Rondeau Area Birding 8 Nov.

Very few birds were around today. I guess the weather was just too nice! Dense fog greeted me early this morning, so I slept in an extra hour. I did not miss anything.
It was dead calm and quiet. I did manage to scrape up a few decent birds. Photography was not my best effort today, but I did try....

White-eyed Vireo

Best bird was a White-eyed Vireo on Rondeau's south point trail. It did not come in close, and none of the birds responded to pishing. It is late for this species, but Rondeau's late record is sometime later this month.
Warblers seemed to have cleared out early this fall. I saw three individual warblers of three species on SPT.

A dull Nashville Warbler had me take second looks. Just a few seconds before that, I saw an Orange-crowned Warbler, but did not get a photo of that one. These never responded to pishing either, so they did not come in close.

A few Purple Finches were around, especially in the campground.

female Purple Finch

A number of Fox Sparrows were about, including a flock of about eight in the campground. Like many species, they were late in coming this fall. Not many sparrows were evident today. Where are all the Lincoln's Sparrows? I've only seen two or three this fall, and strangely, none in Algonquin Park when I was there in August.

pair of Fox Sparrows

This Red-bellied Woodpecker was acting like a Flicker on the ground.....

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Shorebirds included Killdeer and Snipe at Bate's Marsh, and Pectoral (1), Dunlin (many), and five Long-billed Dowitchers at Blenheim Lagoons. There were also both Yellowlegs.

Pectoral Sandpiper

At Erieau RR tracks I had a pleasant walk. A Northern Mockingbird greeted me at the start.

Along this trail were Yellow-rumped Warbler, three species of wrens (guess what ones!), several Fox Sparrows and I heard a Virginia Rail.

Northern Mockingbird

A new viewing platform has recently been constructed, which is nice. Normally you cannot see the Bay due to cattails and weeds, but this platform allows you to get high enough to see out onto the Bay.

I met a fellow walking his dog, and he said that someone saw a Snowy Owl from here two days ago. I have no reason to disbelieve him.

View from the platform