Black-throated Gray Warbler at Rondeau Park

Sunrise at Rondeau Park 23 November

A new bird species for the Rondeau list was found today. Jim Burk and I came across a Black-throated Gray Warbler at the north end of Rondeau Provincial Park feeding in the Red Cedars.

Black-throated Gray Warbler at Rondeau

Just before Jim spotted it at the top a Red Cedar, I had heard a chip note that sounded something like a Yellow-rumped Warbler. Something did not seem right about it being a Yellow-rumped, but I passed it off because the Yellow-rumped frequently winters in this particular spot. After finding the bird, we heard it chip several times.


The warbler worked the cedar trees exclusively, moving from one to another. We watched it for over an hour. At one point we lost it for a long period of time, but then I refound it where we first spotted it.


I suspect it may stay in the area as there is lots of food. Refinding it is another matter! Even when we knew it was in a particular tree, it was difficult to see.
I managed to get some record shots, but nothing spectacular.

Previously, we had walked south point trail and the campground and noted rather few birds. On SPT, there were some Purple Finches, a couple of Fox Sparrows and a couple of Hermit Thrushes.
At the warbler location, there were quite a few birds since a lady has a nice feeder setup. I saw Fox, Chipping and White-throated Sparrows there. It will be a spot to keep an eye on the next few weeks.
Out of the park I noted a large number of hawks--mainly Red-tailed.
At Erieau, the Bonaparte's Gulls are building in numbers. In fact there are thousands of gulls around Erieau. Rondeau Bay had many in all directions, sitting on the ice.
A couple of cormorants are still hanging around and perhaps may stay until the Christmas Bird Count on December 14.
There is lots of ice around now with the recent cold weather. I hope it warms up a bit and melts it! Many birds have left with this cold weather, and that may make for slimmer numbers on the count.

Erieau off McGeachy Pond