With the spring birding season well underway, visitors from near and far have descended upon the Sun Parlour of Canada to seek out those elusive feathered species they’ve yet to check off their lists.
The Point Pelee Festival of Birds runs until May 19 and other county hotspots are experiencing higher than normal volumes of visitors. Local businesses have also been the beneficiary of the surge of out-of-towners, with restaurants and hotels experiencing an uptick in customers.
Bill Buskirk has made several birding trips to Point Pelee National Park since the mid 1970s.
The now-retired Professor of Ornithology at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, brought many of his students along for excursions to Point Pelee’s famous birding mecca over the years.
In fact, in 1982, Buskirk and his colleague Jim Cope created the first of what they call Earlham Birding Big Days. Initially, they wanted to challenge students to identify as many birds as they could in a 24-hour period. That event blossomed into an the Richmond area, but family and alumni. annual tradition that now elsewhere in the world as It has turned into a encompasses not only well and includes friends, major fundraiser for the school and Birding Big Day has raised over $1 million since 1982.
Buskirk and 11 of his former students — including the late Jim Cope’s three daughters — were at Point Pelee National Park last week, taking in all that the annual Festival of Birds has to offer.
They came from all over the U.S. — Maine, Maryland, Indiana, to name just a few places. Some were making their first trip to Point Pelee, but most had been here before as students of Mr. Buskirk. All donned their Earlham caps, which prompted questions of where they were from by passers-by.
The 12 bird enthusiasts gathered behind the Visitor Centre on Friday, May 9 for some treats served up by the Friends of Point Pelee, before they were on their way to seek out another species to add to their list.
Jill Edwards (forefront) of Toronto and Pati Morrison of Kingston spent time at the Hillman Marsh Shorebird Habitat on Friday, May 9, where they were busy identifying a number of terns and plovers.
SUN photo by Mark Ribble
