The Waning Winter

I was out and about the last few days as the end of february draws near.  Even though it has not been a harsh winter, I have had enough!
Signs of spring were here this weekend as expected spring migrants arrived.  I did not see much on Friday and Saturday despite a lot of travelling in the area!  Quite disappointing actually.
A brisk SW wind blew in on Sunday bringing lots of Red-winged Blackbirds, right on schedule.  More puddle ducks have arrived, and the odd Killdeer has been reported, although I have not yet seen one.

Friday I went up to north Lambton and started at Ausable River Cut CA.  I think it is a neat place.  Nothing new, but a wintering Hermit Thrush revealed its presence.  A large number of geese was in the distance.  Perhaps one of the Greater White-fronted was among them!  Too distant though.

I next moved over to Pinery Provincial Park.  It was much quieter for birds than on my previous visit a couple of weeks ago.  Trails were treacherous with ice, so I did not do much walking.  Winter decided to finally arrive this week so it was cold.
There was one small open spot on the river where three mergansers took advantage.

The only highlight was the wintering Eastern Towhee at the visitor centre.

After Pinery, I decided to go down to Rock Glen CA at Arkona.  It was a nice walk, but very quiet for birds, as it has been all winter.

Rock Glen Falls

Old Dam Site at Rock Glen

Ravens have been reported in north Lambton recently, but strangely (oh, maybe not with my usual luck), I did not come across any.  A pair was reported on Sylvan Road last weekend, but several people have looked to no avail.  I can only guess they moved on!

Ausable River Valley

I did quite a bit more driving around inland but found virtually nothing.  A boring waste of gas!

Saturday I checked the St. Clair River to Sarnia, then walked a bit in Perch Creek WMA.  There was nothing new and certainly fewer birds to look at than in previous weeks.  Just nothing to report!

Sunday I went to Rondeau.  Nothing new again except Red-winged Blackbirds all around.

I found the Chipping Sparrows in the campground, as well as one Yellow-rumped Warbler.  First one I have seen there since December!

Some of the wintering birds were seen, including White-throated Sparrows.

This time of year is a good one to check Ridgetown Lagoons for waterfowl.  Today, thousands of Tundra Swans were milling about.

I though maybe a Bewick's would be present, but I did not find one!  Too many to look through.

The four Snow Geese, present for several weeks, were in the back almost out of sight. The juvenile is showing more white now! Also, a Greater White-fronted Goose was with them trying to hide.  Try and find its head in this photo:

Several Cackling Geese were in the mix.  Perhaps fifteen or more were there.  Some other geese were slightly larger, but probably not cacklers.  For whatever reason, Ridgetown is good for cacklers.

The only ducks visible were three Mallards, a pair of Redheads, and a single Gadwall.  I did not check the south cell though, but it may have been frozen.

Things will be on the move in the coming days and weeks, so stay tuned!

Mid March Birding

My first stop on this crisp but clear day was Rondeau Park.  I first checked out the campground where it was relatively quiet.  I did come across one of the wintering Yellow-rumped Warblers.

I also walked south point trail at the end of Lakeshore Road.  The lake was rather quiet today.
While on my way back, I received a message that a Eurasian Wigeon was on the Bay off the (old) Rondeau dock.
The Bay was mostly frozen over again due to the recent cold weather, but a few small open areas were packed with ducks.

Steve had picked out the duck earlier, but it was extremely difficult to find in the thick raft of ducks.
Certainly too far for a photo as well.

After getting a brief look at the duck, I moved down to the marsh trail.  I ended up walking to the half way point!  There were few birds, but hopefully I burned off some winter fat.
The marsh tower is being torn down, as high water and wind has taken its toll on the structure.

Last year it looked like it was doomed due to the water undermining the structure.  Unfortunately this expensive structure will be a thing of the past.  A pair of Canada Geese were standing vigil the whole time I was out the trail.

At one point I caught sight of an Eastern Meadowlark flying by.  It was one bird I was hoping to come across today.

There were thousands of swans on the Bay, but mostly on the far side.

A pair of Bald Eagles was in the distance.

On my way out of the park, I briefly stopped by Keith McLean's and saw the five Greater White-fronted Geese that were reported a bit earlier by Josh Pickering.

I moved on to Ridgetown Lagoons where it was packed with Tundra Swans.  Lots of geese were present in including at least ten Greater White-fronted.  They were a bit difficult to pick out at the back.  Good thing I took some record photos, as I originally thought I saw eight, but one photo revealed ten!

I was not done and headed over to Erieau.  The Lesser Black-backed Gull was still in the field across from McGeachy.

Later this afternoon I was bored, so I drove out to the St. Clair River, first stopping at Stewart Wetland.  A Tundra Swan has been present there all week.  I think it believes that it is a Mute Swan the way it hangs out with the Mutes.

I drove all the way up to Lambton Generating Station and just downriver I did find the young male King Eider that everyone has been seeing this week.  It was just under a kilometer south of Seager Park.

Then There Were Three

I headed down to Rondeau and area early this morning to check out the sights.  It turned out to be rather soggy a better part of the morning (yes, it is the weekend!), but some good birds were around.
There was a break in the rain, so Steve Charbonneau and I scoped the massive number of ducks on Rondeau Bay (20,000?), at the old pier area.  I had just started scoping and I put myself right on a male Eurasian Wigeon!

Usually Steve finds these things each year, but my ducks were aligned today (pun intended!).  Lighting was not the best at times, but there were thousands of ducks to sort through.
While there, we noticed lots of birds streaming north along the shoreline (most were juncos), so we thought a walk out marsh trail was in order.  Just after we got out of the cars, it started raining again....so much for that idea!


It looked like a long rain, so we headed our separate ways outside the park.  I went over to Ridgetown Lagoons and saw the Cattle Egret that Jeremy Hatt reported on Friday.  It was as far away as it could possibly be!

This IS a Cattle Egret!

Next stop was Erieau where the pier area seemed rather dead.  I did not get out to scope the rocks though, but I see that Steve "spotted" a sandpiper.  Also a Ruddy Turnstone.

I walked the rail trail to the viewing stand and some birds were present including a Gray Catbird and a Marsh Wren.  The wrens often are present on the CBC in December, so it may stay.

Blenheim Lagoons was on the agenda next.  Right away, I saw two Cattle Egrets on the main berm.

Along the edge of the middle pond, were three Wilson's Snipe and about 100 Dunlin.

I also picked out a single Pectoral associating with the Dunlin.

Over at the sprinkler cells, were a few more Dunlin, 11 Greater Yellowlegs and 4 Lesser Yellowlegs.

On the way back, the two Cattle Egrets had cloned another.  There were three!

The number of Cattle Egrets seem to fluctuate, so who knows how many are actually around.

Down along Stefina Line, I saw an adult Golden Eagle heading west over the pasture.

Feeling shortchanged from the morning, I went back to Rondeau and walked out marsh trail.  I saw some different birds from the morning including Vesper Sparrow perched in the Willow tree along the marsh boardwalk.  Seemed like an odd spot for one!
I also had a Marsh Wren near the tower.

I did not try to look at ducks as they were farther out than in the morning.

It was a good weekend and certainly a very exciting Saturday at Point Pelee (see previous blog post).

Saturday Speckle-bellies, Snipe, Sandhills

It was a fine day to be out if you did not mind the strong wind.  I checked out Rondeau Park first thing this morning.  There was not much in the way of birds, but some signs of spring were evident.
A few blackbirds were here and there, a pipit flew over and a male Wood Duck flew along south point trail near the light beacon.
It was rather bleak along the shoreline off the light beacon with the brisk wind.

It always seems as though something is missing when I get to this point on South Point Trail:

After some time in the park, I headed up to Ridgetown to look at geese.  Along the way was  a large flock of blackbirds along Front Line.
At the lagoons, several hundred Canada Geese (plus some Cackling) were present, a few Tundra Swans, Mallards and the lingering Greater White-fronted Geese.

These speckle-bellies have been around for at least 3 weeks!

It was getting close to lunch time, but one pass on Stefina Line was in order.  I finally caught up with that sneaky snipe in the creek!  Lighting was horrible for a photo though.

This Wilson's Snipe has been present, but elusive, here all winter. It has been a common wintering spot over the years.

Still no sneaky shrike, but they are scarce this winter, indeed.

After a Subway Sub, I headed into Chatham to pick up some items, then decided to swing out to St. Clair NWA.  It was still largely frozen, but some open water was there.  Nothing unusual was seen though.  However, two early spring Sandhill Cranes were flying over.

Exactly a year ago, it was extremely cold, but I did see a Northern Shrike.

Tomorrow is another day....

Today's Tour

With the nice and balmy weather today, I did quite a bit of touring around.  First destination was Point Pelee.  It was time to renew the park pass, and this year you get two years for the price of one!

Red-winged Blackbirds were on the move today and singing in various locations through the park.  I started at the visitor centre and walked out Shuster Trail.  Then I walked up through Tilden's and as far as the cemetery.  It was rather quiet for birds.  Just too nice I guess.
A Ruby-crowned Kinglet was the best bird of that walk.  It was actually the first I have seen this calendar year, as none seem to be around Rondeau (since late December).

Next stop was the Tip.  A few local birders and/or LLB's were at the Tip watching what went by on the strong south-west winds.

I joined up with Jeremy Bensette and Dan Greenham to walk De Laurier.  Not much to speak of with regards to birds there!  Lots of the wintering robins were around today.

Later, I did my usual walk at Hillman Marsh.  There was a little bit of open water in the shorebird cell and a number of ducks and geese were present.  Most were Mallards, but a number of Northern Pintail were present.  Many took off before I got a good luck.

Lighting was not the greatest that time of day so it was difficult to determine what all was present.  I looked at my photos here at home and picked out a pair of Northern Shoveler that I did not even notice before!

Also, the first Killdeer of the season was there.

Wheatley Harbour was not too exciting except for a brief Ian Woodfield sighting.  The only thing of note was a Sora......name of one of the Coast Guard boats at Hike Metals!

I thought I would drive along the lake to Chatham-Kent, but ended up at Rondeau!  I just walked the campground finding the usual birds, including a Yellow-rumped Warbler.

I had heard that some Greater White-fronted Geese were at Ridgetown, so I had to go there.  Four were reported earlier in the day, but I found six in the south pond.  There could have been more on the dike for all I know.

It it getting to be late February, so spring is on the way (not that we really had a winter).