Point Pelee National Park

 

We missed our alarm clock this morning and had to hustle to get to our 7 am guided tour this morning,, only to discover we were half an hour early.

Our guide was a professional bird guide and he kept us entertained while finding many birds though he said it was getting difficult as the trees were leafing out early and the heat was keeping them high in the canopy.

Common Yellowthroat

We didn't see any lifers today as neither of us saw the yellow-bellied flycatcher he found us.  Surprise, it looks like all the other flycatchers!  

He led us to the screech owl we saw yesterday, and also pointed out another gnatcatcher nest.

The highlight of the day was when a group of 6 cowbirds, 1 female, 5 males,  mobbed the nest.  The gnatcatchers spouse showed up and chased them off.

This is the second time in the park we've seen a group with one female and multiple males. Yesterday just one of the males was doing the courtship thing so my theory is the surplus males are there to distract the gnatcatcher from the nest so the female cowbird can slip the egg in? (Cowbirds don't raise their own young. They slip them into another species' nest. Then the big cowbird chick outcompetes its smaller stepsiblings and eats all the food.)

Brown Cowbird

Despite no lifers Leo got some good photos.  Spot the bird nest:

Spot the yellow warbler:

Here's a least flycatcher:

In the afternoon we walked some new trails

Past the old homestead.  There were a ton of Mennonites out for a Sunday picnic.  Here are two checking out the homestead.

What's so historic about this? Looks like home.  I kid. They all came in pickups.

We checked out a meadow with a cactus patch.  News to me.  I thought prickly pear was confined to western North America.

Not the healthiest.  Probably wished they were in arid Arizona.

We saw a cool toad.

And a very attractive leopard frog.