warblers, the bright yellow Prothonotary. This spectacular warbler is often heard singing loudly in this habitat, along with the Winter Wren and Great-crested Flycatcher. As we walk the trails through maple-beech forest, with spicebush understory, we’ll look for Black-billed Cuckoo, Red-headed Woodpecker, Red-eyed and Yellow-throated Vireos, and Common Yellowthroat. o/n Travelodge, Chatham (B, L, D) Days 5-7 Point Pelee National Park After our early breakfast, we’ll leave for Point Pelee National Park, less than an hour’s drive away. We’ll take an early bird walk in the park and hope to see good-sized warbler flocks containing Northern Parula, Cerulean, Magnolia, Blackburnian and other brightly plumaged warblers. Then, after checking the current bird lists at the Visitor’s Centre, we’ll explore some of the forest trails. During our two-and-a-half days in the Point Pelee area, we have a number of exciting visits planned, both in the park and at some of the birding hot spots in the region. We usually head out to the park early, taking muffins, juice, and coffee with us. This is the time when some of the more interesting sightings take place. We’ll go to “The Tip” first to see what is arriving from across the lake, and watch the spectacular spring aggregations of Red-breasted Mergansers, various plovers and peeps, and scan the terns and gulls resting on the point with our spotting scope. Then we’ll walk the woodland trails, in between The Tip and the Visitor’s Centre, which are usually very productive for passerines. Depending on what has been sighted, and the weather, we’ll stay in the park for most of the day. It will also be possible to drive out of the park to visit Hillman’s Marsh and perhaps observe Bald Eagles. Other areas include the sewage lagoons at Comber and Harrow for Black Terns and assorted shorebird species, the marshes at Stony Point for Yellow-headed Blackbirds and Marsh Wrens, and the nearby onion fields for Black-bellied Plovers. We’ll have picnic lunches in the park, and dinners in nearby restaurants. o/n Comfort Inn, Leamington (B, L, D) Day 8 Point Pelee N.P. / Departure Day This is our last morning in the area, so after breakfast in a local restaurant, we’ll head to Point Pelee to check for new overnight arrivals. Later in the morning, we’ll begin our journey back to Toronto where we expect to arrive in mid-afternoon at the airport and York Mills subway. (B, L) Tour Itinerary Day 1 Toronto to Long Point Day 2 Long Point Area Day 3-4 Rondeau PP Day 5 Point Pelee Area Day 6-7 Point Pelee NP Day 8 Point Pelee NP / Departure for Toronto Tour Information Leader:   Jean Iron Length: 8 Days Limit: 8 Participants Departing: Toronto, ON Cost: Approx. C$2,355 Deposit: C$500 per person Note:   2008 Departure May 9 - 16 2009 Departure   Fri. May 8 - Fri. May15