Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Evening Outings

I got out to Mitchell's Bay this evening.  At this time of year, lots of birds are moving, loafing or feeding, etc.
The field beside Angler Line and the lakeshore trail is good right now, especially after the heavy rain from Monday evening.  There are a few wet spots attracting shorebirds, and geese and gulls and terns are resting in the field.
Although I did not see anything rare (of course!), there was a good variety of birds.



There were many Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, Semipalmated Plovers and a single Wilson's Snipe among the dozens of Killdeer.



Lots of ducks were in the air coming into the marshes, and swallows were lining the hydro wires (and a Green Heron).



I suspect there is an ibis or some good heron in the area.......one just has to 'search' for it (or get lucky).

ship's searchlight


It was a good evening for dragonflies as there were many darners flying about.  One would need to net some to confirm ID!  Those Canada and Lance-tipped Darners look too much alike, LOL!

In the trees beside the trail, a Great Horned Owl was already hooting when I arrived.

Yesterday evening a  number of shorebirds were at Stewart Wetland including the first Stilt Sandpiper I have seen there in a while.  Several Caspian Terns are resting there.  I only had the G16 camera.




While there, close to 40 Sandhill Cranes were heading over to Walpole for the night.  I saw several coming off Walpole early in the morning as well.


Late Monday I was bored and drove around Walpole Island past the Public Bush.  The west end of Shawnee Road is basically a dirt tract, but east of the bush the road is good.  You can do a circle by heading down River Road along the Chematogan Channel, and onto Shawnee.  I heard a few birds, but no Northern Bobwhite!  June into July is probably the best time to hear bobwhite, but I have heard them this time of year.  There was a time back in the 1990's I would drive around Walpole and no problem finding bobwhite, but try and find them now!





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