Today was our day for birding Point Pelee. All the advice was, that at this time of the year, you have to be in the queue at the main gate for opening time – 5.00am. It’s then a 8k drive to the Visitors Centre, which has limited parking, and a wait to catch the shuttle bus to The Tip – the most southerly mainland point in Canada, a thin finger of land pointing south into Lake Erie and a magnet for migrating birds. We got up at four and had joined the queue just as they started admitting vehicles into the park. We parked up at the the VC, got our kit together and were on the first bus to The Tip. So far the plan was working. It’s only about a 300m stroll then for what we hoped would be the start of our Point Pelee birding experience – a few shore birds at the very end then a methodical check of the bushes back to the Centre and the ‘birders breakfast’. Thirty people max were in front of us as we ambled down to the start… then all hell broke loose! An excited lady pointed to the bushes and said ‘there’s a Ptarmigan in there’! Now, as we all know, Ptarmigan are a high mountain species with cryptic white plumage to disguise them against the snow. The nearest breeding birds must be hundreds of miles north of Pelee. Assuming it was a problem of ‘lost in translation’ we went to take a look. To our utter combined amazement there indeed was a Ptarmigan, pecking about on the beach. The first ever recorded at Pelee and the start of a birding stampede. As news spread more bus loads of anxious birders began to arrive – the first maintaining a fast walk, those that followed forced to break out into a trot, the ones who couldn’t get on the bus adopting an ‘Iron Man’ running style down to The Tip. Absolutely bonkers! Meanwhile the bird which, was becoming increasingly anxious at the growing number of admirers, took a walk down The Tip to escape the crowds and later flew into cover. We left it alone and started what we’d come to do in the first place – check the bushes for Spring migrants and have breakfast. The rest of the day was ‘rinse and repeat’ – checking various areas along the Point with breaks in between. We did find some great birds but nothing which could compare to our first bird of the day – the Point Pelee Ptarmigan!

The story as it unfolded. First discovery at dawn in the modest cover at The Tip

This post is, of necessity, short – we have to be up at 04.00 to get to Point Pelee (Canada) for dawn. Although Point Pelee is only 35 miles or so across Lake Erie from Magee Marsh, the road trip is about 120. We took the opportunity to call in at Oak Openings Metro Park for a couple of special birds – Golden-winged Warbler and Lark Sparrow. Both of which we managed to see. Then it was north to Detroit, across the border and then east to Point Pelee. Here a late afternoon walk around The Tip produced a reasonable list, including a couple of GABRaT ll ticks.

The overnight forecast was for early morning rain with thunder, clearing up by lunchtime. As it happens all we got was a light shower around breakfast, then the skies began to clear and the temperature rose to nearly 80 deg. F. All this meant that the predicted ‘fall’ of migrants didn’t really materialise. Still there was a change of cast on the boardwalk and we did get some new species and excellent views of the stuff we’d seen previously. Our final session at Magee Marsh in the late afternoon will live long in the memory – it was reasonably quiet, with a lot of the Sunday visitors gone home, the weather was glorious, the light was fantastic and the birds couldn’t have been more cooperative. A fitting end to our TBWAB experience.

Today we leave our The Biggest Week in American Birding base, close to Black Swamp Bird Observatory / Magee Marsh, and head north into Canada on the final leg of our GABRaT ll adventure. Some great memories and unbelievably good birding.

As part to TBWAB visitors are encouraged to explore a cluster of good birding sites close to Black Swamp / Magee Marsh – yesterday we did just that. We began the day on the boardwalk – being a Saturday it was busier than ever but everyone remained friendly and helpful. We added a couple more birds to our growing list for the site before heading off to discover the delights of several near-by locations. First up was newly created Howard Marsh – a farmland restoration project and now an excellent wetland. Here we caught up with the visiting Yellow-headed Blackbird, which conveniently was on the grass right where we parked the cars! A walk around the reserve added several shore birds including Black-necked Stilt, which have recently started to breed. Another great car-park tick was Horned Lark. Next was Metzger Marsh and more ‘coastal’ species before our last stop – the vast Ottawa National Wildlife Area – where we managed to get our first cup of coffee of the day, see a few interesting birds and add more ticks to our Ohio State list. Then it was back to Magee Marsh for one last circuit of the boardwalk and then home for supper.

We’d had breakfast, parked up and were at the start of the Magee Marsh WA board walk – the epi-centre of The Biggest Week in American Birding – by 08.00. Our first walk lasted three hours. we then took a long lunch-break, returning at three for another session. During the course of the day we saw over forty species, including a dozen ‘warblers’, and a host of other interesting birds. The board-walk was very busy but never crowded (unless a really good bird was discovered) and everyone was friendly, helpful and united in a love of birds and the marvel of migration. Magee Marsh is situated on the shores of Lake Erie – actually an inland sea – a natural collecting point for migrants before they make the crossing over water to Canada and their breeding grounds. I don’t suppose we walked more than a couple of miles during the whole day. It’s a magic place and we were lucky that finally the weather improved and the ‘door to migration’ opened. Today we’re hoping for more.

So we’ve finally made it – we’re together as a group and ‘camped-out’ on the doorstep of The Biggest Week in American Birding. Yesterday we travelled the final leg north to our base located between Oak Harbour and Port Clinton – a five bedroom (just) house, set in rural Ohio countryside. Neil & Nicola and Phil & Carolyn finally arrived at just after eight, when we had our first group meal together. We did manage to do some birding before hand – stopping off at the excellent Killdeer Plains Wildlife Area. Here we saw more waterbirds – ducks, waders and cranes – adding a few ticks to the overall trip list and plenty to our Ohio State list. Good views of woodpeckers, another excellent Sparrow – this time Field – and, best of all, whilst looking at a winter owl roost (more out of hope than expectation) an American Bittern! This morning we’re going to Magee Marsh and TBWAB.

We’ve driven another couple of hundred miles north, out of West Virginia and into Ohio – birding as we go. We’re now three weeks in to our GABRaT ll adventure and having seen over 200 species, we expect any time soon to be a ‘dot day’ – when we don’t add a new bird to our trip list. It didn’t happen yesterday though, when we started birding at Green Bottom Wildlife Management Area and finished at Big Island Wildlife Area. In fact we saw half a dozen new birds including: Yellow Warbler, White-crowned Sparrow, House Wren, Trumpeter Swan, Redhead and Hooded Merganser, got second helpings of Sandhill Crane and added a hat full of State ticks. Today, despite last minute flight cancellations, we hope to be united with Neil & Nicola and Phil & Carolyn – the rest of our extended party. Tomorrow is the start of the Biggest Week in American Birding and we’re hoping it lives up to its name!

Yesterday, for the fifth time on this trip, we’ve turned up at a large water-body to basically find just one duck! On this occasion it was Plum Orchard Lake WMA and Red-breasted Merganser, a female – no other ducks present. Previous encounters have involved White-winged Scoter, Ruddy Duck, Bufflehead and Lesser Scaup. These ducks have all been out of breeding range – their northward migration paused by something. All birds appeared to be healthy and happy. Other highlights of the day, and there were many, included a couple more vireos and an exceptional warbler. We’d begun the day at Little Beaver State Park with another nature trail around a pond – we’ll actually large reservoir. Here we saw a few more migrants and several lovely Blue-headed Vireo. Also of note were a Cliff Swallow and a secretive Wood Duck, on the approach to the park. Coffee break (without the coffee!) was taken beside the highly productive Paint Creek where, from the observation deck over the river we saw Eastern Wood Pewee, Louisiana Waterthrush, Hooded Warbler and our first Black-capped Chickadee – their range extends south down the finger of the Appalachian Mountains. Our final stop was at Plum Orchard Lake and what a hot-spot that turned out to be. Three vireo species virtually side by side – Red-eyed, Blue-headed and Yellow-throated, a stunning Wood Thrush and a must-get warbler Cerulean – we had a couple at the picnic site where we had lunch. They were tricky birds – mostly remaining high up in the leafy tree canopy – but we did eventually get reasonable views. Today we continue north towards Ohio and our rendezvous with Neil & Nicola and Phil & Carolyn for the gathering of Biggest Week in American Birding festival at Black Swamp Bird Observatory. A bucket-list event for many birders.

Things are on the move – and not just us! Every birder we’ve spoken to since we arrived in Florida has commented on how slow Spring migration is this year. On Dry Tortugas people were suggesting that they were around three weeks behind. Certainly since then we’ve struggled to identify birds which appear to be migrants rather than resident / wintering populations – particularly warblers. Yesterday, at a couple of sites in Virginia / West Virginia, we may have witnessed some signs of migration. We started at Lake Robertson, where a short nature trail takes you through mixed woodland around an artificial lake. First bird we found in the carpark was a singing Louisiana Waterthrush – one of the earliest of the highly migratory New World ‘warblers’. Along the trail we also came across Scarlet Tanager and Yellow-rumped Warbler. In the afternoon we took the Top Drive along the ridge of the Allegheny Mountains – with views of the more famous Blue Ridge Mountains. At around 3000 feet temperatures were down to 6 deg C. which, with wind chill added into the equation, meant it was pretty damn cold. I may need to review my shorts-wearing policy! Anyway, here we found more ‘warblers’ – American Redstart, Oven Bird, Black and White, Black-throated Green, Hooded and Worm-eating Warbler. Hopefully an indication that the east coast Spring migration is finally happening. Let’s hope so as we are now less than a week away from the big warbler fest in Ohio!

This was our first day together birding with Bob & Sue and Andy so we decided to stay local. We birded a town park and reservoir near Collinsville and a nature trail, created as part of an industrial park, on our way north to our next overnight stop at Covington (more of that later). In all we saw over 50 species and added half a dozen new birds to our overall GABRaT ll list including: Eastern Phoebe, Lesser Scaup – probably the biggest surprise and, along with Pied-billed Grebe, the only two birds on the entire reservoir – White-breasted Nuthatch, Baltimore Oriole, American Goldfinch and Raven. After a great days birding we were looking forward to a relaxing evening at our lodgings – unfortunately the Quality Inn was anything but! It was truly awful and we checked out and found a new temporary residence. Moral of the story – don’t believe all you read on Trip Advisor! Still the evening meal in the nearby Mexican restaurant was excellent.