A New Year!

Point Pelee Ice

Another year has passed! I started it off yesterday by going to Point Pelee in the less than ideal weather. Strangely, I did not see any other birders throughout the morning there. There were other people, but nobody resembling a birder!
As I drove in, a few Red-winged Blackbirds were flying over the Sanctuary Pond, and birds such as Cardinals and White-throated Sparrows were along the road.
I started at the Tip. A flock of Starlings, which I saw several times throughout the morning, was at the parking lot. A single Robin was with them.
Off the Tip, two adult Bald Eagles were sitting out on the ice.
Walking around the Tip area, not many birds were to be found. As I drove away, a noticed a flock of a couple dozen Cedar Waxwings towards the south end of Sparrow Field. At least two more Robins were with them. With no place to park there, I could only look from the car and see bits and pieces of the flock. All were cedars as far as I could tell.

The Lonely Tip

I drove around the park for a while, and after not finding much, I went back to the Tip. I saw the Starlings and Robin again! Along east beach, I could see a large number of ducks at the north end of the park, in the distance.
So, out Shuster Trail I went. I had to walk a fair distance to get reasonably close to the main raft. They turned out to be almost a pure raft of scaup. Some Lessers were present, but most were Greaters. The odd Common Goldeneye and Common Merganser was among them. I suspect there were 7-8 thousand, but I could be way off. Another raft was in the distance.
Walking back along the beach, two more Bald Eagles were cruising along the east side. These were immatures.

Raft of Scaup (part of)

Saturday.....
Today was bright and sunny, but very windy and very cold. Not good for long walks.
I checked out the St. Clair River to Courtright, but not much was there. An adult Bald Eagle was heading upriver at Port Lambton.
Knowing there would be birds in the valley at Moore WMA, I stopped there. Right away there was an abundance of birds at the river crossing. Not surprisingly, there were Yellow-rumped Warblers. Probably ten of them.

A couple of Yellow-rumps

The sheltered river valley, plus oodles of Poison Ivy berries attracts them.

Bunches of Poison Ivy Berries

Yellow-rumped Warblers are there every winter, and I have had them without fail ever since I started birding here.

Other birds included Tufted Titmice, Chickadees, and White-breasted Nuthatches. It is also good for kinglets and creepers and woodpeckers. I only saw Red-bellied and Downy today.
Usually flickers are here, but they are rather scarce all over this winter--like most birds.

The river was running too high a few days ago to cross the causeway. The above photo shows ice levels at the bend. The bank is eroding here, and soon those trees will fall.

I checked an area for Long-eared Owls, but did not find any. Late yesterday I did find one in a Spruce tree, plus the remains of one under a grove of Pine trees. They are also scarce this winter.