Weekend Wanderings

We were finally blessed with beautiful weather the whole weekend. Saturday I went up the St. Clair River and to Point Edward. Nothing new to report on the river. At the mouth of Lake Huron, I counted 56 White-winged Scoters--a rather high number for this time of year. I then drove back roads home, stopping at a couple of places to walk. There were hardly any birds!

THE FROZEN TIP

On Sunday I went to Point Pelee. There were lots of birds to see, especially the wintering American Robins, Golden-crowned Kinglets, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and White-throated Sparrows. Seems to be a large number of these around this winter. A couple of Hermit Thrushes were added to the mix near the visitor centre. These are likely the same ones I had on my last visit a month ago.

Highlights included a Ruby-crowned Kinglet near the Tip washroom. There was also a White-crowned Sparrow that seemed lost. I am told it likely ended up there after a storm a while back. A Common Grackle flying around the Tip was likely an early spring migrant. Speaking of blackbirds, a couple of Red-winged Blackbirds were already singing at Sanctuary Pond on my way in this morning.

A bunch of Purple Finches were between the road and the Anders Footpath near where the maintenance compound used to be. In fact there were quite a few birds in this particular area.
A group of Cedar Waxwings were in Pioneer parking lot, but alas, no Bohemian.
Birds seemed to be concentrated around the visitor centre, beginning of Shuster Trail, and farther down Anders Footpath south of DeLaurier.

On the way home, I drove through the old Dover Township, but did not come up with any Snowy Owls. I did catch sight of a Harrier (see photo). As well, a skunk was on the roadside!

Lunar Eclipse February 20

This Wednesday night I watched the lunar eclipse. As I write this, the moon is totally eclipsed and is a reddish orange colour. This is not the first time I have seen one, but this time I tried to take some photos. I guess I have to learn how to use my camera in this type of situation since the photos did not turn out too well! A tripod is essential.

I have also seen a solar eclipse. We used a welding helmet with shield to protect our eyes. It worked out well.

St. Clair River on Monday

Below I pasted a posting that I sent through Ontbirds about ducks on the St. Clair River. It has actually been quite good out there this winter, although no rarities have been detected. There are so many ducks spread out, there is bound to be something of note out there!
The Ruddy Duck was a surprise since I had never encountered one on the river during the winter months, other than at Sarnia Bay.
The photo shows one of the Gadwall on the Snye R. near Wallaceburg this morning.

Duck viewing continues to be excellent this winter with tens of thousands of ducks on the St. Clair River. Most of course are Redhead/Canvasback. Conditions will vary with the ice and wind. The ducks are well spread out all along the river. Every day is different.Today I observed about 16 species of ducks from Port Lambton to Courtright, with the most notable, a male RUDDY DUCK in Sombra Bay (N. of village). (That was a new one for the winter river list!)Two WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS were off Courtright village, a pair of AMERICAN WIGEON at Seager Park, and a couple of GADWALL at Cathcart Park. There have been a number of Gadwall around in the last couple of weeks.One of the wintering Bald Eagles (adult) was eating a fish on the ice at Seager Park this morning.The Peregrine Falcon was at Detroit Edison plant hunting other birds.

Soggy Sunday

Common Redpoll

As our weather usually goes around here, it goes from one extreme to the next. Yesterday was so beautiful, then today was rainy, windy and very mild. It started with freezing rain making everything very slippery.

I did not go out until later in the morning because of the icy roads. The main roads were just wet, but the gravel road were sheer ice. I stayed off them!

I drove along the St. Clair River and noted lots of ducks. I did not stop to scope them though, but most were Canvasback.

This morning I made a list of birds I saw from the house for the Great Backyard Bird Count. This is an annual event in mid February where anyone can submit a checklists of birds from any location in North America. Thousands of people take part in this citizen science.

Whether is serves any useful purpose or not, it is something fun for people to do and they are contributing to bird study.

Since I came up with a decent number of birds at Rondeau yesterday, I submitted a list of the 27 species I saw there.

My yard list (including anything flying over) was 16 species, about average. Included were the Pine Siskins that have hung around all winter. This is only about the third time that I have had them in the winter here. As well, four redpolls were on the list. I only get those every few years. A surprise was a Herring Gull flying over early this morning, since there is no open water very close.

Go to GBBC to check out the results of this year's Great Backyard Bird Count.

Perfect Birding Day

Today was one of those rare days when the weather was perfect. Lots of sun (not a cloud in the sky), no wind, and not too cold. I chose to go to Rondeau Park for a walk. I have been getting "cabin fever" lately, so today came along at the right time.

I started at the campground, and the first bird I looked at was a Merlin! That is a decent bird for the winter. I even got a photo.

Other birds in the campground included a Red-tailed Hawk, several Cedar Waxwings, a couple of Yellow-rumped Warblers, a few Purple Finches, and a couple of Tufted Titmice. These are all wintering birds expected in the campground.

My next walk was on south point trail where I found a large number of American Crows. We do not usually get lots of crows at the south end of the park. Several Downy Woodpeckers, a couple of Hairy and a couple of Red-bellied Woodpeckers were tapping away. A sizable flock of Tree Sparrows were among the weeds in the open area.

Off Erieau were hundreds of Canada Geese and Tundra Swans, but these were way out on the lake. Everything is iced in anywhere near shore, so no open water is available. The adjacent photo shows an ice formation I found a year ago off Rondeau's south point trail. It was one of the most unique formations I have ever found.

On the way home, I decided to check for the Harris's Sparrow, and I got lucky. The birds (mostly White-crowned Sparrows) were feeding at the compost pile, or were sitting in the nearby cedars. The Harris's was in the cedars affording a good view.

We have not had too many Harris's Sparrows around Rondeau. The last one I saw was in May at the park's visitor centre in mid May 1996. There was one on a Christmas Bird Count a few years after that, but I did not see that one. The first one I ever saw was one right here in Wallaceburg in May 1990 coming to a friend's feeder!There are a large number of White-crowned Sparrows wintering at the compost pile. There are several cedar tree lines in the area in which they take cover. I find that any significant coniferous tree line in our area seems to harbour White-crowned Sparrows and others during the winter. There are certain spots we check on CBC's that are always reliable for these uncommon winter birds.It was nice to see some decent birds and decent weather today. Lately there has not been many birds to find, and the weather has been terrible anyway.

Grebes

With this very cold weather, the river has jammed up and little open water is available. There is one small open spot on the Snye near where I work. A few Canvasbacks have been hanging in there, and today (Tuesday) after work I noticed a Horned Grebe. An uncommon sight for winter around here! There was one between Christmas and New Year's at Fawn Island, so maybe it is the same one that has stuck around. (This is where some of the Gadwall were this past weekend as well. A couple were still there yesterday).

Sometimes Red-necked Grebes will show up in early February as very early spring migrants. Back in early February 2003, several showed up around here and southern Ontario as early migrants. Some got caught with a quick freeze-up later on.

Red-necked Grebes are quite uncommon in my area, and that was the first time I had seen them in winter.

Last year there was one at Rondeau in mid February, and I saw two at Sarnia near the end of the month.

Pied-billed Grebes will sometimes stick around here in milder winters. There are always some around Christmas time on our CBC's. The last one I saw this winter was early January near Sarnia on the St. Clair River while I was counting waterfowl.

I have never seen an Eared Grebe around Wallaceburg. The closest ones have been at Sarnia or Rondeau, and in the late fall.

Then there are Western Grebes. I have only seen two. The last was one I discovered at Pinery PP on November 18, 2006.

Miscellaneous Observations and Notes

Today is a rather slow day. It was snowing again early this morning making roads treacherous. I went out anyway, but did not see much. There were not a lot of ducks on the St. Clair River to look at and pulling off to look would have been difficult due to the snow. Very little was on the back roads in the way of birds. I wonder where they are today?
Duck Addendum: I took a ride out to Walpole Island this afternoon going via the Snye Rd. I found the raft of ducks with Gadwall from yesterday at the bend where the Johnston Channel starts. On the St. Clair R. off Walpole I found a small but interesting raft of mostly Canvasback/Redhead. There were two Gadwall and a male American Wigeon with them. Also a female Redhead with a "frosty" head. The wigeon was quite feisty trying to compete for food with the divers.

Yesterday at least four Gadwall ducks were on the Chenel Ecarte (Snye River) near where I work. I had not seen them yet this winter in the area, but they may have been around. We should be seeing more of these and other waterfowl soon, as signs of spring.

Gadwall at Rondeau spring 2006

I updated my last blog post with a photo of the Spring Birds of Point Pelee booklet. I also corrected the spelling of Wressell's name--it should have two "l's". The article in the Kent Historical Society booklet only showed one "l" so I was going by that.
The Bachman's Sparrow was last reported in Ontario in 1966 according to Ross D. James in his ROM publication Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Ontario (1991).

Another old booklet I picked up at the same used bookstore was a publication from the Royal Ontario Museum from 1937. It is: No. 11: BAIRD'S SPARROW, by B. W. Cartwright, T. M. Shortt and R. D. Harris.
On the inside front cover is scribed "From the library of the late W. E. Saunders through the kindness of A. A. Wood". I already mentioned Saunders in my last post as a well-known ornithologist. Albert Andrew Wood (1885-1963) was a well known naturalist in the London and Chatham area and was noted for his preparations of bird skins. Many of his are now in the ROM. A. A. Wood was also mentioned in Wressell's article. He was instrumental in the formation of the Kent Nature Club, and contributed new bird records for the county.


Back to the Baird's Sparrow paper, I know T. M. Shortt as a famous artist who did the illustrations in Bodsworth's Last of the Curlews.
The Baird's Sparrow is a western bird breeding in the prairies of Canada as far east as eastern Manitoba. And, you guessed it, it is another severely declining species. Certainly loss of habitat has lots to do with it. This species was first discovered by J. J. Audubon in 1843 in North Dakota.
The paper was a result of studies made from 1929-1931 by the authors. The study is quite detailed, so I will not go into it here. The Baird's Sparrow nests in similar situations as the Savannah Sparrow, quite often in tufts of grass on the ground. Obviously it is vulnerable to predators, and with the disappearance of grasslands, it further is at risk.
There has only been one Baird's Sparrow officially recorded in Ontario, and I was lucky enough to see it! In early July 1996, a friend and I planned a week long trip to Rainy River. It turned out to be one of the greatest trips I ever took because the weather was perfect and we saw lots of birds. Ten life birds were added to my list!



Anyway, the day after our arrival, we got word from John Lamey (who was vacationing there as well) that he had discovered a Baird's Sparrow in a field near our camp. "Ya, right!", was what we thought. We eventually checked up on it, and sure enough a Baird's Sparrow was singing in the field. We did not see it at first (typical of Baird's Sparrows), but the song was distinctive. An unexpected bonus lifer!
For the next four days we saw this bird and heard it constantly singing. It was probably singing for a mate that never came. That song is etched in my mind, and it is my dream to find one in Chatham-Kent or southern Lambton County some day. As it is a declining species, those hopes are somewhat slim.

Natural History and the Decline of Some Species

Pointe aux Pins spring 2007

I recently read a paper by H. B. Wressell of Chatham that was written for the Kent Historical Society sometime around 1960. I do not know much about H. B. Wressell, but he was a keen naturalist and historian and was quite well known in the area.
The article I read was entitled Flora, Fauna and Naturalists in Kent. It is quite interesting since he described the natural history of Kent County and how it has changed. Many species have been extirpated from the area or have declined drastically. This theme fits in nicely as this week both myself and Jeremy Hatt have been talking about some declining birds on our blogs.

As an aside, a number of years ago I picked up a copy of the Spring Birds of Point Pelee (1960) in a used book store that obviously belonged to Harry Wressell. His name was scribed on the cover and he had inserted some of his own notes in the book.
Mr. Wressell made a notation about a Pinewoods Sparrow they observed on May 14, 1961 near Post House in Point Pelee. Names of observers, among others, included Don Young, Fred Bodsworth (of “Last of the Curlews” fame), and Ron Scovell. Ron is still quite active as a birder, as I met him at Niagara this past November.

Anyway, this sparrow is now called the Bachman’s Sparrow and is a declining species where it is normally found farther south. When was the last time one of these was in Ontario? (I have no idea!)
Back to the article at hand, Wressell talks about many things and I will mention a few. He starts with trees, and describes “Pointe aux Pins”, which is really Rondeau Park. The park has (or had) a significant stand of White Pine, unique to Kent County. They are presently declining and not being replenished due to things like deer browsing.
Kent was extensively covered in dense forest except for prairie in the present Dover area and small patches elsewhere. Dominant trees were black walnut, butternut various species of hickory, elm, maple, ash and oak.
He talks briefly about herbaceous flowering plants, fungi, and mosses.
Mammals in Kent included the elk, black bear, wolves, fisher and marten. These are no longer anywhere near here! Beaver were also more plentiful, then declined, and in recent years they have seem to have increased in numbers.
Regarding birds, Wild Turkey were quite numerous. We all know they were eventually extirpated at some point. Reintroduction of this species has made it a fairly common sight nowadays. Perhaps it is getting too common and causing problems with the species it preys upon!
With the large forest cover, Kent had lots of Pileated Woodpeckers. They require large stands of forest for survival, so obviously we do not have many left in Kent today.
Cardinals were once not found in Ontario, but are now very common. Probably the first of that species ever taken in Canada were two at Chatham in May 1849 by Rev. Sandys who had an extensive collection of stuffed birds.
Birds were killed and collected, rather than “watched” in those days. Many famous naturalists like Dr. W. E. Saunders of London spent much time in Rondeau.
Grassland birds thrived in the prairie areas of Kent. Perhaps, initially, they took advantage of agriculture when areas were cleared for pastures.
Nowadays, most fields are devoted to cash crops, not conducive to bird life. This type of farming has created a "monoculture" that is not healthy to the natural world, especially birds. UPLAND SANDPIPER 1997 (pasture no longer exists)
Pastures have disappeared at an alarming rate over the last twenty years since I have been birding. This type of land has been converted to the “monoculture” of cash crops. So many species have simply been “killed off” when the pasture disappears. They have nowhere to go. Essentially, there is no vacancy elsewhere.

Things like meadow crayfish just disappear, as well as the reptiles and amphibians from the wetter areas. There is no food for birds, so this seems like a domino effect.

Wressell went on to describe the formation of the Kent Nature Club that came about in late 1930. It was formed by naturalists of the area who were dedicated to the study of natural history.
Shortly afterwards, a group of naturalists, particularly in Toronto, decided to form a provincial group in May 1931. That was the beginning of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists which exists today as Ontario Nature. The Kent Nature Club was a charter member of that group, but eventually dwindled to non-existence sometimes in the 1980’s.
There are many things contributing to the decline of species that I did not cover in this article, but it interesting to see how things have changed for better or worse. Mostly worse it seems!

BLUE-WINGED TEAL (a declining species)

Sunday Ducks to Owls

Today was an interesting day. I joined the first part of Lambton Wildlife's Downriver Ducks outing. This is an annual trip starting at Sarnia and heading down the St. Clair River to look at waterfowl and other birds. It varies from year to year due to weather, ice, and numbers of ducks.
We started at the Bluewater Bridge and looked at the pair of Peregrine Falcons. We then moved over to Point Edward water plant to look onto Lake Huron. We saw a White-winged Scoter there, Kumliens's Iceland Gull (adult), and lots of Redhead, Goldeneye and Long-tailed Ducks on the lake.

Next stop was at Guthrie Park, Corunna where there were thousands of ducks, but mostly these were towards the US side. Hooded Mergansers were here as well. A Belted Kingfisher was perched nearby. Just as we were leaving, a first year Bald Eagle flew over.

Just off downtown Courtright, we found a large gathering of ducks. Possibly up to 15,000 were in this area, and most were Redhead and Canvasback. I spotted a single White-winged Scoter right away. This is probably the same one I keep finding downriver! Many other species were here as well. This spot is not usually very productive, but today the bulk of the ducks on the river were at this location.

I left the group at this point and continued downriver. I did not find anything new for this weekend.

Later in the afternoon I decided to take a drive north of town on some back roads. On my way to a particular location, I spotted a Short-eared Owl on a post beside a small pasture. I was going at highway speed, so I had to quickly stop and turn around! To my delight there were two other Short-ears hunting the field, along with a Harrier. This was just after 2 p. m. ! Sometimes Short-eared Owls can be seen during the day, especially on dull days like today. The one in the photograph was the first one I saw beside the road. It was making its raspy barking sound as I sat there. In the lower photograph, you can just make out a second owl flying over the field.

I continued on for a walk where I had the Long-eared Owls last week, but I did not find them. Driving other roads I saw several Harriers and Red-tailed Hawks and Kestrels. Seems like there are many Harriers around right now.

The Short-eared Owl used to be very plentiful in our area, but due to tremendous loss of pasture in the last fifteen years, suitable hunting habitat has disappeared. Needless to say, the grassland birds have been greatly reduced as well.

More Ducks

Today (Saturday) I headed out to the St. Clair River first thing hoping to see thousands of ducks. To my dismay, the ice had moved in overnight creating little open water! There were lots of ducks all week and even before dark yesterday, but I was not able to spend time out there since I had to go to work.

Good thing I took a quick look after work Friday, because there were thousands of ducks up to Sombra (as far as I ventured). I saw the White-winged Scoter again, and noted a large number of scaup. The scaup were not too plentiful last week. Visions of finding a Tufted Duck were dashed when I saw all the ice this morning. The last Tufted Duck on the river spent the winter of 1994 at Sombra.

The biggest concentration of ducks was at the Sombra ferry dock. Most were Canvasback and Redhead, but they were packed like sardines in some spots.

At Lambton Generating Station, I noted a male Northern Pintail. First time I had seen that one this winter. Like the wigeon, there is always one or two during winter on the big river.

By that time it was only 09:30, so I headed south and then drove along the Snye. I encountered one small raft of Canvasback (see photo above and below) just south of the Walpole bridge.

Passing through Chatham, I stopped to look for the Trumpeter Swans. No luck! Earlier in the week a casual photo was in the Chatham Daily News showing two of three swans. They noted wing tags, and I immediately recognized them as Trumpeters. I notified a couple of people and they did see one swan (#872). Allen Woodliffe was kind enough to send me a photo he took of Trunpeter Swan #872. This swan was released at Millgrove (near Waterdown) in June 2004, and is apparently the first they have heard of its whereabouts.

I then headed south to look for the Harris's Sparrow. I only got a brief glimpse of it with many White-crowned Sparrows, before they vanished.

At Erieau there were quite a few ducks, including a female Harlequin. Also of note were two male American Wigeon and an American Coot.

Lots of Snow Buntings were close to Lake Erie today along with longspurs and Horned Larks. Harriers seemed abundant today. I had four in the first ten minutes that I was out this morning.