Saturday, October 17, 2015

Cornucopia of Birds at Rondeau



Surf Scoters at dawn




Rondeau was certainly the destination today, as I met up with Steve Charbonneau to check out the abundance of birds.  We did a lake watch at Dog Beach for over an hour first thing.  The lake was fairly active with many Common Loons and a few Horned Grebes among ducks and gulls.






Shorebirds included 4 Black-bellied Plover and 2 Dunlin that sat on the edge of the beach the entire time.  Lighting was bad first thing.




At the parking lot, a large Sharp-shinned Hawk sat for some time and eventually songbirds ignored it and fed in the same tree.

Eastern Phoebe in background


At the start of south point trail, it was evident there was a lot of birds to sort through.  Of course Yellow-rumped Warblers dominated the scene, but 7 other warbler species were found.  We had at least 6 Tennessee, 3 Nashville, about 8 Blackpoll and a Cape May. At one point we may have had a female Cerulean, but we did not get a perfect look.















Just before the washout, I spotted an ammodramus sparrow.  Hoping for a Le Conte's, a good look revealed a Grasshopper Sparrow.  Certainly the latest I have seen one.  This is a location we often get them in the spring migration too.


There are lots of records in the province for this time of year and even some in November.



After south point, I stayed a little longer to check out cuckoo alley.  Nothing new as far as I could see there.  I was in the park for 5.5h and only covered a small portion.



Hawks and Turkey Vultures were on the move today, so I checked out Morpeth for a few minutes.

Next stop was Blenheim Lagoons.  Our Tundra Swan had a few friends today.  Not many shorebirds (of course there were some White-rumped Sandpipers) and no Willet was in sight.  Dwayne Murphy had the Willet yesterday, so it will be interesting to see if it shows up again.

I was not done, so headed down to Erieau's marsh trail.  There, I noted a huge number of Turkey Vultures migrating, but nothing with them!  I had at least 250 in 50 minutes.



Along the trail I heard a Sora and a Marsh Wren.  Often, Marsh Wren is recorded on the CBC there.
Quite a few Tree Swallows were along the Bay, but nothing different with them.  It would have been a good spot to scope the Bay for ducks, but just as well since there was a cold wind and a bit of....wet snow!

Weather looks similar tomorrow, so I will head back to try and find something different.

????

4 comments:

  1. I like your northern lake at the top.....always nice to see a different landscape once in a while!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That was a calm and clear morning at Awenda P.P.

      Delete