On A Lark (Sparrow)

 Things are finally picking up with nicer weather and more migrants.  In the grand scheme of things, birds are on schedule.  A few birds have been quite early! Some years in the past we get spoiled with nice weather and birds coming early.

Today was a fine day with warmer weather.  It started out rainy (what is a weekend without rain?), but soon cleared up.  I went to Rondeau Park.  I started at south point trail before it cleared up, as I wanted to go out marsh trail at some point.

Some loons (both kinds) and ducks were moving on the lake, but hardly any gulls.

Along the trail, a couple of House Wrens were FOY birds.

Steve and I went our separate ways, and I headed out marsh trail.  With an east wind, it is often the best choice.  It was quite nice, with only a light east wind.

I was going to walk at least to Long Pond, but that got cut short as you will find out later.  Along the way, I came across a FOY Yellow Warbler.  The first one is always nice to see, but eventually we will get sick of them!

Lots of kinglets (mainly Ruby's) were flitting about  along the way.

About a half kilometre past the 'half way' point I saw a Savannah Sparrow, then a Vesper Sparrow.  The Vesper was nice, but all of a sudden there was another sparrow with it.  It was different and I recognized it as a Lark Sparrow!

It kept moving along, but in an instant they were gone. I was not sure where they went, so started back as to not flush them any further.  Somehow the two had flew past me and were back on the trail to the north!  

I watched for some time, then they flushed.  The Lark Sparrow took a long flight out toward the Bay, then headed north.  I lost sight, thinking that was it.  However, I refound it on the trail north of the old parking area!

(photo by Steve Charbonneau)

By this time, Steve was well on his way out, so I kept following it along until he got there to see it.

The Lark Sparrow is one of the more handsome sparrows I think.  There are several records in the park, but only the third one I have seen within the park.

During this time, four Willets were found at Keith McLean C. L., so that was my next walk.

Tired, but not done for the day, I stopped by Blenheim lagoons.  Garry Sadler was there and informed me that a dowitcher was in the sprinkler cells.  I thought more likely a Long-billed a this date, but upon seeing it without a scope, I was not sure.  At one point, the birds flushed and disappeared.  I could not hear it call due to the wind.

Turned out to be a Short-billed Dowitcher!

Yesterday I went to Hillman Marsh and Point Pelee.  It was very quiet for birds.  Two Western Sandpipers were still at the shorebird cell.

one of them!

Getting back near the car, there was a brief sighting of an exceptionally early Yellow-billed Cuckoo!

I did quite a bit of walking in the National Park, but did not come up with much.

Pair of Trumpeter Swans at De Laurier

Surf Scoter

I did have a Hairy Woodpecker, which is uncommon in the park.

This past Tuesday I stopped by Roberta Stewart Wetland late in the day.  I took some random photos.  One was a Gadwall, or so I thought.  I was half right, as it turned out to be a Northern Pintail X Gadwall!  I did not realize it until I processed the photo at home.  My excuse is that the lighting was very poor.

I have had this uncommon hybrid here before, oddly enough.  Not the same bird though.

Sunday looks like there may be some good arrivals....only time will tell.

"Six more weeks of good birding!"

May's Last Hurrah

Saturday, I headed towards Essex County for a change.  My first stop was Hillman Marsh shorebird cell at first light.  I ended up spending about an hour there looking at the birds and chatting with Kevin McLaughlin.
One of the Trumpeter Swans was in the cell.  It eventually started honking, then took off!

There was nothing noteworthy  in the way of shorebirds, but it is always worth a check since things are constantly changing there.

Moving on to Point Pelee National Park, I walked to the Tip.  Songbird migration is quickly coming to a stop, as there were very few birds.  I spent a little bit of time at the Tip with an Anonymous Birder.

CSL Tadoussac in Pelee Passage

A Northern Mockingbird was flitting around the Tip.

It is time to look for odes and leps.  Painted Skimmers are around, as I found this one on the east beach not far from Sparrow Field.

I did not spend much time in the park, as there was a sprint run going on from the VC to the Tip. (I seem to run into these things far too often, screwing up my day!).

I once again stopped at Hillman Marsh shorebird cell.  Basically the same shorebirds were present, plus more gulls.  Highlight was a beautiful adult Franklin's Gull.  Too bad it was not a little closer.

They do not come much nicer than this!  The bird had been around a couple of days, so it was one of my targets for the day.

Up to seven Short-billed Dowitchers were in the cell.

I went home via highway 3 to Erieau.  A number of shorebirds were present in the fields north of the McGeachy Pond, including some distant Red Knots as reported earlier by Steve Charbonneau. Ruddy Turnstones and Black-bellied Plovers, as well as an American Golden-Plover were in the mix. Too distant and too much heat shimmer for photos.

Young Great Horned Owl at Erieau

There was not much of note at Blenheim Lagoons, where the day before a pair of Black-necked Stilts was present.  Those kinds of birds only show up on weekdays!  I probably could have seen them around supper time, but I was not up to rushing down in the Friday traffic.

A few of these are around

Sunday dawned a bit foggy along Lake Erie.  It turned out to be a gorgeous sunny day weatherwise, highly unusual for a weekend.
I checked out Rondeau to see what lingering migrants were around.  There were very few!  For warblers, I did get Blackburnian, Blackpoll (4), and a Mourning which may or may not stay.
Lots of Eastern Wood-Peewees and Great-crested Flycatchers are now in.

I was going to go cuckoo today if I did find a certain target bird.  Yellow-billed Cuckoo has eluded me all month, but both cuckoos are finally present in numbers, as I found several of both kinds today. The cuckoos typically do not arrive in numbers until late May, and this year was no exception.

Black-billed Cuckoo

A pair of White-eyed Vireos at spicebush trail will likely take up residence.

Quite a few Swainson's Thrushes are still hopping around.

Keith and I also saw a Painted Skimmer at maintenance this morning.

Near there, we looked at a plant that is rather rare in Ontario.  Although not a real showy plant, American Gromwell (Lithospermum latifolium ) was something of which we took note.

Here are some entries of plant sightings on iNaturalist.

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/224010-Lithospermum-latifolium

There are often some late migrants passerines into June, but it is now time to look for breeding birds or insects!
Here are a couple of moths I saw today.
This one I believe is a Tulip Tree Beauty.  Host plants include Tulip Tree, Sassafras, Pawpaw, and Poplar.  It blends in well with the bark!

Eight-spotted Forester

Snowy Owl at Pain Court (Thursday!)

Horn of Plenty at Rondeau

I birded Rondeau Park the last two mornings. There was a cornucopia of birds this holiday weekend, as I always say!
Sunday morning I was by myself and spent 3.5h on south point trail alone.  That included watching the lake for a half hour while hundreds of bonies fed off the east side.  Naturally, nothing was with them.

The lake was quite rough on the south side with the strong WSW wind.

I found at least 11 species of warblers including 3 Orange-crowned.

Some vireos were around including a single Philadelphia.

Flycatchers were all eastern, including at least 6 Eastern Wood-Peewees and several Eastern Phoebes.  No "good" flycatchers, as I cannot seem to find any mega rare birds anymore, unlike some keen birders in this province!

Bald Eagle

Red-headed Woodpecker

The winds looked good for a lakewatch this morning, so I joined Steve Charbonneau at dog beach.  This location is the best for doing a lakewatch on NE winds.
We arrived at first light and found hundreds of Bonaparte's Gulls moving into the wind.  Early on, an adult Little Gull made an appearance.
Eventually the bonies started heading back south, but nothing unusual was with them.  We did see two Lesser Black-backed Gulls (one first cycle and one third cycle).  Lessers are becoming more common in recent times.  At least four have been hanging around Erieau.

The only shorebirds were a Killdeer and five Sanderlings.

A good number of ducks were moving as well--the most common seemed to be Ruddy with well over 200.  A few Surf Scoters were seen as well as Mallard, Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon and scaup of both varieties.

Horned Grebes numbered over 30.

After two hours in the drizzle, we headed over to south point trail.  There were lots of birds to sort through, but they were quickly moving.
Early on, we found some kinglets and warblers going cuckoo.  Usually this indicates they found an owl, but all we could find was a Yellow-billed Cuckoo.  We concluded they were upset at its presence!

We found around 13 species of warblers including at least 4 Tennessee, lots of Nashville, a Bay-breasted and Orange-crowned.  I counted seven Northern Parula, which is a good number for the date.  This species has become a bit more common in recent years.

We found a single Philadelphia Vireo, but it was likely the same individual as yesterday since it was in the exact same spot!

Thrushes included only Hermit.  It is a good time of year for Varied Thrush (one is at Long Point right now!).  It was back on 14 October 2002 I found one on south point trail.

We have still not seen a huge number of sparrows yet, but perhaps more are to come.

It was a good weekend for birding, as often is the case Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

End of May Sightings

Saturday I went down to Rondeau Park to see what migrant or resident birds were kicking around. Indeed, the number of warblers has dropped sharply, but some are still passing through.  Flycatchers were plentiful, and breeding birds are now setting up territories or already nesting.

Black-billed Cuckoo

The first interesting bird was a resident rarity, the White-winged Dove.  Things have become desperate as it finally found its reflection in the sun-roof of a car!  As well, it has resorted to placing assorted sticks on the roof.

photo taken in poor early morning light

If only one of the opposite sex has arrived, we would likely have a nesting record!




During the course of the morning, I found only a single Mourning Warbler, which was surprising.  A few Blackpolls were scattered around, and out marsh trail a Magnolia Warbler and a couple of Wilson's were found.


Marsh trail seemed the busiest with countless Yellow Warblers, and many Willow and Alder Flycatchers.



For some reason, I walked all the way to Long Pond before lunch.  That coupled with lack of sleep the previous night left me rather tired!
This Mink was not too worried of my presence.

Acadian Flycatcher arrived on territory this week at Rondeau Park.

Today, Sunday, I decided on a change of pace and headed up to Skunk's Misery (Mosa Forest).  There was an OFO outing led by Gavin Platt scheduled, so it was an opportunity to join in.  It turned out to be quite a pleasant day as the weather was good, mosquitoes were not as thick as usual, and target birds were found rather quickly.
Before arriving at the meeting site, I took a quick tour through the Misery on a couple of roads.  I found a singing Cerulean Warbler on Dogwood Road, so this ended up being our starting point.

In fact, there were two singing Cerulean Warblers, but trying to take photos in the thick forest was a challenge.

Also at this location was a co-operative Hooded Warbler.  They are quite common in the Mosa Forest and it is no problem finding them.

Blue-winged Warblers are scattered throughout.

However, one has to look at them closely.  We found one that sang a Blue-winged song and looked much like it, but it was obviously a hybrid with the thicker black through eye and thick yellowish wingbars.

Nearby we found an Acadian Flycatcher on territory.

Watching the Acadian

Chestnut-sided Warblers are common in certain locations.

At one point a hidden Common Yellowthroat was singing......oops.....make that a Mourning Warbler! This Mourning Warbler was constantly singing a perfect Common Yellowthroat song.  Goes to show you sometimes need to see a bird to ID it!  No explanation for this, but these things do happen.

I once remember hearing what I thought was a Kentucky Warbler at Point Pelee Tip.  Turned out to be a Mourning Warbler.
There are apparently records of hybridization of Mourning Warbler with Common Yellowthroat, so whether this has a bearing, I do not know.

Yellow-billed Cuckoos were encountered occasionally during the outing.

Missing a tail feather!

With the recent very warm weather, we are now seeing a good variety of butterflies.  In the last few days I have seen several first-of-year butterflies.
The first Common Ringlets were seen on Friday.

Common Ringlet

Skippers are finally coming out.  Today I saw the first Peck's and Hobomok Skippers.

Juvenal's Duskywing

Silver-spotted Skipper