In the fall of 2006 Allan and I finally made the long drive to Point Pelee, one of Canada's beautiful National Parks. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and after talking with park staff knew we had to go back for the spring migration.
Vacation was planned and a couple months before,I called a hotel just outside of the park to book us a room....well they got quite the chuckle and informed me reservations were made last year for May. We discussed driving back and forth daily and decided it would be too much, closest town to the park was only a 45 minute drive and they had room for us!!!

Our first full day we had arranged to go on a hiking tour with experienced birders as guides. I was extremely frustrated as the birds were soooo small and soooo high and I couldn't see through my binoculars. Amidst lots of ooohing and ahhhing and Did you see it???? I was very disappointed. I did see some of the larger birds and managed to get a few pictures but, again the distance and size of the birds took some of that pleasure away too. Once the guided hike was over I enjoyed myself more as we wandered on our own.

Day two, we had an early morning call for a bus tour of marsh birds. I enjoyed this much more as we saw lots of cool birds and animals while in the bus. We had several disappointing stops, no birds, so we ended up spending more time than anticipated at one marsh. Our guides had some great scopes and made sure we all saw the different sandpipers. Just as we were preparing to leave we were informed banding was being done nearby. Unfortunately we didn't get to spend much time watching.

Once we got home it was off shopping to find me a decent pair of bins and to ask for help with me using them. While outside the store getting my lesson,the salesperson told us about a bird conservatory much closer to home. Our eyes lit up and our plans were made for the next day...off to Long Point.

Long Point Bird Conservatory is much smaller than Point Pelee. This allows a much more personal visit. We arrived close to closing and didn't see a lot but were so impressed with what we did see that we made plans to head back the very next weekend.
We were greeted when entering and got a brief verbal tour before heading out to explore. Their process of banding was explained in detail to us as we watched many birds being banded. When we were ready to explore on our own we were reminded NOT to touch any birds we might see in the nets. I was a little concerned about my reaction to these nets, the birds sure seemed to be a tangled knot. Nets are constantly checked and I was sooo impressed with how gentle these people are at removing the birds.
I think we were lucky to have arrived at the end of the season for our first visit here. Staff had the time to spend talking with us, allowed me to take a ton of photos and even let me release birds. What an awesome experience that was!!!!

Both of us are already planning vacation time for next years spring migration!!

If you've managed to stay with me during all my rambling....I hope you enjoy the photos below that I have put together of our first Spring Migration Season. Click on the thumb nails to see larger photos.