St. Clair River and Sarnia

I went up to Sarnia for a change.  I have hardly checked out the area this winter due to lack of birds in that direction to catch my interest.  Yesterday after work, I went as far as Guthrie Park at the north end of Corunna.  I did not intend to go that far, but there was virtually nothing to look at until I got to that point!
Guthrie Park and the head of Stag Island is the hot spot right now.

Late Friday

Highlight yesterday was a male Wood Duck. I only had the G16 and looking into the sun was no good.

With the very frigid temperatures, lots of ice has come into the St. Clair River.  Sleeping ducks at the mouth of Talfourd Creek were frosted!  Warm water from Shell created a lot of steam.

There were lots of ducks and fairly good variety today, but I never found the Wood Duck.  It was far too cold with that wind today to do much walking.

A few Canvasbacks were mixed in with the Redhead, but they are virtually absent this winter on the river.

At the head of Stag Island, there were a few hundred Common Goldeneye.  Probably a Barrow's was there, as there has been at least one reported in the area on the Marysville, Michigan side.  The ducks were just a bit too far to get much detail.  The bright sun did not help for glare and shimmer.

There are not many gulls, but at one point about 100 were sleeping on ice floating down the middle of the river.  All Herring except a few Great Black-backed and one immature Lesser Black-backed nearby.

One small patch of open water remained at the Sarnia Marina, mostly full of Redhead.  Other ducks were in and around the north slip in the remaining open water.  It was difficult to get a good look at them.  A pair of Ring-necked Ducks was there.

Saginaw and Manitoulin

From under the Bluewater Bridges, one could see quite a few Long-tailed Ducks just out in Lake Huron.  An Iceland Gull is still hanging around.

Inland it was quiet and still hardly any birds at Moore WMA.  A very strange winter!