Floodgate Opens and FOY Birds

 Tuesday April 27 looked good for an influx of spring migrants, and indeed it was!  The floodgates had finally opened after a somewhat slow spring.

I decided to delay a visit to Rondeau until today, April 28, as I had other things to do.  There was not much evident in my area, but some shorebirds did drop in.

Near the workplace, I have Roberta Stewart Wetland.  This spring we have a good mudflat, unlike a year ago.  Shorebirds have been taking advantage.  

I took a quick look in the morning and saw some shorebirds in the wetland.  One caught my eye as a phalarope.  Although Wilson's was most likely, that, it was not!  It turned out to be a Red-necked!  We do not see too many of these in spring migration.  Unfortunately, I did not have a camera on hand, and the cell phone was useless.

I heard reports of many birds, and some good ones throughout the day along Lake Erie.

Locally I stopped by Peers Wetland late in the afternoon.  A couple of Palm Warblers were present, including a "Yellow" (my third for the location!).  There was a regular Palm as well.

(Western) Palm Warbler

Today I headed down to Rondeau fairly early, but not early enough for nightjars such as Whip-poor-wills. Turns out I managed to see one in my travels today, as if flushed off the side of the trail!  

No need to get up early and get one for the year!

Anyway, I started on south point trail as we often do this time of year.  It was a decent morning with many first-of-year (FOY) birds.  Red-headed Woodpecker, White-eyed Vireo, Sedge Wren, Blue-winged Warbler and Orchard Oriole were notables among other FOY birds.

Unco-operative White-eyed Vireo

I then walked Tulip Tree trail which was virtually dead!  I continued on up Harrison trail where I found a few birds, including three Black-and-White Warblers at the group campground.

Swainson's Thrushes were also seen.

I ended up walking all the way around back via Rondeau Road.  A bit of a mistake, as nothing was along Rondeau Road except a FOY Common Yellowthroat.

Yellow-rumped Warblers were few and far between today.

While on the walk, I heard about a Prairie Warbler near maintenance, so I headed up in that direction.  No such warbler on my visit (someone I know had one on their property yesterday in Lambton!), but we did have Black-throated Green and Blue-winged Warbler.

Highlight was another White-eyed Vireo which was on the move.

I decided to head out of the park and over to Hillman Marsh to take advantage of the shorebird arrivals.

Upon arrival, many American Avocets were visible.

Willet to left

My favourite shorebird!  I even saw one pair copulating, so that is good breeding evidence for Essex County (LOL!).

With them was a single Willet, better than none, but not as good as the ~100 seen yesterday.

Also present were about twenty American Golden Plovers, always nice to see.

It started raining so I went back to the car to wait it out.

I went back to find a few Avocets had left as well as all of the plovers.  No godwits were seen today as far as I know.  Hopefully more of those to come.

All in all, a decent day with about 20 FOY birds!