Gullerama on Lake St. Clair

Monday morning I checked out the south shore of Lake St. Clair where thousands of gulls have congregated.  Most were Herring, of course, but it is an impressive sight.
Starting at Lighthouse Cove, I noted over 4000 Herring Gulls plus others. Gulls were out as far as one could see.

Also of note were many Bald Eagles on the ice.  It is not unusual to have a large number of Bald Eagles around this area in winter.  On my final scan, I counted 30.

Not too many ducks were evident on my visit, and certainly nothing of note.

Lighthouse Cove, at the mouth of the Thames River, is often an excellent place for waterbirds in winter.  I have had good times there in the past.

I next moved on to Belle River where we have the next big concentration of gulls.  There were not quite as many as Lighthouse Cove, but still an impressive number of several thousand.

This is a nice public area jutting out into the lake with parkland and lots of parking available.  I have been here in the summer, as there is a nice marina as well.

Here, I noted at least seven Lesser Black-backed Gulls fairly close.  Lighting was very harse with the bright sunshine (I am not used to it around weekends!).  There could have been some immature Lessers, but none stood out in the bright sun.

That was far enough along the shoreline for me, as I was fairly close to Windsor/Detroit, as seen in the distance.

On the way back, I stopped at Tremblay Beach CA at Stoney Point.  It is at a dead-end road east of the village.  I used to go there often back in the "old" days as it was a decent birding spot.
There is a wetland there, but it is now entirely phragmites.  A viewing tower stands at the parking lot for some unknown reason!  All you can see is phragmites.  The wetland was once good, but quickly filled in with phrag early on.  Kind of useless now!

It used to be a good spot as the sewage lagoon are adjacent too.  Good birds here in the past included Purple Gallinule (1984) and Black-necked Stilt (1989) and Swainson's Warbler (1993).  I first went here way back in June 1989 when the Stilt was present for a couple of weeks.  Good grief, how time flies!
Yellow-headed Blackbird used to nest here as well!  I recall seeing those too.

I used to walk along the shoreline, then along the dike over to the railroad tracks.  The tracks paralleled the lagoons so one could see into the lagoons.

Eroded Shoreline trail

On my visit yesterday there were lots of gulls on the lake, including a Glaucous fairly close.

I did not do much the rest of the day, so nothing to add!

Lake St. Clair at Tremblay Beach CA

Essex County Birding December 30/Guthrie Gulls December 31

Yesterday I headed down to Point Pelee.  I had not been there for over a month due to various reasons.
There was quite a bit of gull activity at the Tip, but nothing really special.  The west side was ice as far as one could see, but the east side was clear.

One of 3 Bald Eagles

I checked out Sparrow Field, Shuster Trail, Cactus Trail, and De Laurier.  The sun actually came out which was nice for a change.  We have seen very little sun in the last week.

Shuster had a good variety of birds including a couple of Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Cactus Trail was very quiet.  A couple of Common Grackles were the highlight!

De Laurier was rather quiet for birds, so I moved on.  I headed straight north to Lighthouse Cove to look at some gulls.
The mouth of the Thames has been the best spot for gulls lately.  I made a more thorough check than the day before.

I counted 7 Glaucous and one Iceland in the white-winged gull department.

Great Black-backed Gulls are plentiful there and I counted at least 95.  I think I saw an adult Lesser as well, but decided not to count it.

On this last day of 2016, I checked out the St. Clair River up to Corunna.  There was hardly a duck to be found today, but gulls were plentiful.  A mass of gulls was off Cathcart Park, but it seemed to be 100% Herring (~400)!

The hotspot is still Guthrie Park and I spent almost an hour there.  Again, most were Herring, but a good number of Great Black-backed.

Also one Glaucous and one that was likely a "Nelson's" Gull (Herring X Glaucous).

Glaucous Gull

I tried some flight shots and they turned out fairly well.

Tomorrow is the St. Clair NWA CBC, so we will see what turns up!
Hopefully this one:

Sparrow Surprise and Gulls Galore

For a change in scenery, I headed out to St. Clair NWA this morning.  The CBC in the area is this coming Sunday and I just wanted to see what might be around. I had thoughts of finding a Marsh Wren or Common Yellowthroat, but I found something better.
Upon arrival I noticed lots of waterfowl in the air and could hear ducks in the distance.  Not long into my walk along the trail, some sort of sparrow darted across in front of me.  I could see where it landed so I trained my binoculars onto it.  It was bright orange!  I knew right away what it was--a Nelson's Sparrow!

I obtained a better look at it, but that was it.  I could not find it again and I thought it would never be seen again.
Although lots of those pass through, mainly in October, they remain unseen due to their skulky habits.  It is a highly sought after bird since it is often so elusive.

I sent a text to Steve Charbonneau and moved on to the tower.  Lots of waterfowl was in the distance in the only open spot.  Mainly Mallards were present, but lots of Black Ducks and Canada Geese as well.  I did pick out one Northern Pintail and one Northern Shoveler.

Hundreds of ducks and geese were in the air as well.

I could see that Steve was arriving, so I headed back to the sparrow spot.  Allen Woodliffe also came along and we soon found the bird.  It would make brief appearances in the open spots, but quickly moved around.  It was almost like a mouse at times.  I managed to get a partial photo, and thought maybe that was it.

However, it did come out in the open for very brief periods, but by the time one got the camera focused, it moved on.  Most of my photos were blurry, but at least I got good looks through bins.  It is the best look at one I ever had. In the past, they were fleeting glimpses!

We chased it around for some time before heading out.
This is certainly one of the latest ones in the province and probably the latest for Chatham-Kent.  Steve had one at Erieau on December 13.  Back in December 1973, Alan Wormington saw one on the Blenheim/Rondeau CBC in Shrewsbury.

Chilled to the bone, I headed down to Lighthouse Cove at the mouth of the Thames.  That was my goal today anyway....it just got delayed.
Thousands of gulls were on the ice and out on the lake. 95 % Herring.

I really have no idea how many were visible, but certainly over 3000.  There were lots even beyond scope range out on the lake.

Besides the usual gulls, I did pick out an Iceland and a Glaucous.

There were no ducks except for a few Mallards in the river.
It is certainly worth checking in the next few days.

Sharpie

C-K into Essex County Sunday

Yesterday I ventured into Essex County.  The last few months I have not been there much, spending most of my time in the Rondeau Birding Area, or locally.
I first stopped at the Jeannette's Creek boat launch--a spot I always like to check in winter.  With the exceptional winter, it was quiet. However, across the river I spotted a large flock of blackbirds.  Most were Red-winged with a lot of grackles and who knows what else.

Most were out of sight or too far away to get details.  The spot of the flock was the Bradley property where it is not unusual to get blackbirds in winter.  In years past we had some on the CBC which included all species!  Perhaps some Brewer's were there as this area is known for winter records.

Next stop was Lighthouse Cove.  It can be quite interesting in January at the mouth of the Thames.  However, it was mostly ice, strange as it may seem for this year, but further out on the lake were hundreds of geese and swans.  Much too far to get details.

Close by, some ducks were present, including the "weird" Mallard-types.

I next headed straight down Essex Rd. 37 and ended up at Hillman Marsh.  I checked (briefly) NE and SE spots.  At the SE spot were some Herring and Ring-billed Gulls on the ice and a few ducks (do not ask me how many!).  I moved on to the National Park.  I only walked Shuster trail, and it was very quiet.  The few birds I had (numbering a half dozen) were very quiet below some of the sumacs, while a Horned Lark or two flew over. On the lake were a few ducks and gulls.
Just before I got off Shuster, I spotted a Hermit Thrush in the underbrush.

My next walk was over at Hillman Marsh. Lots of geese were flying over, but past the boardwalk area, I walked the little trail and came across a Marsh Wren.  It was well-buried in the phragmites, so I could not get a photo.

Wheatley Harbour (C-K side) was interesting.  Lots of gulls were present (mainly Ring-billed) some of which I presume just came in.

A single adult Bonaparte's Gull was flying around the entrance to the harbour.

Out on the lake, far out, were lots of ducks.  Most were Common Goldeneye.  I guess this is where most are since there are very few on the St. Clair River this winter!

Gulls on Ice

???

On the way home, I saw many Northern Harriers among other things.