Late Winter Notes and An Old Bird Count

 As spring approaches, more blackbirds, ducks, gulls and the first migrant Killdeers are arriving.

Great Black-backed Gulls at Mitchell's Bay

The backyard bird feeders have slowed down, but the feisty wintering Black-capped Chickadees and the nuthatches are still taking advantage of the seeds.

The other day, I ventured to Strathroy for something different.  The Strathroy lagoon site is always a nice place to visit any time of year.  Too bad more lagoon sites are not as open as this one for anyone to visit at any time!

White-throated Sparrow

American Tree Sparrow

I came across three Yellow-rumped warblers in the back corner, which were first-of-year.  They are more or less absent in most places this winter.  Unfortunately, they did not co-operate for photos!

I also visited nearby Clark Wright CA.  

Nothing spectacular here, but a good place to walk at any time.  Of note, some Eastern Bluebirds were in the back field.

I encountered Common Ravens in perhaps three different spots on this day.  They are indeed becoming quite regular in Middlesex and north Lambton anymore.

Today I headed up to Sarnia.  Seems like a lost cause anymore as the river was still virtually dead for birds, and not much at Sarnia.

"Thayer's" Iceland Gull

An old newpaper article caught my attention some time back, dated January 19, 1961.  The Kent Nature Club took an annual bird census on January 2.

In south Kent, they found 52 species in the Blenheim circle, which is essentially the CBC circle we use today.

Most of the interesting birds were in or around Rondeau Park.  Birds included two Eastern Bluebirdds, a Brown Thrasher, two Snow Geese, but few ducks as Rondeau Bay was frozen.  Thirty Eastern Towhees were recorded!  Ten in the park, and twenty near Blenheim.

Several Red-headed Woodpeckers were tallied as well.  Of course, back then they were more common.

A Yellow-rumped Warbler (then called Myrtle), and several Chipping Sparrows were seen in "count week".

The Kent Nature Club was quite active from its inception in the early 1930's until the 1970's.  It was one of the charter members of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists (now Ontario Nature).

The nature club we now have in Chatham-Kent is the Sydenham Field Naturalists, started in 1986.

Visit:  https://www.sydenhamfieldnaturalists.ca/