Rondeau Blitz

I spent the last two and half days birding at Rondeau Provincial Park. Birding was very good, but there were certainly not huge numbers of birds. I started at 06:30 Friday morning and quit at noon on Sunday. (I don't bring my camera along when I am doing extensive birding, so the photos here are from last year). I looked for butterflies too, but there were not many. The most noteworthy was a Gray Hairstreak (May 8)---the earliest I have ever seen.

Gray Hairstreak (Pelee, 2008)

Birds were all over the park Friday, but not in large pockets. The busiest area was through the centre in the north half of the park. I checked out south point trail first thing and the best bird there was a Yellow-breasted Chat.
Black-throated Green Warblers were in very large numbers and I had visions of a Townsend's, believe it or not (!). At noon, I was at the north end of the park and heard that a Townsend's Warbler had actually been seen there a few hours earlier. Many people were looking, but did not find it then. About 5:00 p.m. it was relocated and an hour later I saw it. We had several looks at it till dark. It was always at tree top level and extremely active. It never sang. It was not a lifer for me, but very nice to see. Coincidently, the other one I saw was at Rondeau (in 1994). Rondeau seems to be the capital for Townsend's Warblers, as this will be the fourth there. Click
here for a link to a photo of the Townsend's Warbler by the Houghton's. Throughout the day and Saturday as well, I had close looks at several birds. Too bad I did not have my camera! Hooded Warbler, Golden-winged Warbler, Le Conte's Sparrow, etc....all close range! I seem to get better birds without my camera. Is there some corellation there?

Friday, I saw 113 species within the park without effort. That did not include the marsh trail and scoping the lake and Bay where one would pick up at least another dozen species.

Blackburnian Warbler

Saturday morning, I was up bright and early to scout around for the Big Day which would start around noon. From noon to the end of the day, I had racked up 120 species! I did well out marsh trail getting Sora and Virginia Rail, both bitterns, Sedge Wren, Sandhill Crane (several) and other marsh birds. I even got a Blackpoll Warbler way out the marsh! Reminds me of the Black-billed Cuckoo we had in the same locale a few years ago while doing a Big Day.

There were many birds to look at Sunday morning, but I only added another 12 species. That included some warblers such as Cerulean and Wilson's.
While looking for a Clay-colored Sparrow, which I did find, I stumbled upon a female Eastern Bluebird. They seem to be scarce this year.
Another strange find was a Wild Turkey which flushed off her nest. It was just a bizarre thing that I came across that! There were around a dozen eggs in the nest.
I ended up with 132 species for the 24h period which is quite good for just inside the park. The last bird I added was a Merlin which certainly was a surprise. I ended up with 31 species of warblers for the weekend. Best was the Townsend's, hands down, but the Chat, Golden-winged and Prairie were nice. I do not get Prairie ever year it seems.
Sparrows included the Le Conte's (unexpected! -- click here for a link to photos of this bird by Julia Freedman), Grasshopper (nice surprise out the marsh trail), and Clay-colored (get on most Big Day's). Pine Siskins were flying all over the place. Perhaps some are nesting somewhere in the park. There were of course many other species seen by others during that period which I had wished for, but you cannot get 'em all!

Magnolia Warbler