Rondeau/Erieau on Sunday

With the warm front moving in, I headed down to Rondeau this morning. A few more birds were in. It was a gloomy day (usual for a weekend!) and it eventually started raining. We desparately need rain, but not on the weekend! The sloughs are almost completely dry and water levels are extremely low.
Not much of a chance to use the camera today.

American Robins were in by the hundreds. All the way down Kent Bridge Road, you could find them.
I got a few new year birds today, including Eastern Towhee, Belted Kingfisher, Chipping Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Eastern Phoebe (yes!), Tree Swallow, and Winter Wren. A couple of Winter Wrens were on south point trail, being elusive as usual. They are incredibly difficult to photograph and do not respond well to pishing. I tried anyway.


A few Golden-crowned kinglets were throughout the park, but numbers will increase soon.
Sparrows are building up in numbers. I saw the first Chipping today in Rondeau, and Field Sparrows are around. Several Field were at Erieau along the marsh trail.
I did see a single Hermit Thrush on Tulip Tree Trail. Some were around in early winter though.
One can always hope for a Black Vulture, but the red-faced ones will have to do.


At Erieau, I walked a bit of the R/R Trail and came up with some sparrows. My first swamp of the year was in the reeds.
Just as I was finishing the trail, a single Tree Swallow was circling overhead. And over the bank on the lake side, I caught a glimpse of an Eastern Phoebe. Quite often early Phoebes show up along the dyke at McGeachy Pond.
Almost forgot to mention, a Belted Kingfisher was east of the park. Jim Burk saw four there, but I only caught sight of one.
The weather will be nice this week, so some things will come in for the holiday weekend.