CBC Season: The Counts Begin

This weekend many of us joined in on our local Christmas Bird Counts.  Saturday I went up to Arkona to do my section of the Kettle Point CBC.  I should have stayed home!  Some years are better than others, but this year I saw the fewest number of birds ever.
I do Rock Glen CA and the village of Arkona.  It was mucky too, with the mild weather.

view from above of the old dam site

It took almost two hours just to find a Black-capped Chickadee!
It was difficult to hear in certain locations as the water levels were high and much water was going over the falls.
I was home by noon.

Today was a different story.  It was the Blenheim/Rondeau count and the weather was beautiful.  Perhaps too nice as birds were not plentiful.  That has been the story this year though since birds have left the province en masse.  Many people saw Eastern Commas today, the latest ever for most of us.  We saw one in the campground, but could not catch up with it for a photo.

We started with a productive lakewatch at dog beach.  Quinten Wiegersma and his father joined me for the third year in a row.  Lots of ducks were moving, but the highlight this year a waterbird called the Red-throated Loon.
As I have alluded to previously, this species has been in higher numbers the last couple of years, and this year has been exceptional.  We tallied 43 in our area (many more were tallied off Erieau and south beach), including a few farther down off south point.  This breaks the previous record of two(?) by a slim margin.  lol.
This is significant since Red-throated Loon has been recorded on the CBC only a couple of times.  A couple were seen in 1981, and in 2017, Quinten and I saw two..

There were lots of white-winged scoters this year, and quite a few Long-tailed Ducks far out.

We checked for the Gray Catbird along Lakeshore as we walked by, but came up empty.  However, on the drive back north, it was there!

I likes to be elusive!

During lunch at the VC, a flock of at least 16 Pine Siskins came in to the feeders.  Nice to see. NO redpolls there though.

The campground was dead when we went through.  We parted ways and I went back to south point.  I find it quite pleasant to walk mid to late afternoon on a sunny day.
I added a couple of species including a Hermit Thrush and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

I did see a sapsucker at maintenance.

I checked maintenance area again, but still could not find that elusive White-eyed Vireo.  Others saw it though, a new species for the Rondeau count. In fact there had never been a December record before.

I checked the first part of marsh trail, but it was quiet. I then headed north on Water Street, and saw birders congregating near maintenance.  I decided to check it out.  Allen Woodliffe had photographed a Barred Owl!
Unfortunately it had flown, but Jim and Steve got a glimpse of it heading north into the campground.  We went in pursuit and were about to give up.
I started heading back and heard a squirrel squawking that had me curious.  I soon saw the Barred owl fly out of a pine and eventually perch with a squirrel in its talons.  We had walked right by it.
Soon others arrived to see the owl.  What a way to end the day!  (no photo of this bird)
This is what they look like though:

At my campsite Awenda P.P.

The count turned out well with a 114 species for the count--a very respectable number.  White-eyed Vireo was new, Barred Owl exceptional, and Northern Waterthrush was once again tallied for this count.  The waterthrush was the one we found at McGeachy several weeks ago!  That Kiskadee had not been seen since about Monday unfortunately.
Other decent birds and some decent numbers were tallied for the day, as all participants had fun.

Thanks goes to Keith Burk for hosting the compilation at the end of the day, and Jane and crew for preparing the fabulous meal as always!