Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Spectacular Festival of Birds To Celebrate Migration @ Point Pelee National Park & Hillman Marsh

Point Pelee National Park is a national park in Essex County in southwestern Ontario, Canada where it extends into Lake Erie. The word pelĂ©e is French for 'bald'. Point Pelee consists of a peninsula of land, mainly of marsh and woodland habitats, that tapers to a sharp point as it extends into Lake Erie. Middle Island, also part of Point Pelee National Park, was acquired in 2000 and is just north of the Canada–United States border in Lake Erie.

Point Pelee is the southernmost point of mainland Canada, and is located on a foundation of glacial sand, silt and gravel that bites into Lake Erie. This spit of land is slightly more than seven kilometres long by 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) wide at its northern base. Established in 1918, Point Pelee was the first national park in Canada to be established for conservation.

Point Pelee National Park is marking a very special milestone 2018 - 100th anniversary of Park. Birders played an integral part in the establishment of Point Pelee National Park in 1918. As park celebrated the return of the songbirds this May, I was part of spectacular Festival of Birds To Celebrate Migration of the birds in the park and surrounding area mainly Hillman Marsh.

In the spirit of the centennial bird of the year represents Point Pelee - the Northern Cardinal.  Described as the "war birds" by locals, Point Pelee was the first place this species was recorded in Canada and continues to be a favourite bird in the park today.

It was an amazing experience to observe spectacular migration of birds during spring. I was able to put together a story in the following video to share my experience during amazing "Festival of Birds". We observed over 100 species of birds and I was able to capture many of these on my camera. This video mainly covers the Following (click on the time in the video listed below to go directly to that section):

  • Introduction of the "Bird of the Year" (@30 sec)
  • Why is Point Pelee important for birders with the explanations of flyways? It also covers footage at the southern most tip of Canada. (@51 sec)
  • Birds of Prey (@4:02 min)
  • Woodpeckers and Flickers (@6:13 min)
  • Shore Birds at the Tip and Hillman Marsh (@7:42 min)
  • Warblers and other Colourful birds (@13:27 min)
  • Beautiful Common Birds (@17:58 min)
  • Leadership Message from Canada Goose (@20:32 min)
Watch my playlist for many other videos for Amazing Canadian Birds.