Last year I went to Point Pelee with my friend Dennis, who was a leading character in a later advent

Spring means rebirth to most of the world, but to birders, it means one thing: migration. During these few weeks, the northern world is witness to the return of millions of birds from their winter retreats down south. And one of the best places in North America to see it is Canada s Point Pelee National Park.
Located about 30 miles from Windsor and the U.S. border, Point Pelee is a natural treasure, with its unique mix of dense Carolinian forest, swamp, marshland, savanna grassland and beaches. It s a UNESCO designated Wetland holiday inns in pittsburgh pa of International Significance. More importantly, it s one of the top 15 birding spots in North America, and that s what attracts most of the park s 300,000 visitors every year.
Why do the birds stop here? Point Pelee is a triangular sandspit that sticks out into Lake Erie, at the southern end of Ontario. That means it s the first piece of land birds see when they fly across the lake heading north, and after flying hundreds or thousands of miles from their winter homes, they re anxious to make landfall. Some literally collapse when they land, but most, like this chestnut-sided warbler, can be found flitting through the trees near the lakefront, feeding on whatever they can find.
Point Pelee holds a Festival holiday inns in pittsburgh pa of Birds each spring, drawing birders from all over. For those two-and-a-half weeks (May 1-19 this year), the park swarms from morning till night with happy birders carrying binoculars and cameras with huge lenses. Some days the birding is better than others, but most of the time everyone goes home happy.
Last year I went to Point Pelee with my friend Dennis, who was a leading character in a later adventure in the Niagara Glen . It was our first visit, so the Festival holiday inns in pittsburgh pa of Birds was a new experience, and the days were full. After an early-morning muffin-and-coffee breakfast at the visitors centre with scores of other birders, we would head off down the road to spend the day hunting birds on the network of trails that snakes through the park. A guided walk in the afternoon added some expertise.
Our first morning yielded lots of warblers in the trees, holiday inns in pittsburgh pa and it wasn t long before we came across a group of birders ogling something really special: a pair of red-headed woodpeckers working over a dead tree. I rarely see these beautiful holiday inns in pittsburgh pa birds around Toronto, so the opportunity to get some photos was a rare treat. Here s the result.
A few feet farther on, we came to the signature feature of Point Pelee the tip, a long finger of pebbles and sand stretching into the lake, usually covered with several species of gulls. It was a sight to see, and the noise was amazing if you ventured holiday inns in pittsburgh pa close. Which I did, returning with this picture of some Bonaparte s gulls, another rarity in my part of the world.
Later, we investigated some of the park s other habitats, including the Carolinian forest and the grasslands, which produced my biggest prize of the trip: photos of a small flock of wild turkeys, which roam the park at will (and sometimes the roads around it).
Despite their crazy appearance, there was something dignified about the way they high-stepped across the trail to find some shade and while away the afternoon. Getting a chance holiday inns in pittsburgh pa to photograph them was one of the highlights of the year: high fives for Dennis and I.
Afterword:  Dennis and I made a return visit to Point Pelee in the spring of 2014, and encountered some spectacular birds: you can see the results here. Despite some iffy weather, it was well worth the tip.