Soggy Saturday Sightings

Even though the weather on par (i.e. crappy), one must get out on weekends!  I almost went to Point Pelee, but decided I would do better in the rain at Rondeau.  I met Jim Burk in the campground and we found quite a few birds, but nothing really new. I saw a couple of species I did not get last Sunday, namely American Robin and Field Sparrow.  A couple of robins were wandering around and at least four Field Sparrows were working the weeds with American Tree Sparrows.
Yellow-rumped Warblers seem to be plentiful this year, and they were all over the campground.  A Townsend's Warbler would be a treat, but that is pushing it! (Rondeau has four records and I have seen two of those).

We took a look off Dog Beach.....so that is where all the south point sand is going!  The beach has grown quite a bit there. Not much in the way of birds there either.
We departed ways and looked around outside the park.  Seems to be quite a few Rough-legged Hawks around lately.  I saw a few harriers as well.




The Erieau Snowy Owl was still present.  This creature has been around about three weeks now.

Very few ducks at Erieau.  In fact not many were seen on the CBC.  Puddle ducks have gone south and this lonely Mallard was the only one of its kind.

A few scaup, Bufflehead and a single Redhead were present.  Also a single American Coot.

Gulls were scarce today compared to last weekend.

I met up with Jim again and we walked the Erieau marsh trail.  Quite a few sparrows were present including a single Fox Sparrow (not one was recorded for the CBC!).

After lunch I wandered aimlessly and ended up along the Thames River.  Everything is frozen, even at Lighthouse Cove.  I did see a couple of cold-looking Great Blue Herons along the way.

Strangely, I did not see a Snowy Owl on the way home, despite checking usual spots.  No doubt some are out there though, but this wacky weather today probably had them hunkered down.

A Pied-billed Grebe was along the Snye west of Wallaceburg just before dark.  Hope it sticks around another week....