It has been a week since my last blog post, and nothing spectacular has crossed my path (yet again). However, I had a couple of excellent days at Rondeau in the last week. Nice to look at lots of birds in any case.
On Monday, I started at the park store to observe the "morning flight". This is where we see many birds flying through, exiting the park on migration. It is quite interesting, but the vast majority of birds remain unidentified! One needs to be quick on ID. In some cases, chip notes can be identified. Some days are better than others, but usually an NE wind is best.
Afterwards, I walked out marsh trail to the half way point (lots of birds). Sora rails are in big numbers, and this day I heard over 40, just to the half way point. Imagine how many are in the entire marsh!
In summary, there were lots of Red-eyed Vireos (60), Swainson's Thrushes (35), and about 20 species of warblers. Blackpoll Warblers topped the list with well over 100 and there were lots of Bay-breasted as well.
 |
| Wilson's Warbler |
 |
| Chestnut-sided Warbler |
 |
| Bay-breasted Warbler |
I also did the same thing on Wednesday. I joined Steve Charbonneau and Brandon Holden at the store for the morning flight watch. Upwards of 700 warblers went by! Vast majority were Blackpoll and Bay-breasted. Nothing out of the ordinary, but one warbler was possibly a Prairie.
Three Red-headed Woodpeckers went by, which are always nice to see. Thrushes were fewer in number this day.
Highlight was the flyover of two Dickcissels, each separated by some time. They are easily identified by their "buzzy fart" flight calls.
I went out marsh trail again by myself, but it was rather quiet compared to the previous time.
 |
| Great-crested Flycatcher |
 |
| Black-throated Green Warbler |
 |
Common Checkered-Skipper out marsh trail
|
Thursday I stayed fairly close to home. In the afternoon, I took a long walk at Reid CA just to get outdoors. Mosquitoes were bad, but not as bad as previous visits, so I managed. There were practically no birds, but I watched for insects. I did see two Royal River Cruisers. It is getting late for them.
There is one spot that has Cardinal Flower at the edge of the back field, and I thought I would not see any this year. The farmer did an awful lot of spraying this year. This is one reason I would like to see the back field retired! However, there were a few plants. Notice they are right into the bean field.
I have been watching the garden all week. The goldenrod is blooming, which attracts a tremendous number of insects. Mainly bees and wasps. There are quite a few European imports!
Here are some finds, some of which are unconfirmed.
 |
| Hump-backed Beewolf |
 |
| Common Checkered-Skipper (several this week) |
 |
| Silver-spotted Skipper |
 |
| Ligated Furrow Bee |
 |
| Parancistrocerus |
 |
| Aster Mining Bee |
 |
| Obilque Streaktail (very tiny!) |
 |
| German Yellowjacket |
 |
| another Aster Mining Bee |
 |
| Eastern Yellowjacket |
 |
| cluster fly sp. |
 |
| Ferruginous Tiger Crane Fly |
 |
| European Tube Wasp |
Today (Friday), was a disappointing day. A Roseate Spoonbill was found at Springwater CA east of St. Thomas yesterday. It was still there this morning, but it flew out just after 08:00. I headed there, but not soon enough! I missed it by 30 minutes. Perhaps it will show up in the Rondeau birding area soon!
It was quiet in other places I stopped. Keith McLean C. L. was quiet, and the Erieau marsh trail was dead for birds! Quiet at home as well.
Next week it is off to Algonquin Park....
No comments:
Post a Comment