Sunday Sun and Fun

It certainly felt good to be out today.  Warm, little wind and sunny!  What a novelty for the weekend.
Although for some reason it was difficult to get up this morning, I made it to Rondeau just after 07:30. No birds to look at but it was nice to be out.

Hermit Thrush

Probably saw only ten Yellow-rumped Warblers and two Nashville Warblers in six hours of walking, but I took advantage of the nice weather.  Butterflies were out in numbers today.  Especially American Painted-Lady.  I saw around 25 in various states of wear.  As well, Question Marks were out.

Another Red  Admiral

Finally saw the first sulphurs of the year.

Dragonfllies included Variegated Meadowhawk.

I stopped by Sinclair's Bush SE of Blenheim.  No birds there either!  But, Question Marks were all along the road.

Sometimes when few birds are at Rondeau, Sinclair's has a few birds since it is inland.  But not today.


full frame shot!


At the lagoons I wandered in without checking the book.  Seldom do people write anything in anymore.  Norm Holden was there with his wife and was searching for an Eared Grebe reported yesterday.  Whaat?  We finally spotted it in Pond 4.
It was probably there yesterday when Steve and I stopped in, but the weather was so crappy there was little ambition to look closely at everything.  The grebe was difficult to find at times since it was diving much of the time.  Seems we get one every spring at Blenheim.

Shorebirds were in the sprinkler cell area as usual.  A couple of Least Sandpipers were different from yesterday.  This is a good spot to check every day!   While there, we observed a flock of approximately 35 Lapland Longspur wheeling about.  As usual, they never stayed any length of time.  Always nice to see them in breeding plumage.  Shorebird habitat is scarce, but with the current drought conditions, McGeachy Pond is drying up.  Some nice mud is now showing!

We desperately need rain.  Never have seen it so dry this time of year.  Opposite to last year!!

Then There Were Two

Headed down to Rondeau in this typical weekend weather.  Hardly a migrant bird to be found!  A week from now there should be a flood of birds. (but we said that last week).
On the way in I heard a Wood Thrush (FOY) singing, but not much else.  I walked the entire south point trail (8 km) and came up with 10 Yellow-rumped Warblers, 1 Common Yellowthroat, 4 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 10 White-throated Sparrows and perhaps 6 Hermit Thrushes.  Also a snipe.  Pretty sad for this time of year.
Near maintenance there were a couple of Black-throated Green, one Nashville, one Black-and-
White and a couple of Yellow-rumped Warblers. That's it.  Nothing in between!

I went down to the McArthur's place to look for the Yellow-throated Warbler.  It finally came in after a while.  I went closer to get some photos.....but wait......there are two of them!  (didn't get a shot of both together though).

Since the sexes are rather similar and I am not sure if this a mated pair.  I would suspect it is since last week one bird was observed carrying nesting material and acting territorial.

different bird from above--female?--less colour

(photo by Josh R. Bouman)

I am not sure about last year's bird(s) but there were two hanging around for a while.  Perhaps one was scouting for the following year! There is not a nesting record for Yellow-throated Warbler in Ontario as far as I know, so it is something to look into.

Blenheim Lagoons had a number of common shorebirds, mostly Dunlin.  Likely 350 Dunlin.  Steve Charbonneau and I watched a Pergrine chasing birds for while.  Interesting to observe!

Rusty Blackbird

Friday Follies

Last night's post was just for fun.  Virtually no new birds all week and it was cold.  I posted some photos from the past.  The Western Grebe was one I found off Pinery P.P. a number of years ago.  This week's sightings reminded me of that one.  The Yellow-throated Warbler was courtesy of Josh Bouman.
I drove around this evening putting more wear and tear on the car and wasting more gas.  I drove some of the back roads I used to check out frequently when there were pastures all over.  It used to be fun as there were lots of birds to see, but that is a thing of the past.  A lot of mud now. With the price and value of farmland now, farmers are cutting down every stick of vegetation at an alarming rate.  This past year is the worst I have seen it!
I encountered a couple of pairs of Eastern Bluebirds. A male is shown here.

I noted that Savannah and Vesper Sparrows really have not arrived in numbers--or where are they?
The only warblers I encountered were a couple of Yellow-rumped and a FOY Yellow at Seager Park along the St. Clair R.  Saw some Eastern Meadowlarks.

At McKeough CA I tried some flight shots of a Northern Harrier which turned out fairly decent.  Photos always turn out fuzzy on the blog for some reason.  I have tried different things, but to no avail in getting the photos to come up clearer on the blog.













The weather forecast has improved a bit for the weekend, but it will be darn cold.  I do not expect a lot of birds, but hopefully some of quality will turn up.

??????

Boring Week!

This Week

Forster's Tern

The wind finally subsided later this afternoon.  It was even quite warm!  I checked out a couple of spots around Port Lambton and noted many Red Admirals flying.  Also Question Mark.
A Green Heron has been hanging around Brander Park.  Nice little bird.

Stewart Wetland had little to show.  A few Blue-winged Teal and a Shoveler have been swimming around.  Looks like the Mute Swans have abandoned their nest.  Doesn't bother me!

Speaking of swans, I found what appeared to be a Trumpeter Swan sitting in a field near Cathcart Park.  It was a bit distant, but I had no scope. I drove around the corner and came back ten minutes later and it was gone!  Even a Tundra Swan would be a little unusual at this time.  I had my camera but the setting had moved so the photo did not turn out!

The deer population in Rondeau Park has increased considerably the last two years.  For various reasons there has not been a cull the last two autumns.  It is starting to show with vegetation browsing and the fact you have to dodge deer driving through the park early in the morning.
Back in the late 1980's and early 1990's it was so obvious the damage that an overpopulation of deer had done.  There was virtually no vegetation from a metre down.  Yearly culls were eventually done and in recent years it is remarkable how different the park looked with lush vegetation and wildflowers.  One never knew that there were so many wildflowers!
Yesterday I received an email from the Peaceful Parks Coalition (PPC) in which they were all concerned about the announcement of continuing the the culls by Ontario Parks for another ten years.  Essentially PPC wanted evidence of vegetation studies that back up the need for culls.  Also the PPC believes there is lack of consultation.

It is obvious to me that some of these people at PPC are unfamiliar with the parks and the vegetation.  If one was familiar with the park, it would be obvious how beneficial a smaller deer herd would be.  I am at Rondeau almost every weekend and I am very familiar with how the vegetation has positively responded due to a reduced deer herd.  A cull is the only answer as deer do not respond well to moving to another location.  As well, there are too many deer elsewhere anyway!  It is human activity that has created this concentration of deer, so human intervention is necessary.  A lush forest is more important than an over-browsed forest full of sickly deer!

More Misadventures

a couple of these today

Went to Pelee again.  This was the original plan all week, as yesterday's was a last minute decision.  Since it was still the weekend, weather was somewhat crappy.  Sounds like a broken record, but it is certainly predictable.  But, strong north winds are forecast all week, so it looks like migration will be minimal.
I birded with Steve Pike today and met various other friends at some point.  It was tough going, but we found the best area was in the woods beside NW Beach parking lot.  There, Marianne reported a Yellow-throated Warbler early morning.
We ended up there later in the morning and found a few birds including a Red-eyed Vireo and singing Lincoln's Sparrow.  Steve and I also found a singing White-eyed Vireo across from the entrance to Marsh Boardwalk parking lot.  It later moved north.

Hermit Thrushes abound lately

After lunch, I headed down west beach trail towards the Tip.  It was till cold and windy but a few Red Admirals were flying.  I also saw one Question Mark butterfly.  I had hopes of getting a look at a meadowlark that Steve and I saw earlier in the morning.  I also saw it yesterday but never got a good look at it and of course it never vocalized.  It never settled down today or sang either. Could be a Western for all I know!
Near the serengetti tree I found the Prairie Warbler from yesterday.  I had good looks at it finally.

Prairie Warbler with Nashville in background

On the way home, I stopped at Hillman Marsh.  Lots of Dunlin were in close, and both yellowlegs present in the shorebird cell.  A Sandhill Crane was flying overhead.  We saw several today over the park.

On to another windy week....

More Warblers, Vireos and others-UPDATE

I could tell it was the weekend when I got up this morning.  High winds, threatening rain and very cold.  Mind-boggling!

Although very chilly, it turned out to be a decent birding day.  Not a lot of birds, but some new for the year, etc.  I birded Rondeau Park with Steve Charbonneau this morning.  White-throated Sparrows were everywhere and a few warblers and vireos were around.
South point trail had a Palm and Black-and-White Warbler and a couple of Blue-headed Vireos.  A Northern Mockingbird also made an appearance.  A Spotted Sandpiper was along the beach.
At the visitor centre we had FOY White-eyed Vireo.


We came back later and heard the Yellow-throated Warbler singing atop one of the White Pine trees. Previously we stood vigil at the McArthur's and did not see it.  It works the pine trees from the visitor centre to the McArthur's place just like last year.
Just got a photo of the warbler from today from a friend (Josh R. Bouman).  It was carrying nesting material (?) to a spruce tree!

A female Rose-breasted Grosbeak and a Ruby-throated Hummingbird were new for the year there.

basket case

Behind maintenance we found a good flock of birds including Black-throated Greens, Black-and-White, Palms, Nashville, Blue-winged and of course several Yellow-rumped.

(I tried!)

Late, I met up with the Bouman duo and we had at least one Pine Warbler south of the VC.
Lots of Hermit Thrushes were around today.

Earlier in the morning I heard that there was a Bell's Vireo at Pelee.  I was done at Rondeau by noon, so I headed west to Pelee.  Since the shuttle left 3 min. early, I ended up walking down the west side!  On the way I came across a nice group of warblers, etc. including a couple of Blackburnian.  A group of birders were at the serengetti tree where the Bell's Vireo was last seen less than half an hour earlier.  We looked around for two hours and saw lots of birds including the Prairie Warbler, but no Bell's.  Several Blue-headed were in the area and more warblers including Blue-winged.  I spent some time with Andrew Keaveney, but we never came up with the subject bird.
I headed back and found some more warblers including an Orange-crowned and a couple more Blackburnian (different than the previous ones).

Blackburnian Warbler (one of four)

I briefly stopped at NW beach P.L. and saw a couple more warbler including Black-and-White.

even worse!

I did not need the Bell's Vireo for a life bird, but it was fun trying to find today's.  On May 20, 2006 Steve Charbonneau and I found one ("Arizona" form) at Rondeau Park.

BTW, the Yellow-throated Vireo at Rondeau last Saturday was locally record-early by nine (9) days!

Elfins!

I am posting some photos (low resolution)  of elfins taken up Pinery way by a friend from Sarnia.
I do not have much experience with elfins since I never go looking for them!  I have seen Eastern Pine Elfin, which he has a photo here.

Looks like he had two other species.
Hoary...(?)

Brown...(?)

Just looking for comments.

Tuesday Tidbits

The recent post about Red Admirals reached the highest number of hits ever for one of my posts!

Slow as a turtle in these parts today.  One of these days something of note has to show!  I'm still checking Stewart Wetland.  Had a very fresh female Eastern Forktail there today.  Several snipe have been hanging out and the odd Lesser or Greater Yellowlegs.  Lots of swallows today.  Great Blue Herons are having fun with goldfish.

Then there are these things......

Cooper's Hawk at Rondeau building nest....

He's baaack!!!