POINT PELEE & ALGONQUIN PROVINCIAL PARKBoreal birds and mammals in the accessible wilds of Algonquin Provincial Park plus birding the premier migration hotspots on the Lake Erie shore.
$2350 (2008 fee). 10 days See our triplist for 2007 or 2006.
Between picnic breakfasts with loons on mist-shrouded lakes and starlit evenings listening for Barred and Saw-whet Owls as American Woodcock "beep" nearby, Algonquin is a wonderful way to start this exciting tour. After several days we’ll head south toward Point Pelee National Park, one of the finest migration hotspots in North America. To break up the drive we will make a major birding stop at the Carden Plain, a rare alvar habitat that is rich in grassland birds such as Upland Sandpiper, Grasshopper Sparrow, Bobolink, and the critically endangered migrans race of Loggerhead Shrike. Everything changes once we get to Pelee—the plants, the birds, and the birding focus. The mass migration of living organisms is a striking spectacle, but when it involves flocks of brilliantly colored warblers, orioles, and tanagers the aesthetic experience is even more delightful. The sense of spring renewal is tremendous. Pelee is a tiny, forested spit of land jutting into Lake Erie, and it’s a natural concentration point for hordes of migrating passerines, hawks, and waterbirds. We'll be in the park at dawn each morning to see what has arrived overnight, hoping all the time for that special combination of weather and fate that can herald a major fallout. During such events, it is possible to see hundreds of individual warblers of more than 20 species in a few hours—often side by side—allowing plenty of opportunity for repeated comparative studies. This intense combination of song and color set against the hurried panic of northbound activity is unforgettable and the reason why so many people are addicted to birding the Pelee area each year. After Pelee, we'll move east along the north shore of Lake Erie, visiting two other less famous but nonetheless excellent birding peninsulas—Rondeau and Long Point. Here remain some of the finest examples of Carolinian forest in Canada, complete with small nesting populations of representative species such as Prothonotary, Hooded, Blue-winged, Golden-winged, and Cerulean warblers. The extensive marshes of Long Point are home as well to a host of interesting birds, including Sandhill Crane, Least Bittern, and Bald Eagle. Between our time in Algonquin Park and our five full days of birding along the lakeshore, we should be well on our way to seeing more than 200 species, with a good chance for more than 30 species of warblers! Peter Burke is a birder, artist, and author who started birding over 30 years ago. After obtaining a degree in biology and instruction in fine arts, Peter worked in nature interpretation and various avian research projects before devoting much of his time to illustrating. He has co-authored various articles on bird identification and biology, and served as chair on the Ontario Bird Records Committee. Peter has birded extensively throughout Canada and much of the US and has traveled abroad to Andean South America (with an emphasis on Chile), Papua New Guinea, much of Central America, and Cuba. He is an accomplished artist as is evident from his artwork in the identification and biology of the New World Blackbirds (Jaramillo and Burke, Princeton University Press), the third, fourth, and fifth editions of the National Geographic Society’s Birds of North America (J. Dunn), Birds at Your Feeder (E. H. Dunn and D. L. Tessaglia-Hymes), and Birds of Chile (A. Jaramillo, P. Burke, D. Beadle). He is also a contributing artist to the Birds of Peru (T. Schulenberg et. al.) and the upcoming three-volume series Birds of Brazil (B. Whitney et. al.). He has recently completed illustrating part of the Dragonflies and Damselfies of Algonquin Park, Ontario (C. D. Jones, et. al.), a group of animals that has attracted his interests for the past 15 years. Apart from tour leading, Peter enjoys summers filled with fieldwork in his home province of Ontario where he lives with his wife, Dawn, and their three children.
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