River Run February 2

On Sunday I decided to just check out the St. Clair River.  There was quite a bit along the river.  Ducks were rather scarce of course, but gulls have been the story this winter.  We are overdue for a rarity!!
I started at Port Lambton.  Here is a scene from a couple of years ago:

At Sombra, lots of ducks were at the ferry(less) dock area.  The hybrid Ring-necked X Redhead was easily visible.  There was an American Wigeon reported later in the day which I missed.  Perhaps it was under a dock when I was there!  I did see it on Monday though, as I headed to Corunna.

Monday was one of the nicest days, but as usual, the skies cleared Sunday night for a cloudless Monday.  The vicious cycle continues.
There were hundreds of gulls and geese all along the river late Monday, but I did not look too closely.  Something of interest muct be there!

The Sombra waterfront is always a good place to see waterbirds.

Above photo shows the old cheese factory at Sombra on pilings.  I wrote about this building before since it was later owned by my Great Grandfather for his Thistle Rubber Type Works.  He died young, and my great Grandmother had it moved off the pilings and further inland in 1914.  The building still exists along St. Clair Parkway and South Street.

The Move, 1914

Back to Sunday, almost 1000 Canada Geese were at Cath's Cart park.  Do you think I could find any other goose type?  Of course not!

Cathcart Park is much better when we have a "cold" winter and lots of ice.  Clay Creek spills out here.

At Guthrie Park, Corunna I spent over two hours looking at the gulls and what ever else was around.
Well over 2000 Herring Gulls were present plus the less common types. Even a couple of Ring-billed Gulls made their presence known, which are usually scarce in winter.

Lighting was not the best, but afterall, it was still the weekend.

I came up with at least eight Glaucous Gulls, three Iceland (Kumlien's), one Lesser Black-backed.

Hybrids were also in the mix including two Herring X Great Black-backed and Glaucous X Great Black-backed.  I did not see any of the Herring X Glaucous ("Nelson's) Gulls that have been around though.

Other birds included several hundred Redhead, some Canvasback and other incidentals.  The wintering Snow Goose also made a brief appearance as most of the geese came from behind Stag Island.

Note:  The old postcards above are photos taken by Louis Pesha, a famous photographer of the day.  There was no copyright restriction on his work!