Rondeau CBC: Birds, Bats, Frogs, Skunk, Opossums

Turned out to be an interesting day for the Rondeau/Blenheim CBC.  The weather forecast was completely wrong (again) and it was a fairly nice day weatherwise!  All week" they" (who are these people?) had predicted rain for the weekend, especially Sunday.  Wind too on Sunday.  It was quite windy today, but it later died out a bit.  It was raining a bit as I left home at 06:00, but stopped by the time I was outside the park.  The sun came out for a few hours today. It never rained!

Too windy for owling in the park, so I waited until daylight and started walking with Maris Apse.  Birds were sparse (as expected) but he lake was quite active.  We had some decent things such as a Black Scoter, a White-winged too, Long-tailed Duck (2), and hundreds of Red-breasted Mergansers (~900).  We had two Common Loons, which is always good.  Four Horned Grebes.  Later in the afternoon I found lots of Ruddy Ducks (78) on the lake.

The count total (preliminary) was 106, but will probably be at least 107.  Some good finds (no particular order) such as Wilson's Snipe, Red-headed Woodpecker (found last weekend), Blue-winged Teal (Ridgetown), Northern Goshawk, Dunlin, Killdeer, American Pipit, Common Yellowthroat.  Of course the four Ross's Geese were at Ridgetown.
Gadwall was record high at 6000 and Northern Shoveler will be a record high.
It was very balmy today.  At one point I almost stepped on a Leopard Frog.  Later in several areas I was hearing frogs which I assume were Chorus.


While at the north end of the campground I saw something of reddish colour on the fly.  A Red Bat!  First for the count.  Turns out I found at least five more in various spots flying about looking for insects.  Other counters had them as well.  I talked to a non-birding couple at the VC and they almost stepped on one in leaf litter.  Apparently they roost in leaf litter during the winter.
While on our walk, Maris and I headed out to Dog Beach.  I passed a recycling bin and casually glanced into it.  I saw some black fur.  I looked a little closer and there was a skunk! It was unable to get out, so Maris knocked over the bin and and opened the lid.  The critter refused to leave so we left!
Not a good day for other mammals as I nearly hit two Virginia Opposums on the way in.
A long gap till the next local count.  Wallaceburg is on the 29th.  Would be nice to get the elusive Northern Bobwhite for a change as it has been a long drought.

The hangover, err, I mean St. Clair NWA count is the usual January 1.