Wanderings of the Week

 I took the past week off work and did some wandering around.  Nothing too spectacular happened, but the weather was certainly up and down.  

Christmas Bird Counts are on the mind lately, which will certainly be different this year.  No gatherings at the end of the day, which is half the fun!  Blenheim/Rondeau is coming up on December 20, a bit later than usual due to the timing of the CBC period.

Last Sunday I headed up Sarnia way and went for a long walk at Perch Creek Habitat.  It has always been a good place for birding in the winter, but this year, like most places, is rather quiet.  Redpolls are always found here, especially along the old Blackwell Landfill site.  I did come across a small group.

A stop at Moore WMA (another good winter bird spot) was fruitless, as the valley was flooded.  A Purple Finch was a standout there.

Monday was a "do-nothing" day.  Just as well as it poured rain most of the day!

Tuesday we had some snow (not as much as forecast, but what is new?) and high winds.  I was out later on when things settled down.  In the morning I watched the yard and feeders and it was active.  Since I am usually not home during the day, it was nice to see what was around.  I saw a good variety of birds, including some Common Redpolls, a siskin and a lonely American Robin among other things.

Wednesday it was down to Rondeau as the weather had turned nice.  We found a very busy Orange-crowned Warbler on south point--that being the highlight.

Geoff Carpentier and Peter Hogenbirk found a different one near marsh trail on this day too.  Hopefully these warblers can stick around for the CBC!

A few Red Crossbills were flying overhead, while a single Evening Grosbeak was heard.

Ships were anchored in various location on Lake Erie due to the previous day's storm.  It is not often we see ships from Rondeau, but three were visible in the distance.

The campground was somewhat quiet. A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was seen earlier in the week, but remained elusive till today when Steve found it once again.

Few sparrows.

Field Sparrow (not in a field)

We did find a "usual" Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in the campground.

Yellow-rumped Warblers are scarce this winter, but a couple are still around at least.  Would be nice to find an "Audubon's" for a change at Rondeau!

I stopped by Ridgetown Lagoons before going home.  A Ross's Goose has been hanging out with Snow Geese lately.

I knew Thurdsay would be a quiet day and had no idea where to go.  I ended up heading back to Rondeau even though the winds were very strong out of the southwest.  Nothing to note!

I found one of the Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Some Double-crested Cormorants are still around, as usual.

On these sunny days, we can sometimes find spanworm moths fluttering about.

I then headed over to Erieau to walk the rail trail which I have not been on in ages.  I met up with Steve there.  The winds were howling, but I wanted to check it out anyway.  A couple of Common Redpolls were playing in the wind.

About 850 American Coots were towards the end of Lagoon Road, not unusual for the locale this time of year.

Today, I went in a northerly direction starting at Port Lambton.  I wanted to end up at Suncor Nature Way off Modeland Road at Sarnia.  

Recently, lots of redpolls have been reported along the "way".  It took a while to find them, but it was the biggest flock I have seen yet this fall, numbering well over 100.

They were moving around quite a bit.

Hoary types have been seen here as well, and I did consider one to be that type.  Some consider it a subspecies of the Common, so we will see what happens in the future with this one!

A Northern Shrike, always nice to see, was looking things over as well.

I was not sure what to do next, but ended up taking along walk at Perch Creek again.  I took a bit of a different route, and it paid off, as I found some Long-eared Owls!  We always have them at Perch Creek but the ones I found today were not in an expected location.  Bad lighting again!

There were only a couple of flyover redpolls here today.  

Three Northern Flickers in one spot was a good number for here.

I was home at the noon hour, so later I became bored and headed down to St. Clair NWA since the wind had died and the skies had brightened up a bit by then.

It was a good walk to the tower with lots of waterfowl to be seen.  Some Snow Geese and Cackling Geese were mixed in. At one point, the sky was littered with geese and ducks which often happens here.

I managed to hear about four Marsh Wrens along the way, not unusual for here in early winter. 

More to come....

Perch Creek Rock

If any of you 'Sarnians' know where this wedged rock is, that is where I found the owls at Perch Creek!