Eagles on the River

Going in to steal a fish from a gull!

Checked out the St. Clair River today.  Two adult Bald Eagles started things off at Port Lambton.  Another was at the north end of the village. A sign of things to come.
Turns out I came up with a total of 14 Bald Eagles by the time I got to the Sidney Smith dock at Sarnia. Cannot remember, but perhaps the highest total I ever had before was around 8, so that is a new record.
Off the Shell Refinery seven was the total number of eagles fighting for fish dinners.  At one point all seven were together on one ice flow, but this photo shows only six.

If I recall correctly, of the 14, it was half and half of adults to immatures.

Regarding ducks, there was not much until one got to Stag Island. A small bunch were off OC Industries.  A lot of Canvasbacks have moved in.

Difficult to judge the number of ducks at Stag Island, but perhaps 8000+, most of which were Canvasback and Redhead.  There was also a healthy number of Common Goldeneye (800?) plus others mixed in.

Gulls are scarce this winter on the river unlike a year ago.  A decent number was off Talfourd Creek in front of the Shell Refinery.  Included were two Glaucous. (Had a third north of Mooretown).

A Double-crested Cormorant was reported in Talfourd Creek, but I did not look in there!  I am sure it is the one I had in late December off Cathcart Park since it has been the only one around.

There are still several thousand Long-tailed Ducks at Sarnia and at the mouth of Lake Huron (not the mouth of the St. Clair River!).

The roads in the country were quite iffy today with the gale force wind that never seems to end.  I headed out Michigan Avenue but turned down Blackwell Sideroad due to lack of visibility.  One Snowy Owl was at the solar farm.

Solar Snowy!

I checked for some "Perch" owls, but came up empty.
I did not do much back roads due to drifting snow.  Lots of Horned Larks and Snow Buntings today.

View between Stag Island and Corunna