Tuesday, February 16, 2016

A Morning Along the St. Clair River

There was more activity along the St. Clair River Monday morning.  Waterfowl was spread out all along the river, but the hotspot was still off Guthrie Park at Corunna.  I headed straight to the park Monday morning.

Already checking out the scene, was M.B.  The Barrow's Goldeneye had already been seen in mid-river, but was difficult to keep tabs on.  It took us a better part of an hour to find the duck. It was much too far for photos and dull skies did not help.

Find a Barrow's Goldeneye, LOL!



Last week the Barrow's was reported on the Michigan side of the river off the south end of Marysville.  It was late Sunday afternoon when J.B. finally spotted it just offshore of Guthrie Park. The goldeneyes will feed in mid-river during the day, but come close to shore late in the day for the night.  Later yesterday, Mike Bouman got some photos of the subject bird.


It is not often these ducks show up on the St. Clair River, so it is nice to see.  If only we could find a Tufted Duck for a change.  Last one of those was the winter of 1994 at Sombra.

There were lots of ducks off Guthrie Park to sort through yesterday.  We did not find anything else in the rarity department, but it was nice to see so many ducks.




Later, I headed downriver and stopped at various points to look at ducks.



At Cathcart Park, a number of swans were present.  About 50 Tundras (wintering birds) and 30 Mute Swans were hanging out.



One Mute Swan had a green collar # MO31.  Last year I saw one with #M014 at Lakeview Park, Windsor.




There was ice all along the shoreline to a certain distance out due to the recent strong west winds.  Ducks were working along the edge, so it was difficult to see them at times.  While at Cathcart, I spotted a Horned Grebe very briefly.  It was mostly hidden due to the ice, but I got in a better position to view the bird and make a positive ID.  Once again, too far and too dull for good photos.


The Samuel Risley was stirring things up yesterday.



2 comments:

  1. Nice shots Blake! I like the comparison photo showing the Canvasback and Redheads in one shot!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Nate. We are finally getting good numbers of ducks on the river, including Canvasback.

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