Facing a strong west wind, sixty-nine students from the University of Windsor's Ornithology class studied birds migrating through Point Pelee National Park and Holiday Beach Conservation Area on Saturday September 20, 2014. At the southern tip of Point Pelee we watched gulls, cormorants, falcons, and hawks battling the strong winds. At Pelee's marsh boardwalk we watched swallows, hawks, and songbirds making their way south. At Holiday Beach Conservation Area we learned about migration monitoring tehcniques from the Holiday Beach Migration Observatory. We counted hawks migrating past the hawk tower, we watched songbirds and hummingbirds being banded at the passerine station, and we observed falcons and hawks get captured, banded, and released. The unfavourable west wind kept our day's species count to 39 species of bird, yet it was an excellent day of hands-on ornithological learning.
Dr. Dan Mennill, the 69 students of the 2014 Ornithology course, and graduate teaching assistants Alana Demko and Kristina Hick wish to extend our sincere thanks to the Holiday Beach Migration Observatory for sharing their knowledge with us, especially the citizen scientists at the hawk tower, at the passerine banding station, and at the hawk banding station. We are so thankful that you spent the afternoon sharing your knowledge with us. We also thank the volunteers from the Canadian Peregrine Foundation for sharing their knowledge with us.
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