|
On the evening of April 27, 2025 I pointed my car in the direction of Essex County and made the long drive to the far southwest corner of the province. It was time for another spring session at one of my favourite regions in the country, Point Pelee and Pelee Island.  Rose-breasted Grosbeak - Point Pelee National Park, Essex County In previous springs I have spent anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks in the Point Pelee area between late April and early June. However, with the huge influx of birders visiting Point Pelee each spring with numbers that seem to grow exponentially by the year, it is getting more difficult to find quiet trails and to escape the crowds, so I haven't been visiting as often in recent years. This spring, I aimed to split my time evenly between Point Pelee and the offshore island of Pelee Island.  Cliff Swallow - Hillman Marsh Conservation Area, Essex County That being said, I still very much enjoy visiting Point Pelee during the Festival Of Birds which runs for about the first three weeks of May. Birding at the Tip is always dynamic and the chance of a rarity landing on the Tip or flying past is always quite high. It is also a fantastic opportunity to catch up with birding friends from all over the province and beyond. It has definitely become more of a social opportunity than anything else!
0 Comments
The months from May through July are always my busiest of the year. As a birding guide and contract ecologist, my busy season coincides with when birds are the most active. Birding tours reach their peak in May and so I am out in the field ever day, either leading a tour or, on my days off, experiencing the rush of spring bird migration on my own or with close friends. As the province of Ontario fills up with birds throughout the latter half of May, my work schedule shifts to include contract consulting work as an ecologist. The majority of my days are filled with morning breeding bird surveys, but I am also kept busy by completing botanical inventories and ecological land classification, frog surveys, snake surveys, bat surveys and more. If everything goes to plan, I am able to keep myself occupied with work every single day until sometime in mid-July, upon which the field work really drops off. Finally, after several very busy (but satisfying) months, I have a bit of time to breathe in July. That gives me a chance to take care of some long-neglected tasks, including catching up on blogging. And so here we are!  Wood Duck - Valley Inn, Burlington, Halton Region |
Archives
February 2026
|
RSS Feed