Now that "spring has sprung" we are seeing a change with expected arrivals. Waterfowl watching on the St. Clair River has been interesting of late and I checked that out.
However, Friday morning I decided to head up to Pinery since I had not been up there at all this winter. There were no spring migrants there, and the snow was still quite deep. Walking was limited due to the snow depth. It was a nice day at least. No finches evident except a single redpoll flyover.
Tufted Titmouse is found in abundance here and they were quite numerous on my visit.
Some White-breasted Nuthatches were co-operative.
Working my way back towards home, I veered out to the St. Clair River and started at Guthrie Park. I walked a bit along the riverbank and found a pair of Ruddy Ducks.
While there, I thought I was hearing a Killdeer, and sure enough one flew over as the first migrant of the year. Certainly expected by this date! I just caught the tail end of it.
Farther down river, some American Wigeon were evident in the distance, as well as more Ruddy Ducks.
The Sombra area is currently a hotbed of activity for ducks, especially Redhead and kin.
Gull activity has subsided a bit on the river.
I found one of the hybrid Redhead X Ring-necked Ducks south of Sombra. There has been more than one.
Today, I decided to head back out to see what I could find. Once again, thousands of ducks were in the Sombra area, especially "Sombra Bay".
I managed to pick out two of the hybrids together in the Bay.
M.B. was also out duck hunting with a camera and saw the hybrids as well. There was also an apparent Redhead X Greater Scaup amongst the mass of ducks.
South of Sombra, there were two other Redhead X Ring-necked ducks, so there are at least four out there!
Some White-winged Scoters were evident at Sombra.
More wigeon and gadwall were also noted today.
I was hoping to find Greater White-fronted Geese, but perhaps we will see some soon out there.
We are finally off to the races of spring birding!
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