Winter Wanderings on the Final Day of January

Nothing in particular was on the schedule today, so I went down to Rondeau Park.  Overall it was not as busy as a week ago, but the visitor centre feeder area was very active.
I started birding in the campground with Steve and Jim.  Some of the usual birds were at the north end including a single Ruby-crowned Kinglet.  Other rubies are out there, but that is the only ruby we found today!
The visitor centre feeders were attracting a lot of birds.  This week, about 50 Brown-headed Cowbirds were there plus a lot of American Tree Sparrows.

The male towhee was there, but elusive as usual.  A White-throated Sparrow remained unseen, but was singing weakly again.  A White-crowned did show itself.

A small Sharp-shinned Hawk was frequenting the area, so at times it was quiet there.

We walked south point trail for the first time in a while, but not much was down there except a large flock of tree sparrows.

Along Lakeshore Road, I saw a Pileated Woodpecker fly across, as well as a Northern Flicker.  With the other usual woodpeckers seen, that only left Red-headed, but that species is never around anymore in the winter it seems.

I walked the campground again when Dwayne Murphy arrived.  Nothing new except a flock of Pine Siskins briefly stopped by.  Redpolls would have been better, but nobody can find any in the area.

I decided to head east after doing the park and ended up at Clear Creek Forest.  I did not expect any birds there, but it was nice to walk through woods and something I wanted to do.  Some very large trees grow here, including this American Beech.

Various oak, Black Cherry, etc. also stand tall here.

On the way home, I jogged up to Langstaff Line and found this Snowy Owl near Brigden Road.  It is the same one we had here on the Wallaceburg CBC.

With time left in the afternoon, I made a further jog up to Moore WMA.  The sun was out this afternoon and I thought it would be nice to check that out.  However, clouds rolled in very quickly and by the time I got there, it was cloudy.  It felt like a typical weeked all over again!

I met the Nethercott's there and they had seen two Yellow-rumped Warblers.  Those were the first I heard of there this winter, even though one is almost guaranteed the species there each winter.  I managed to find one feeding on the poison ivy berries.  The ample supply of berries attracts them in this sheltered valley each winter.

Tomorrow will be interesting to see how much snow we get.  As usual, the weather forecast continually changes....