Spring in January (?)

I started at Rondeau Park this morning on a cold south wind.  The day actually turned out to be quite balmy.  At times it seemed like March.  Given the weather tomorrow, we may see some "spring" migrants in the waterfowl department.
Many waterfowl never left!  At Shrewsbury this morning, it certainly seemed like March with 300-400 Tundra Swans and twice that in Canada Geese taking advantage of the many spots of open water on Rondeau Bay.

I looked at all the geese I could, but nothing different was with them.  The Trumpeter Swans were probably still present, but they were certainly not close like they were yesterday.

Swans of the Tundra

At Erieau, there are still over 30 American Coots trying to stick out the winter.

Lawn Coots

A nice male Long-tailed Duck was in the marina near the coots. Sun was in the wrong direction though.

Lots of gulls are near the Blenheim Landfill, but I could not pick out anything other than Herring, Ring-billed and Great Black-backed.  They were quite spread out though.

Earlier at Rondeau Park, it was rather quiet.  Some Pine Siskins are still around, as well as Purple Finches.

After lunch in Chatham, I headed up Bear Line to its very end.  It turned out to be a good choice as there were quite a few birds along the Snye.  I found more coots!  At least 15 were there along St. Anne's Island.

Also present were a few different ducks and a Great Blue Heron.

Some blackbirds/starlings were in the trees, but I never got a good look at all of them.  Rusty and Red-winged Blackbirds were present.  It was near here that we also had the Yellow-headed Blackbirds around New Year's.
I could hear lots of geese and swans over on St. Anne's.

Too bad it was not a CBC day.  Bear Creek is where I start my sector of the Wallaceburg CBC!