Sunday, December 25, 2016

Christmas Birding Along the River

I am not one to sit around, so I headed out this morning along the St. Clair River.  It was actually a nice day with no wind and the river was very calm first thing.  It was cloudy of course, but no matter, it would have made for a good day for the upcoming Wallaceburg CBC.
There were more waterfowl and gulls along the river, at least in the circle area which extends up just past the end of Stanley Line.

The usual Mallards were at the Sombra ferry dock, but also an American Coot.  They are certainly uncommon this time of year in these parts, but not entirely unusual.



Crazy Coot


A number of Tundra Swans were in Sombra Bay--the wintering type.  In recent years, several have stuck around all winter along with their unwanted Mute Swan counterparts.




At the south end of Cundick Park, I caught sight of a Common Loon.  Sort of.  It was belly-up floating downriver.  A Common Loon is always a good bird this time of year.  Alive is always better!

A few more Tundra Swans were at Cath's Cart Park (lol), but nothing else.  Usually there are lots of things to look at here.

A Great Blue Heron flew over at OC Industries--a decent but expected bird for this time of year.

A good raft of Redhead with some scaup mixed in was off Courtright but that is far out of the Wallaceburg circle.
I went as far as Guthrie Park to check on the gulls.  It was about the same as Friday.



The Lesser Black-backed was showing well.  And, still no white-winged gulls!



On the way back, I met up with Steve Charbonneau and Jim Burk who had some decent finds (if one was doing a CBC).

A Pied-billed Grebe was on Marshy Creek north of Port Lambton. Three Mallards and a Great Blue Heron were there as well.



Marshy-Creek cuts in by French Line and goes all the way south to the Snye south of the marinas. Port Lambton and environs is actually on an island which many people do not realize.

Along the Snye, I caught sight of another Pied-billed Grebe--no doubt one of the continuing waterbirds I have seen in the area recently.

Along Langstaff Line, I was pleased to see a group of Sandhill Cranes on the wing.  They set down in a field.  I think the bulk of them bailed over a week ago, but no doubt some are still around Walpole and area.

Gashawk



No comments:

Post a Comment