I started on South Point Trail in the park for a nice walk in the crispy morning air. It was calm and sunny first thing, but later the wind got quite strong. (there's that wind yet again!). In the first five minutes, I had three Eastern Towhees--first for the year. Lots of Song Sparrows were around (all over throughout the day) as expected.
At one point, I caught sight of two Pileated Woodpeckers at the top of a tree. I could have gotten a decent photo, but I saw them too late and they took off.
The lake was not too rough, and one could see for a long distance. You could even see smoke plumes across the lake!
A nice flock of Wood Ducks was circling around, likely looking for a spot in the park. However, the sloughs were frozen due to the cold night. It was almost colder than most of the days all winter!
I checked a few other spots in the park, but it was rather quiet. Lots of Tree Sparrows were around and a decent sized flock of Song Sparrows in the campground. The usual wintering birds were not around save for a couple of Purple Finches.
Aythya type ducks at Ridgetown
Blenheim Lagoon had a good number of ducks and geese, but nothing noteworthy. Not much at Erieau either. Only a few Bonaparte's Gulls were in the channel, a small fraction from yesterday. A Little Gull was reported there by Allen Woodliffe yesterday.
After lunch, I headed over to Ridgetown. I was tempted to skip this today, but with the number of geese always there, that could potentially be a bad move. Happily, I found some Greater White-fronted Geese (12 in total). Too far for a decent photo though. Also present was a total of 22 Snow Geese (6 of those in the blue form).
Snow Geese on the dike
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A sweet find Blake!
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