Friday in the Rondeau Area and Finch Mania at Ipperwash

 The weather has been quite balmy so far this weekend.  Often it can be quiet for birding under these conditions, however I found it fairly good!  I did Rondeau and area on Friday, and Ipperwash on Saturday.

The lakewatches have been a bust recently, so I went straight to south point trail on Friday morning.  Along the way, I heard Evening Grosbeaks beside the campground, and soon after getting on the trail, some flew over.

Lots of White-throated Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos and kinglets were still around, and Yellow-rumped Warblers were quite high in numbers.  Other warblers included a single Blackpoll and a Nashville.

After south point, I headed up to the campground and met up with Steve and Craig.  Along the way, American Robins littered Lakeshore Road and even more were in the campground.  A few more Evening Grosbeaks were heard around the campground.

This Yellow-bellied Sapsucker was working the campground, and perhaps it may stick around for the winter, as one or two usually do!

Many sparrows in the campground as usual, including Chippies.

Lots of Eastern Bluebirds were migrating.  (Still waiting for a Mountain!). 

After Rondeau, I stopped by Keith McLean C. L. and found the two Hudsonian Godwits.  As mentioned previously, it has been a good fall for sightings of this species.  I did not approach too closely as to not flush them.

A stop at Blenheim Lagoons was also in order where I found lots of gulls in the first pond.  Two adult Lesser Black-backed were among them, and certainly no Franklin's....

Shorebirds included lots of Dunlin, a number of Greater Yellowlegs, and a 'latish' Semipalmated Sandpiper.

There was a good variety of ducks, including a female Long-tailed, somewhat unusual for the lagoons.

Butterflies were out in the balmy weather including both sulphurs, Eastern Comma, and Common Checkered-Skipper.

Today, a change in scenery was in order.  Recently, there has been finch mania at Ipperwash, along with some Bohemian Waxwings.  Yesterday a Lark Sparrow was seen as well!  I had not been up this way much in a long time, so it was nice to do some birding up that way.

Birds, especially finches, follow the Lake Huron shoreline during fall migration and Ipperwash has always been a hotspot.  I remember Alf Rider telling me years ago how productive this area is during fall migration, especially during finch irruptive years.

I was the first to arrive at the now-famed MNR parking lot area.  (Actually I have always known it as a good birding location).  Off the bat, a flock of Evening Grosbeaks went by.  I took a quick look at the lake (which was dead!), then headed back to the parking lot.  In short order, one of my target birds of the day flew over.  Hearing it first, I recognized it as a Pine Grosbeak, then this male flew directly overhead at close range.

Soon, flock after flock of Evening Grosbeaks, siskins, redpolls flew over, and even a few Red Crossbills.  All easily recognized by their flight calls.

I was joined by several other birders.

Evening Grosbeaks (in the morning)

Not many waxwings today, and unfortunately no Bohemians.

While there, we got word that Mike Bouman had found a Townsend's Solitaire way down at beach 4 area.  He soon lost sight of it, so we waited it out at the north location.

Oddly, it seemed, we heard a whistle note several times towards the beach side.  James Holdsworth suggested Townsend's Solitaire.  Seemed right to me!  Josh Bouman played an audio of a solitaire which matched what we were hearing.  We heard it a few more times and walked towards the sound, but could not get a visual.  It was soon quiet, but as a bit of time passed, we got word that the Townsend's Solitaire was again found at the same location near beach 4.

Needless to say, we rushed down there and eventually saw it after some searching.

This whole area is good for Townsend's Solitaire, including Pinery P.P.  Back on 9 November 2003, we found one in Pinery after an excellent day of birding along the lakeshore starting in Sarnia.  It was late afternoon, so it was a nice way to end that day!  

Pinery has had several solitaires (not all listed in eBird) in early November.  They are mostly in the tight window of November 5-9!  So, the sighting today was right on schedule and was not totally surprising to me.

I am sure there had to be two different solitaires today at Ipperwash, as the locations were over 1 km apart and timing seemed to overlap.  The bird at beach 4 did not go anywhere in my opinion--it just was out of sight for some time.

Just before I left beach 4 area, a flock of White-winged Crossbills flew over to complete the finch tally.

Here is today's eBird list:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S75951048

Certainly turned out to be a good day, even though I did not find a Bohemian Waxwing (a target of the day), but the Townsend's Solitaire Trumped (no pun intented) that.  

Eastern Comma