Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory

Interested in learning the skills and techniques used in bird banding? 🐦

PEPtBO is once again hosting a NABC Banding Workshop & Certification this September.

Join us at the bird banding station and at a private residence in Soup Harbour, Prince Edward County for a hands-on, field-based workshop conducted in small groups.

We aim to make our programs accessible. Reduced rates may be available for participants with accessibility needs - please reach out to discuss options.

A discount is available for returning participants; please indicate this when registering.

For more information, visit https://www.peptbo.ca/nabc

Ready to register or have questions? Email director.mercier[at]peptbo[dot]ca

Thank you to the Municipality of Prince Edward County for awarding PEPtBO a Community Grant! This support helps us advance bird research and protect critical bird habitats, while continuing to connect people with nature across PEC.

Migration Update May 23-31

A little late, but here is our final update for spring 2026’s migration monitoring! It was a good final week of banding with another 500+ birds banded. The poor conditions in early spring meant most birds were delayed in their migration. Thus, we continued to catch many species much later than their typical migration window, so we were kept busy right until the end!

Warblers, vireos and flycatchers made up the bulk of our captures for this final week. Some standout birds were a beautiful Black-billed Cuckoo and a female Brewster’s Warbler (hybrid between Golden-winged and Blue-winged). We also caught many Hummingbirds during this period, as they were migrating through the area!

We had 93 species seen on census this last week, slightly down from the previous observation week, but still great numbers for end of May! Many of our winter duck species have gone, and the lake is now filled with summer resident such as Cormorants, Herring Gulls, and the occasional herons.

Spring migration is finished as of the end of May. However, we do have some banding demos planned for this summer on select days, so keep posted on our socials for the announcement of those dates! We look forward to seeing you out here and sharing some birds with you.

Birds picture from top left clockwise: Bay-breasted Warbler, Brewster’s Warbler, Black-billed Cuckoo, Wilson’s Warbler.

Please save the date for PEPtBO's Annual General Meeting.

The 2026 AGM is scheduled for Thursday, June 25th at The Andrew, 31 King St., Picton. Doors open at 7pm.

Presentation by PEPtBO's Station Manager, Ashley Jensen and Keynote Address by James Kamstra to follow the meeting.

Refreshments and sweet bites will be served.

Migration Update May 16th-22nd

Last week was our busiest week of the spring season, with a total of 816 birds banded throughout the week. However, most of these come from a single day when we experienced a small fallout event of warblers. That day, we banded 373 birds! The most numerous species banded during that busy day was Magnolia Warbler. The highlight of that morning was a male Hooded Warbler, which is a rare catch this far North! Additionally, last week we banded a male Golden-winged Warbler, which we usually only get a handful of each season. During this time, the first Swainson’s Thrushes began to arrive, as well as more species of vireos and flycatchers.

Notable sightings from last week include a Connecticut Warbler spotted at Traverse Woods in the NWA. This is a rare and secretive warbler that is difficult to find in PEC, but it put on quite a show for many birders! On the fallout day, hundreds of warblers were seen - many of which were Bay-breasted, American Redstarts and Magnolia Warblers, filling all the trees in the NWA. Additionally, we observed many Bobolinks flying over and migrating north to their breeding grounds.

We only have two days of banding left! Come visit us this weekend for your last chance to see spring bird banding this year.

Birds pictured from top left clockwise: Hooded Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Golden-winged Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler.

Old recapture alert!

This female Rose-breasted Grosbeak was originally banded here at PEPtBO in May of 2016! When we went to look up her original banding data, we couldn’t believe it! This season is the first time she has been recaptured or seen since her original banding date, and so far we have caught her twice this May. We were glad to recatch her a second time so we could take plenty of photos to share with you all!

As female songbirds age, they often develop male plumage characters. However, this female is still going strong in her female garb, except for a small bit of black mottling on her face. Her band is somewhat worn (see second slide), but not nearly as much as the 11 year old Common Grackle we also recaptured this year. This is probably due to differences in behaviour - Grackles spend a lot of time on the ground, thus putting a lot of wear on their bands. In contrast, Grosbeaks spend most of their time delicately hopping on tree branches.

One of the benefits of banding is getting to know how old our local birds can live to. This is an exceptional record and we hope this bird continues on with her prosperous life!

We need your help for Birdathon 50!! To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Birdathon the PEPtBO team will be birding for bird conservation!
The Birdathon is a fundraiser started by Birds Canada 50 yrs ago, and now teams all over Canada participate to fundraise for their organizations. Your donation supports the important work done by both Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory and Birds Canada!
We have assembled a team of birders who will be birding on May 26th to try to see as many species as possible to raise funds for conservation!
Please consider sponsoring us by donating any amount to our official birdathon fundraising page!
Click this link to donate:
https://www.canadahelps.org/s/jXMkc7

If you donate to our page, 75% of your donation goes to PEPtBO and 25% goes to Birds Canada!

Migration update May 9th-15th 2026

The fourth week of spring migration picked up a bit with more numbers and diversity of species than previous weeks. We had a lot more neotropical migrants, such as vireos, warblers, Indigo Buntings, Scarlet Tanagers and hummingbirds. Still some early season migrants were trickling through, such as kinglets and White-throated Sparrows, exemplifying what a late spring it has been with the cool weather.

A Hooded Warbler was sighted on the Wildlife Area, as well as many other species of warblers including Golden-winged, Cape May, Bay-breasted and more. Our winter ducks have been dwindling and we are noticing a notable lack of shorebirds because the water level of Lake Ontario is much higher than average.

Digital art by:

Birds pictured clockwise from top left: Tennessee Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, Indigo Bunting.

If you are curious, the flowers pictured on the second slide are forest phlox, a native spring ephemeral.

Migration Update May 2nd to 8th 2026

Last week’s banding was still slower than usual, with cool and rainy weather as well as north winds stopping a whole ton of migration. However, we had a few neotropical migrants trickling in! These include many of our warbler species, vireos and flycatchers. Notably, we caught and banded our first Black-throated Blue Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler and Cape May Warbler of the season, as well as the first Common Yellowthroats and Yellow Warblers. We have also been seeing a high number of White-crowned Sparrows stopping in around the wildlife area on their way north to their northern breeding grounds. Finally, we have been seeing some migration of Red-breasted Nuthatches. This past fall was an irruption year for them where many birds went farther south than usual, and now they are returning north. One of the more exciting captures this week was a Yellow subspecies of the Palm Warbler, which is rare this far inland. But by far the show-stopper for this week though was a rare Yellow-breasted Chat that wound up in our nets!

In terms of birds seen around the station, we have noticed our duck species dwindling and our warbler species increasing. Many Golden-winged Warblers were seen around the station as well as some Blue-winged Warblers as well as hybrids. We have started to see the start of spring Blue Jay migration as well, with flocks of up to 40 strong seen passing by.

This is a great time of year to visit the station and see a large variety of birds being banded! Stop by any day between 8am and 1pm, weather provided.

Pictured clockwise from top left: Yellow Palm Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Red-breasted Nuthatch.

Rare bird banded! 🚨 We banded this beautiful Yellow-breasted Chat just a few days ago during our migration monitoring operations!

While these birds are not uncommon further south in the U.S., this species is quite rare this far north. Records for Prince Edward County average about 1 observation per year (sometimes less), so we are always thrilled to observe or capture one of these beauties! Anytime we get strong south winds in the spring, there’s a chance an individual of one of these more southerly species could make a guest appearance!
Photo: Yellow-breasted Chat, second-year female
*All birds handled for research purposes under proper training and permits