Good Friday Events

With the holiday upon us, I ventured down to the Rondeau Birding Area today.  New arrivals appear every day, so it can be interesting.



At the causeway outside Rondeau Park, I noticed quite a few ducks in the creek.  Included was a pair of Blue-winged Teal (my first of year).  Several have come in the last few days.

Within the park, I saw the first Eastern Phoebe of the day at the spicebush trail parking lot.  However, it was lying on road, dead.  I checked it out and the body was still warm, so whatever happened to it was very recent.




My first walk was along south point trail.  Lots of Golden-crowned Kinglets were along the trail as expected at this date.  The lake was fairly active and I spent some time watching.  One good vantage point is the foundation of an old vault toilet that stands out prominently.

Along the lakeshore, I found several newly-arrived Eastern Phoebes working the shoreline.  I counted at least eight, but there could have been ten as they moved around.

One of the resident Bald Eagles was having fun along the shoreline.

Later, I walked tulip tree trail just for the heck of it.  Soon we will have a Louisiana Waterthrush somewhere along the sloughs.

PAW's favourite TTT scene

I met up with Steve Charbonneau, and we walked the campground.  Nothing special was there but my FOY Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at the north end.  I missed one on south point earlier.




Over at Erieau, I tried for the Harlequin pair.  After some time, I finally spotted them far out off Rondeau's south beach.  I saw a couple of ducks with my bins that I thought were the Harlequins, but had to get out the scope to make sure.
Double-crested Cormorants are now showing up, and a single was off the pier today.





McGeachy Pond was full of ducks and a few Horned Grebes were out on the lake.  One can only hope for a Red-necked or even a Western!

I saw three Snowy Owls today--one off Erieau Road and two down Lagoon Road.

Blenheim Lagoons was full of ducks--too many to try and count!  Northern Shovelers were numerous with around 200 of them.  Some teal were there as well.

I even checked Ridgetown Lagoons, but could not find the Greater White-fronted Geese.  However, they showed up about an hour later.....apparently!

This evening, I went for a walk at Peers Wetland, Wallaceburg.  It was fairly productive with several ducks, a Wilson's Snipe, Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot, 3 Eastern Phoebes, etc.