PIBO Update

Photos by  Mike Kovaliv Photography 

PIBO’s 2018 fall migration monitoring programs began on August 1st, and already there were signs that migration was underway for the birds and insects of Pelee Island! Swallows and other aerial insectivores were some of the first species to be seen winging their way south, with many Purple Martins, Barn Swallows and Chimney Swifts, plus

A Black-crowned Night-heron flying over Fox Pond. Photo by Connor Hawey. May 31st: This was the last day of banding for the spring 2018 migration monitoring season; The census continues through June 10th. Banding has been very slow lately; on the last day of banding, only a Yellow Warbler and a Red-winged Blackbird were banded.

Female Connecticut warbler by Connor Hawey May 23rd: We banded 32 birds of 16 species today which we consider good for this late in the season. Flycatchers continue to be abundant including eastern-wood pewees and some Empidonax species as well. We were visited by 27 students from Western Secondary School who enjoyed seeing a wood

April 24th saw our first standard count American White Pelican, there were two seen on the census. We observed our first Chimney Swifts on April 25th. On the 27th, a single Horned Lark landed nearby on the beach giving us great views! Throughout the end of April, we consistently saw Rusty Blackbirds in the netting

The 2018 count season officially opened with the census starting April 1st. The early census counts had strong numbers of waterbirds such as Pied-billed Grebes and Bufflehead. Early spring sparrows were counted in high numbers right from the start; these include Dark-eyed Juncos and American Tree Sparrows. Flocks of blackbirds, mostly Red-winged Blackbirds and some