Brick Yard Bird

I had a target bird in mind for today, so the Warwick area was the destination.
Recently, a Gyrfalcon had been seen and photographed mainly along Brick Yard Line just north of the village of Warwick.
Back on January 29, the bird was well-photographed by Alexa Coupland, but it was not known to local birders until a bit later.
Last weekend, Dave Bourne of Sarnia managed to refind the bird and obtained some decent photos. So, it was still in the area!

And yesterday, Mike Bouman saw the bird again in a couple of different spots.  Good photos can be seen on his eBird report.
http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S27864371

Photo courtesy Nethercott's

Needless to say, I wanted to see this rare bird for southwestern Ontario since I have not gone after one in 24 years!
After considerable driving around, I got a message from the Nethercott's that the bird was beside a house along Brick Yard Line.  I was not far behind, and drove to the site.  The falcon was perched atop a broken pine in a very inconspicuous location.  I managed to get some record photos.

It is not often a Gyrfalcon stays in one area for a length of time.  Some do though.  There was one at Beachville, Oxford for about a month in early 1992 (found by James Holdsworth).  Many went to see this particular bird.  Those were the days a Gyrfalcon was still a review species for the OBRC.
A few gyrs were around in 1992 including the dark morph seen by Allen Woodliffe on Walpole Island.

Two years ago Steve Charbonneau and Jim Burk found one near the Blenheim Landfill. That was only a brief sighting and not long enough for one to finish buying groceries.

A number have been seen at Kettle Point over the years, including one this past January 12 by George MacDermid.
Yet another was near Windsor just this past December.
There have been some Pelee records in the past as well.
The Gyrfalcon can be seen in various colour morphs, but around here they are almost always gray.

After observing the Gyrfalcon, I did some considerable driving around on this very nice day.  I went down to Wardsville Woods for a walk.  Other than a large flock of American Robins, there was not much to see there.  Upon arriving back at the car, I met Pete and Sue Read et al. who were out looking for birds.  I told them about the falcon.

View at Wardsville Woods

On the last leg of my journey, I ended up on the St. Clair River around Sombra.  There were lots of ducks to look at, but the sun was very bright.  Early spring migrants included a pair of American Wigeon at Cundick Park working around the ice.

Tundra Swans are moving north.  There was a large group near Sombra this afternoon.

Saturday Speckle-bellies, Snipe, Sandhills

It was a fine day to be out if you did not mind the strong wind.  I checked out Rondeau Park first thing this morning.  There was not much in the way of birds, but some signs of spring were evident.
A few blackbirds were here and there, a pipit flew over and a male Wood Duck flew along south point trail near the light beacon.
It was rather bleak along the shoreline off the light beacon with the brisk wind.

It always seems as though something is missing when I get to this point on South Point Trail:

After some time in the park, I headed up to Ridgetown to look at geese.  Along the way was  a large flock of blackbirds along Front Line.
At the lagoons, several hundred Canada Geese (plus some Cackling) were present, a few Tundra Swans, Mallards and the lingering Greater White-fronted Geese.

These speckle-bellies have been around for at least 3 weeks!

It was getting close to lunch time, but one pass on Stefina Line was in order.  I finally caught up with that sneaky snipe in the creek!  Lighting was horrible for a photo though.

This Wilson's Snipe has been present, but elusive, here all winter. It has been a common wintering spot over the years.

Still no sneaky shrike, but they are scarce this winter, indeed.

After a Subway Sub, I headed into Chatham to pick up some items, then decided to swing out to St. Clair NWA.  It was still largely frozen, but some open water was there.  Nothing unusual was seen though.  However, two early spring Sandhill Cranes were flying over.

Exactly a year ago, it was extremely cold, but I did see a Northern Shrike.

Tomorrow is another day....

St. Clair River Duck Detail

Yesterday, February 21, I was interested in the checking out the St. Clair River.  Since there are good numbers of ducks at present, it was worth a try.

The bulk of the ducks (mainly Redhead) seemed to be in the Sombra area yesterday.  It varies considerably from day to day so you never know what you will find.

This year has been a bit different.  Earlier we saw very few ducks, but recently decent numbers are present, but most are Redhead.  Aside from Redhead, Canvasback are not in high numbers.  Scaup are very scarce and Ring-necked almost absent.  Scaup are never in huge numbers on the river, but it is difficult to find any this year.

There are always some Ring-necked (sometimes upwards of 40-50 in a good year), but try and find one now!
Common Mergansers are in fairly good numbers this winter, and the odd Red-breasted can be found.

Hooded Mergansers are most reliably found at the Shell Corunna dock.

Common Goldeneye, along with Bufflehead are most common at the head of Stag Island near Corunna.  They are in good numbers this year.
Long-tailed Ducks can vary in numbers, and they are fewer this year.  Two years ago we had record numbers, with over 35,000 in the Sarnia area.

Another puddle duck besides Mallard or Black includes Gadwall.  I saw a few yesterday, but some of those could have been in response the mild weather a while back. Some do attempt to winter on the river though.

The odd Northern Pintail or American Wigeon can be seen on the river during some winters.

Back to yesterday, I found that there were few ducks off Guthrie Park yesterday. Last week it was the hotspot!

After checking Sarnia, I returned downriver and found some more ducks.  At Cathcart Park, a Northern Pintail and Wood Duck were on the ice.  They were not there earlier.

The Wood Duck could possibly be the same male that was at Guthrie Park the previous week.  Nice to see in any case.

At Sombra and area, there were even more ducks than earlier in the morning.  I found a White-winged Scoter at the head of Fawn Island--the first one since late December.  Scoters are rare on the river, but this year they are quite scarce everywhere.

It is always fun to sort through big rafts of ducks in hopes of finding something of interest.  This year most of the rafts are almost 100% Redhead!

Daldean

Once in a while a Harlequin Duck may be found.  One can hope for a King Eider, but I have never heard of an eider being seen on the main part of the river south of Sarnia/Port Huron.

Then of course the rarer ones such as Barrow's Goldeneye and Tufted Duck.  We do have a Barrow's at Corunna/Marysville currently (or at least last week).  Been over 20 years for a Tufted...

Today's Tour

With the nice and balmy weather today, I did quite a bit of touring around.  First destination was Point Pelee.  It was time to renew the park pass, and this year you get two years for the price of one!

Red-winged Blackbirds were on the move today and singing in various locations through the park.  I started at the visitor centre and walked out Shuster Trail.  Then I walked up through Tilden's and as far as the cemetery.  It was rather quiet for birds.  Just too nice I guess.
A Ruby-crowned Kinglet was the best bird of that walk.  It was actually the first I have seen this calendar year, as none seem to be around Rondeau (since late December).

Next stop was the Tip.  A few local birders and/or LLB's were at the Tip watching what went by on the strong south-west winds.

I joined up with Jeremy Bensette and Dan Greenham to walk De Laurier.  Not much to speak of with regards to birds there!  Lots of the wintering robins were around today.

Later, I did my usual walk at Hillman Marsh.  There was a little bit of open water in the shorebird cell and a number of ducks and geese were present.  Most were Mallards, but a number of Northern Pintail were present.  Many took off before I got a good luck.

Lighting was not the greatest that time of day so it was difficult to determine what all was present.  I looked at my photos here at home and picked out a pair of Northern Shoveler that I did not even notice before!

Also, the first Killdeer of the season was there.

Wheatley Harbour was not too exciting except for a brief Ian Woodfield sighting.  The only thing of note was a Sora......name of one of the Coast Guard boats at Hike Metals!

I thought I would drive along the lake to Chatham-Kent, but ended up at Rondeau!  I just walked the campground finding the usual birds, including a Yellow-rumped Warbler.

I had heard that some Greater White-fronted Geese were at Ridgetown, so I had to go there.  Four were reported earlier in the day, but I found six in the south pond.  There could have been more on the dike for all I know.

It it getting to be late February, so spring is on the way (not that we really had a winter).

Ducks Dawn & Dusk

A good number of ducks are all along the St. Clair River at present.  This morning, I found quite a number (mostly Redhead of course) at Port Lambton.

They like to stream along the edge of the ice and swim upriver.

After work today, it was such a nice day I decided to head upriver to Corunna where there is lots of activity.  The ducks (mainly Common Goldeneye) that feed in mid-river during the day, head close to shore at sunset.

I met up with Mike Bouman, Josh Bouman and Ed Lavender at the Guthrie Park parking lot.  We sat in our well-positioned cars to observe the show.
At one point we saw a Red Fox out on the ice off Stag Island.  Ducks were the highlight.

Our hopes were to see "Bago", but he never showed today.  He was likely in the neighbourhood though.  His friends and relatives were having fun though.


The Common Goldeneye X Hooded Merganser showed very briefly, but just as it arrived, something spooked the bunch and they all took off.

The usual variety of ducks was present plus geese and swans.  Mute Swan #M031 has made it to Guthrie Park!  It does get around.

It was fun to watch the ducks at dusk this evening.

A Morning Along the St. Clair River

There was more activity along the St. Clair River Monday morning.  Waterfowl was spread out all along the river, but the hotspot was still off Guthrie Park at Corunna.  I headed straight to the park Monday morning.

Already checking out the scene, was M.B.  The Barrow's Goldeneye had already been seen in mid-river, but was difficult to keep tabs on.  It took us a better part of an hour to find the duck. It was much too far for photos and dull skies did not help.

Find a Barrow's Goldeneye, LOL!

Last week the Barrow's was reported on the Michigan side of the river off the south end of Marysville.  It was late Sunday afternoon when J.B. finally spotted it just offshore of Guthrie Park. The goldeneyes will feed in mid-river during the day, but come close to shore late in the day for the night.  Later yesterday, Mike Bouman got some photos of the subject bird.

It is not often these ducks show up on the St. Clair River, so it is nice to see.  If only we could find a Tufted Duck for a change.  Last one of those was the winter of 1994 at Sombra.

There were lots of ducks off Guthrie Park to sort through yesterday.  We did not find anything else in the rarity department, but it was nice to see so many ducks.

Later, I headed downriver and stopped at various points to look at ducks.

At Cathcart Park, a number of swans were present.  About 50 Tundras (wintering birds) and 30 Mute Swans were hanging out.

One Mute Swan had a green collar # MO31.  Last year I saw one with #M014 at Lakeview Park, Windsor.

There was ice all along the shoreline to a certain distance out due to the recent strong west winds.  Ducks were working along the edge, so it was difficult to see them at times.  While at Cathcart, I spotted a Horned Grebe very briefly.  It was mostly hidden due to the ice, but I got in a better position to view the bird and make a positive ID.  Once again, too far and too dull for good photos.

The Samuel Risley was stirring things up yesterday.