The Peak Of Spring Birding: Point Pelee Edition

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! 

Rusty Blackbird - Point Pelee National Park, Essex County

My friend, Jeremy Bensette is a fellow birding guide who lives just outside of Leamington on the east side of the peninsula. He graciously hosted me for a few days in late April. He had a tour planned for the next day, April 28, and so I was on my own to explore the park. The birding was a little slow (not unexpected for late April) but there were still interesting sightings to be had, including an Eastern Meadowlark at Sparrow Field, a fly-by Red-throated Loon along the West Beach, a Louisiana Waterthrush in Tilden's Woods and an Olive-sided Flycatcher that someone else found early in the morning at Sparrow Field. This was an extraordinary early record of Olive-sided Flycatcher, one of very few April records for Ontario. Olive-sided Flycatchers are long-distance migrants from South America and most arrive in the second half of May. 

Olive-sided Flycatcher - Point Pelee National Park, Essex County

Dominic Cormier had the better part of a week planned at Point Pelee in late April with his partner Melissa. Dom and I have known each other since our University of Guelph days. We don't see each other often, but whenever we do it is as if no time has passed us by. Sometimes we connect in Nova Scotia (where he resides), or occasionally here in Ontario when he is visiting family, and it is always a great time!

His week at Point Pelee coincided with a big push of warm air from the south and a rush of Neotropical migrants arrived about a week ahead of time. And while the park was busy with people, the crowds were a far cry from what they would be once the calendar flipped to May and the Festival Of Birds began. After birding on my own on April 28, I had plans to meet up with Dom and Melissa on April 29.

Black-throated Green WarblerScissor-tailed Flycatcher - Point Pelee National Park, Essex County

Our first morning was a good one. Arriving at the Tip, one of the first birds we trained our binoculars on was an American Avocet. Two minutes later it took off, never to return. Though American Avocets are a regular rarity at Hillman Marsh in late April, this was the first one I had observed within the confines of the national park. It was a bit distant for photos, especially given the heat haze. 

American Avocet - Point Pelee National Park, Essex County

I spotted a Willet on the Tip about a minute later. This one stuck around for the better part of the morning. 

It was a fantastic morning of late April birding and Dom and I both added numerous species to our April lists (yes, we keep month lists!). One highlight was an Eastern Whip-poor-will that some photographers were watching near Sparrow Field. 

Eastern Whip-poor-will - Point Pelee National Park, Essex County

Some of the other highlights from an excellent morning of birding included a self-found Yellow-breasted Chat in Cactus Field, a White-eyed Vireo in Tilden's Woods, an Eastern Screech-Owl, and many early records of species such as Red-eyed Vireo, Magnolia Warbler, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Swainson's Thrush and Bobolink. That afternoon, I found a Ruddy Turnstone at Wheatley Harbour, another usual April record and the first one reported in the province this year. 

Swainson's Thrush - Point Pelee National Park, Essex County

The following day, April 30 was another good one for early records. Jeremy was hosting a White-eyed Vireo in his yard, one of four I would see that day. Dom, Melissa and I met up in the park again and found decent April birds such as Blue-winged, Chestnut-sided and Blackburnian Warblers, while we also found two more White-eyed Vireos and chased a Cerulean Warbler and Yellow-breasted Chat. And in the afternoon I went for a walk at Kopegaron Woods with Jeremy Bensette and Chris Gaffan. I heard the distinctive song of yet another White-eyed Vireo and this one came in close for photos. 

White-eyed Vireo - Kopegaron Woods, Essex County

Sometimes, one bird is all it takes to transform a non-memorable day of birding into a great one. This sentiment held true on May 1. I birded with Dom and Melissa once again and we had an enjoyable if unremarkable morning of birding. We found a pair of White-eyed Vireos at the Marsh Boardwalk parking lot, while our walk in the north end of the park produced at least five Blue-winged Warblers and a late Pine Warbler. Nice birds, but nothing to write home about. Then the message came through the Discord and WhatsApp alerts - a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher had just been found by my friend Richard Carr at the Tip. Though it wasn't a new Point Pelee bird for me (we had one fly off the tip in May of 2014), it was a nice bird to see anyways, so the three of us took the tram to the Tip to look for it. 

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (being harassed by a Tree Swallow) - Point Pelee National Park, Essex County

The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher cooperated and we enjoyed the rarity along with over 100 other birders. Scissor-tailed Flycatchers typically nest in the south-central United States and Mexico, wintering further south in Central America. Almost every year, one or more individuals are discovered in Ontario, though many times they are one-day-wonders and difficult to chase.  

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher pandemonium - Point Pelee National Park, Essex County

As we were standing around on the Tip, I heard Jeff Skevington (who was standing next to me) declare that one of the gulls in the mixed flock standing on the sand had a pinkish breast. This piqued my interest and I turned to see an adult Franklin's Gull! A bit far for good views and photos, but a nice bird to see at Point Pelee. This was the first of two Franklin's Gull I would see at Point Pelee this spring. On May 7 I found a different one on the Tip, though it only hung around for a minute or so before departing to the northeast. 

Franklin's Gull - Point Pelee National Park, Essex County

Meanwhile, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher worked its way up the west beach where it hunted for insects from low driftwood perches, proving to be quite photogenic in the process. 

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - Point Pelee National Park, Essex County

After May 1 I only spent a few more days at Point Pelee, instead visiting Pelee Island, Long Point and completing a few guided birding tours elsewhere in southern Ontario. The birding continued to be good on these remaining days at Point Pelee (though without any truly exceptional days), and for some reason I barely took any photos at all, instead preferring to just watch the birds through the binoculars. But there is one more sighting I want to highlight. 

I stood on the tip on the morning of May 14 with Dan Riley and a few others when I noticed two small bats flying in off the lake, always a strange sighting during the day. They landed on the southernmost trees, allowing Dan and I (and others present that morning) to photograph them extensively. 

Unidentified vesper bat sp. (subfamily Vespertilioninae) - Point Pelee National Park, Essex County

We all assumed that these were Big Brown Bats (Eptesicus fuscus), a commonly found species in southern Ontario. However, after circulating the photos online, some experts weighed in, expressing opinions that these may be Evening Bats (Nycticeius humeralis), a species typically found further south. There is one published record of Evening Bat in Canada, from Pelee Island in 1911. However, other expects feel that these are likely the expected Big Brown Bat. Unfortunately, without measurements or better views of key field marks that are not visible in these photos, it will likely be impossible to confirm to species. At any rate, it was an interesting discovery and a great exercise in bat identification. 

Unidentified vesper bat sp. (subfamily Vespertilioninae) - Point Pelee National Park, Essex County

That is all I've got from Point Pelee this spring. My next post will cover my remaining birding adventures in May, mainly at Pelee Island.