Little Wooden Bridge

3:30 am. That’s when I woke up this morning. Yes, on a Saturday. It’s migration time and Kelly and I are lucky enough to live near one of the best birding areas in North America, Point Pelee National Park.

The weather for today was promising to be good, so we had decided to get up early and get to the park bright and early. That meant trying to get there for 6am, or at least that was my goal.

It takes me a while to get my act together in the morning, so I set the alarm for 3:30am, hit snooze a couple times, and by they time we actually hit the road it was about 6:15. We were in the park at 7am, with a primo parking spot to boot. (ok so the handicap parking sticker helps a bit)

To be truthful, I was a little intimidated, what if someone talks to me? I know nothing yet, and these will be hard core birders from all over the world.

 

Kelly briefed me on some minor birder etiquette on the way there, common sense really unless you are a total social idiot. Birders, as it turns out, are a very kind and friendly bunch. When we first got there, we weren’t really sure where to go first. As Kelly wandered off a bit to look at something she spotted, a gentleman sitting on a bench asked if I had just gotten there on this day. (He assumed we were from out of town)  He asked me what we had seen so far. Oh no, it was happening…RUN!! But no, I clumsily explained that I was a newbie and that my girlfriend was the birder. He asked her name, then he called her over. “Kelly, hi, listen,  if you want to see some really cool stuff, go up that trail a few minutes, go left and keep going to the bridge, you can’t miss it, there will be a huge crowd there.”  Kelly had been somewhat unenthused until then, but I saw the excitement rush into her. “Yeah, let’s go THERE!” 

And he was right. You would not believe the crowd of birders jammed onto a little wooden bridge. The bridge spanned a wet swampy area and the trees were alive with warblers of all kinds.  I thought I would never get across, let alone find a spot to sit and view for myself, but as I said, they are a friendly bunch, more than happy to give way and let everyone have a look. We later worked our way around the rest of the trail and found several other similar spots.

I won’t go over the whole day with you, but we had an absolute blast. Kelly listed all the birds that we saw, most of which were first timers for me, and some even new for her. I had brought along my new camera, and got a few pictures for you. Keep in mind Warblers don’t sit still for very long, so these are lucky shots. Not too bad for my first time.

 ( Note: All images property of AbitibiSouth )

 Yellow Warbler

 Black-Throated Green Warbler

 Black-Throated Blue Warbler

 Magnolia Warbler

Then later, when we stopped for a bit at the Marsh Boardwalk, I was able to get some Canada Geese with their Goslings. They are SOO cute!!

     (don’t you just want to cuddle them??)

 So I’m tired, I’m a little sun burnt, and my neck is a little sore from looking up so much, (Kelly says this is called Warbler Neck) but I wouldn’t trade today’s experiences for anything.