Another Count in the Bag

Today was Rondeau/Blenheim CBC.  I have been doing this one since 1989, mostly in Rondeau Park.  The trend continues with fewer birds overall, especially in the park.  One would think it would level off, but the downward spiral was here again this year.  The bizarre weather late this fall certainly did not help.
A bit of snow fell overnight.

I arrived early to listen for owls.  I heard a Great Horned right off, but only briefly.  I managed to call in a Screech Owl.  It came right in and flew around me for a bit.  With the little light, I could see that it was a red morph!  Only the third one of those I have seen.

Maris Apse helped me in the south part of the park, then later in the campground. The south Point trail was terribly quiet and we did not see much until we got back on the old Dillon Trail. Even that was not much.  Actually we could not do the Dillon due to high water.  It was just like a wet spring!  Unbelievable.  The Dillon used to be a driveable road across the park, but high water in the early '70's made it impassable.  It goes across a large slough in the middle of the park which is sometimes good for birds. Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Fox Sparrow, Song Sparrows, Winter Wrens and others come to mind from past years.

Walking up Harrison, we manged to hear the token Pileated Woodpecker for the count.  Phew!

Notable on the lake was an incredible number of Red-breasted Mergansers.  I think the entire count ended up over 8000 birds which smashed the previous record.

There was absolutely nothing around the visitor centre when we walked through. We sat there for lunch, and still nothing, but a Crow flew over to get us excited.  Later a few birds came in, but like all feeders in the is area, they are not being used.  I have never seen things so quiet around feeders by this time of year.
Up at the campground, we did find some birds.  We chased around a large flock of Tree Sparrows/Juncos for a long time.  We managed to pick out 3 Field Sparrows (there were actually six according to an earlier counter).  A Yellow-rumped Warbler was following these around as well.  First warbler I have heard of in the campground this winter.
Four Purple Finches were working the campground.  Turns out these were the only ones for the count.
Other noteworthy birds that others found were 10 Snow and 2 Ross's Geese at Ridgetown, a flock of 17 Eastern Meadowlarks (!) near Blenheim, Sandhill Crane at the landfill,  5 or 6 Snowy Owls, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Red-headed Woodpecker, Double-crested Cormorant (2 at Erieau), Northern Goshawk, several Killdeer, Savannah Sparrow and a couple of White-winged Crossbills.

Preliminary species total was 101.

Off the east side of Rondeau, we observed an interesting formation of sand.  A spit is forming!  With all the weird wind this fall, sand is getting moved around.