Weekend Washout and Sunday Sun

The rain never quit on Saturday, at least for any length of time!  Just like clockwork, the weather went down the tubes for the weekend (Saturday anyway) after a nice week.
I tried to do some birding at Rondeau Park but it was virtually impossible.  There was a brief break in the weather when I went out on Dog Beach to watch hundreds of bonies and Common Terns and other gulls stream by.  Virtually nothing was with them except for an adult Little Gull.

After several hours, mostly in the car, I gave up and went over to Erieau.  Sat in the car again for over 1.5h!  It poured the whole time as I watched gulls and terns.  Nothing of significance was with them except for a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls which is not unusual.
Shorebirds included a Ruddy Turnstone, Semipalmated Plover and a Spotted Sandpiper.

Late in the day it finally cleared and I went for a walk at Peers Wetland.

I saw more variety there than at Rondeau!  There was a good selection of warblers and 4 species of vireos.

B.T.Green

B. T. Blue-headed Vireo

Sunday dawned much better and I headed back for another try at Rondeau.  There was a good selection of warblers (at least 19 species).  Most were Blackpoll of course.  A Canada Warbler was in the less common category.
A couple of Black-throated Blues...

B.T. Blue

Flycatchers included Yellow-bellied, several Eastern Peewees, Least Flycatcher, Phoebes and a Great-crested.  Getting late for Great-crested.

Lots of Swainson's Thrushes were along Harrison Trail, north.

A check of the start of marsh trail revealed several Fiery Skippers.

Also saw this moth:

Hawaiian Beet Webworm Moth

It is an uncommon immigrant to the north part of its range (southern Canada).

After a lunch at Subway, where I happened to run into Rick Mayos (!), I headed over to Blenheim Lagoons.  It was devoid of shorebirds.  It has not been good for the most part there this year for shorebirds as the water levels are very high.

Butterflies included a large number of Viceroy, a couple checkered skippers and a couple more Fiery Skippers, among other common species.

E.T. Blue

A couple of Marsh Wrens were working the cattails.

Thanks for lunch, Rick!