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Point Pelee, Crane Creek and Kirtland's Warbler Tuesday 12 May to Monday 25 May 2009
Cost: £2040 plus about £840 for flights Click here for explanation of price breakdown Maximum group size: 8 with 1 leader; 14 with 2 leaders. |
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There may be no better place in North America to witness the spring passage of songbirds than the Midwest. The three main eastern migration routes converge here, and since the birds are nearing their breeding grounds the males are usually in full song. Our tour takes in three prime locations for spring migrants: Crane Creek (Ohio), Point Pelee (Ontario) and Tawas Point (Michigan). We’ll spend a day in southern Ohio as well, where a number of southern species, including several warblers, approach the northern limit of their breeding range. This means we should see nearly all the eastern neotropical landbird migrants, including as many as 37 species of warbler. We’ll conclude the tour with a visit to the Kirtland’s Warbler breeding grounds in northern Michigan. Day 1: The tour begins with a flight from London to Cincinnati. If Henslow's Sparrows are on territory in the Cincinnati area, we'll look for them early this evening. Night in Cincinnati. Day 2: We'll depart early for Shawnee State Forest, a large tract of woodland that supports many southern species near the northern edge of their range including Blue-winged, Yellow-throated, Prairie, Cerulean (almost common!) Worm-eating, Kentucky and Hooded Warblers and Louisiana Waterthrush. We'll also look for Summer Tanager and there is always a chance of seeing Ruffed Grouse. The forest is also noted for its variety of butterflies notable among them the striking Zebra Swallowtail which should be numerous. Nearby in Adams County there are fields which sometimes have the scarce and very local Henslow's Sparrow. Night in Portsmouth. Day 3: We'll depart for Crane Creek on Lake Erie and should have some of the afternoon available for birding at this premier location. Along the way, we may stop near Scioto Trail State Forest and Ohio's capital, Columbus, to look for another primarily southern species, the stunning Prothonotary Warbler, and in recent years, Yellow-crowned Night-Herons have nested in a residential area of the city. Time permitting we may have a chance in the late afternoon to stop in at Crane Creek to check on the migration. Night in Oregon. Days 4-5: Crane Creek and the Magee Marsh Boardwalk are Ohio's best migration spots. The spectacle is similar to the one at Pelee, but here the concentrations of migrants don't seem to be as weather dependent and even on the slower days there are plenty of birds. The narrow strip of woods along the lake is more open than at Pelee and migrants are delightfully visible. Here we can usually count on finding more secretive species such as Mourning Warbler, we typically encounter an American Woodcock or two sauntering and bobbing through the wet leaf litter, and we stand a reasonable chance of seeing the skulking Connecticut Warbler. Adjacent Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge has a variety of waterbirds, including shorebirds if water levels are appropriate, and the adjoining woods attract migrants. If we tire of migrants the woodlands around Toledo have a number of breeding birds, including Acadian, Alder and Willow Flycatchers and Blue-winged, Pine and Cerulean Warblers, and nearby Oak Openings has breeding Lark Sparrows, their only regular location in the eastern Midwest. Nights in Oregon. Day 6: After a final morning of birding at Crane Creek we'll drive north to Leamington, Ontario, and Point Pelee. Night in Leamington. Day 7-8: Point Pelee is among the best-known locations to witness spring migration. Given the right weather conditions (usually south winds) the woods fill with flycatchers, thrushes, vireos, warblers, tanagers, buntings and orioles. One of the pleasures is comparing similar species at close range such as eastern Empidonax flycatchers, Catharus thrushes and Philadelphia and Warbling Vireos. With hundreds of other birders around, few birds escape detection and there are usually some rarities to pursue. Unless it is raining we'll go out at dusk to witness the spectacular courtship flight of the American Woodcock. In some years when water levels are low, local marshes and other wetlands support large numbers of waders possibly including Black-bellied Plover, American Golden-Plover, Semipalmated, Least and White-rumped Sandpipers and occasionally a rarity such as Ruff or Curlew Sandpiper. Nights in Leamington. Day 9: We'll spend a final morning at Point Pelee sorting through the recently arrived migrants. After an early lunch we'll drive back to East Tawas. Night in East Tawas. Day 10: Tawas Point is one of Michigan's best migration spots and has harbored an astonishing variety of rarities. The narrow peninsula is lightly covered with tree clumps and bushes that can be full of migrants given the right winds, and since vegetation is so low, the birds are often more visible. A long sandy spit usually hosts a variety of shorebirds, occasionally including Piping Plover. If migrants are scarce, we'll leave Tawas after lunch perhaps visiting Tuttle Marsh where American Bittern can often be heard and seen and where in recent years one or two pairs of Upland Sandpipers have been resident. A bit further south there are some abandoned fields where Clay-colored Sparrow breeds along with many Bobolinks. Night in East Tawas. Day 11: After a final day of birding around Tawas Point we'll drive north to Mio. Weather permitting we'll look for American Woodcock and Whip-poor-will this evening. Night in Mio. Day 12: We'll spend the morning searching for the endangered Kirtland's Warbler. The entire population of this species (recently about 1800 birds) is known to breed only in Michigan, mostly in the counties around Mio and Grayling. With the help of a U.S. Forest Service guide we're likely to find one or more of these special warblers. Other species in the area include Golden-winged Warbler, Hermit Thrush, Vesper Sparrow and Eastern Towhee. If we are entirely satisfied with our views of Kirtland's Warbler we'll have time to stop at some marshes on the way south where we'll see a variety of marsh species, usually including Yellow-headed Blackbird. Night in Detroit. Day 13: We'll catch an overnight flight back to London where the tour concludes on Day 14.
The ground arrangements for this tour are organised by our American associates WINGS.
E-mail or phone +44 (0)1767 262522 for availability
Last updated August 2008 |
Before we reach point Pelee we spend time searching some other woodlands in the region where we may encounter our first gaudy warblers such as this Canada Warbler,
Black-throated Blue Warbler,
Chestnut-sided Warbler,
and American Woodcock.
Reaching Pelee we hope for more migrants such as this Black-throated Green Warbler,
Blackburnian Warbler,
Magnolia Warbler,
Ovenbird,
And we end the tour with a visit to see the rare Kirtland's Warbler on its breeding ground. Photos by David Fisher from 2007 tour.
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