Boxing Day Special

I did quite a bit of touring around today in anticipation of the Wallaceburg CBC.  First good bird was a Snow Goose circling around over the Snye and edge of Walpole Island.  It was just before 08:00, so lighting was not good.  Lighting was not good all day since it was a *TYPICAL* weekend weatherwise.  Tomorrow looks even worse!   I think this year will go into the record books as less-than-desirable weather on weekends, ever.

I took a record shot of the Snow Goose anyway.  A Snow Goose around Wallaceburg is excellent at any time. I have only seen a couple in all my years of birding.  We have only had it once (2005) on the CBC.

I decided to do some driving around Walpole Island this morning.  It is always better to get out and walk somewhere, but I only drove some of the roads.  Best bird species was a small flock of Sandhills Cranes at the river.
Blackbirds are around, and at one point I saw a flock of 800+ Common Grackles flying over the marina towards Walpole.  There were other things mixed in, but I got on it too late.  Red-winged are around, but that is normal and strangely they come up 'rare' on eBird.

The Harlequin Duck was not present when I stopped by Sombra, but it showed just before noon.

I stopped by the Vermilion Flycatcher stakeout and a few people were present including Luke Berg. He had a couple of American Pipits flyover just before I arrived.  Another potential good species for the Wallaceburg CBC!  (We have never had them).

The flycatcher was working along one of the old chicken barns, keeping out of the raw east wind.

It eventually did fly a bit closer for a while to the fence we were standing at much to the delight of Kaye Janssens.

I thought it would be neat to get a photo of it with the Wallaceburg water tower in the background. Here is proof it was at Wallaceburg!

This farm is the ideal location for the Vermilion Flycatcher, with lots of decent habitat and protection.  This is also a good location for flyovers along the Sydenham River.  A number of decent species have been recorded here.
We had an adult Bald Eagle fly over this morning.

Here's hoping for a decent day bird-wise tomorrow....