Mid-November Things

 This past week was rather uneventful, so not much to report!  If we ever get more seasonal weather, things should pick up.  Climate change.......

Wednesday I stayed local and took advantage of the nice weather.  I went for a long walk at Reid CA in the morning.  Hardly any birds of course, but I checked out the riverbank since water levels are quite low.  Some river mussels (shells) were visible.

Mapleleaf

Giant Floater

Thursday was a rainy, but windy day so I had the notion to head down to Wheatley Harbour to watch the lake.  It was not as productive as I had hoped!  Lots of gulls, but as usual, no rarities.

I did get into Point Pelee for a bit, but it was mostly car-birding as it was still raining.

Friday was uneventful locally!

Saturday I headed down to Point Pelee.  I wanted to be in Essex County to attend the Essex County Field Naturalists annual banquet.  More on birding at Pelee later, but the dinner event was a chance to get something off my bucket list, so-to-speak.

Guest speaker was Adam Shoalts, of whom I have written about before.  Since reading all five of his books, I have become quite a fan!  I always wanted to go to one of his presentations, but he is so popular that it is difficult to get tickets.

Adam's focus was his canoeing adventure from Long Point to the Arctic a few years ago.  The name of his book about this trip is Where The Falcon Flies.  Fascinating stuff!

My day started at Point Pelee with a Tip Watch.  I joined Keith Burk with conditions that were perfect with excellent visibility and not too strong of a wind.  It was cloudy, but that is better for lakewatching anyway.  Wind was light out of the NW so not the best to bring in birds to the Tip.

Lots of loons and a fair number of White-winged Scoters were flying, but not much else.........until a bit later.

At one point I noticed masses of ducks to the NE heading west.  'Masses' was an understatement!  Eventually, looking to the west, it was the same thing.  Honestly, I have never seen so many ducks at once.  They were essentially all scaup, and no doubt Greater Scaup.  Here are some unprocessed views.

The skies were filled with ducks to the north, and most circled back to set down on both the east and west sides of Point Pelee.  I estimated around 100,000 ducks, and they were basically all scaup.  It was mind-boggling!  Especially for one species.

After some thought and discussion, I roughly estimated about 90,000 Greater Scaup!  Record high from Alan Wormington's records less than twenty years ago, was about 60,000 as I recall.

I walked various trails in the park later, but there were not too many landbirds.

Tip bonies

Today, it was down to Rondeau Park.  A decent SW wind was blowing, so I was lured to dog beach for a lakewatch.....again.   Hardly any gulls, but a few more ducks were moving, especially White-winged Scoters.  At least it paid off this time with a decent bird.

Before that at one point, a shorebird came by which turned out to be a late Greater Yellowlegs.  Not the godwit that I was hoping for!  A bit too far for my measly camera.

Several loons were moving or swimming offshore, including a few Red-throated.  At one point, I noticed loon swimming not far offshore.  It was difficult to get on through the waves, and it was diving more than it was up.  However, my brief views allowed me to determine it was a Pacific!  Eventually it stayed up longer (but distant) to allow us to make sure it was a Pacific. It was just two years ago that Steve and I found Rondeau's first Pacific in the same spot!

Hopefully there will be more loons and ducks for the Christmas Bird Count in the area on December 15.

Some historical filler from year's past:

Fifty-five years ago today, the 1905-built Ridgetown was laid up for the last time (originally Wm. E. Corey) .  It was eventually sunk as a breakwater at Port Credit in 1974.  It still exists today, but probably will not last much longer due to deterioration.

Her identical sister (Henry C. Frick) was retired in 1972, and sold for scrap.  Michipicoten was being towed for overseas scrapping, but broke in two in the Gulf of St. Lawrence 15 November 1972.  

Michipicoten breaking up
(photo from Boatnerd)

It was a favourite of mine when I was quite young, so much so, my Dad commissioned a line drawing done of it!

One of these days, winter will arrive!  Maybe.

Some River Runs and a Rondeau Ramble

 We are back in the mild stuff now, but even with the cold weather last week, little ice has accumulated on the St. Clair River.  Not like the old days!

The following photo, which I have shown before, was taken in mid winter off Port Lambton.  The rail ferry Sainte Marie was on its maiden voyage from Ohio.  It was launched 111 years ago yesterday (22 January 1913).  Photo was taken by Mabel Smith, Port Lambton's grocer of the day.

The many rail ferries on the lakes were known as good ice breakers.  Not often we see ice like that anymore!

I have not done much the last few days, but have checked out the St. Clair River from time to time.

There have been more ducks on the St. Clair River the last couple of days.  The Sombra waterfront was quite busy today with a variety of ducks.  

The trusty Northern Pintail has certainly found a home around the old ferry dock causeway this winter.

There were more mergansers, goldeneye and Redhead on the river today, or so it seemed.

Not many scaup are on the river this winter.  At Sombra, I found this Greater Scaup which appears to missing its lower mandible.  Looks like it is panting!

It looks much like the Redhead at Erieau last year which was in the same predicament.

A number of Tundra Swans are wintering on the river as usual.  We never used to see them in mid winter!

A few days ago when we had cold, crisp and clear weather, I ventured down Rondeau way.  I first checked out Stefina Line where we always find Wilson's Snipe in the unfrozen creek.  I could not see them from the car, but when I got out to take a closer look, they flushed from behind some shrubbery.  Up to four (unusual number) have been seen here of late.

This is a traditional wintering site for snipe.  I remember not long after starting birding, I saw one here on the Christmas Bird Count.

I then worked my way down to Rondeau Park.  It was too cold for much of a walk, so I mainly drove the roads.  Lots of Fox Sparrows were seen (as previously mentioned), as well as a couple of Hermit Thrushes.

There seems to be a number of Purple Finches around right now, as I saw a few.

Afterwards, I drove several back roads.  Snow Buntings, Horned Larks, and Lapland Longspurs are giving a good showing this winter.  We have probably missed Smith's Longspur at some point!

One of these days, I would hope something would show up at the backyard feeders.  Mainly the same stuff everyday, but once in a while I see a Robin, extra goldfinches, or the odd Brown-headed Cowbird.

I doubt we will get any crossbills down this way, but there is a good cone crop just waiting! Native or non-native spruce.

Some Snowy St. Clair Scenes

Despite the weather, I headed out this morning to the St. Clair River.  Visibility was not the best due to the falling snow.

The best spot appeared to be at Corunna off Guthrie Park.  There was a lot to look at, but nothing new.

I got out of the car at Cathcart Park to look. You cannot see everything unless you walk up to the river's edge.

A large raft of ducks was south of Bouman Point out of range.  No doubt there were some hybrids in there!

I spent quite a bit of time at Guthrie Park.

I saw at least 14 Glaucous Gulls of various ages, so there are still quite a few around.

On a hunch, I swung back to Greenfield Road and saw the Snowy Owl between Courtright and Oil Springs Line.

A walk at both Moore WMA and McKellar Tract along Bickford Line revealed very little, but that has been the trend with landbirds this winter.

Black Creek

At least the feeders were quite busy today as I spent the afternoon at home.