Towhee Spotted!

The highlight of today was the fact that I saw the Spotted Towhee at Point Pelee! No more nemesis bird! It was very elusive in the underbrush just SW of the Tip washrooms. I missed it on my first pass, but saw it after Dave Martin caught a glimpse of it. We had just arrived at the spot, and Dave decided to scan the underbrush with his binoculars. Ironically, he put his binoculars right on the bird! You could not really see it with the naked eye. We watched it for a while until it disappeared further back. There is also an Eastern Towhee with it and White-throated Sparrows and Carolina Wrens.

That bird was a long time coming for me. I have missed others for various reasons.

I managed to get a few poor photos, but here is the best one.

This towhee was originally found by Alan Wormington about a month ago. It could possibly stay the winter.

I started the day at Rondeau just to scout around for the Christmas Bird Count which is on tomorrow. There were very few birds to be found. It was quite windy on south point trail, and from what I hear, it will be far worse tomorrow with rain. We cannot seem to win with the weather for this count in recent years. Always gale force winds.

There is lots of water in the sloughs with all the rain. Good footwear will be required as we will want to get out of the wind tomorrow and check some sloughs.

There have been quite a few Bald Eagles around Rondeau lately. Yesterday Irene Woods counted about seven. I saw four together on south point trail this morning. One adult and three immatures.

I think I saw more deer than birds first thing this morning! Here is a photo of some with eyes aglowing! Their noses should be glowing red this time of year...