Horn of Plenty at Rondeau

I birded Rondeau Park the last two mornings. There was a cornucopia of birds this holiday weekend, as I always say!
Sunday morning I was by myself and spent 3.5h on south point trail alone.  That included watching the lake for a half hour while hundreds of bonies fed off the east side.  Naturally, nothing was with them.

The lake was quite rough on the south side with the strong WSW wind.

I found at least 11 species of warblers including 3 Orange-crowned.

Some vireos were around including a single Philadelphia.

Flycatchers were all eastern, including at least 6 Eastern Wood-Peewees and several Eastern Phoebes.  No "good" flycatchers, as I cannot seem to find any mega rare birds anymore, unlike some keen birders in this province!

Bald Eagle

Red-headed Woodpecker

The winds looked good for a lakewatch this morning, so I joined Steve Charbonneau at dog beach.  This location is the best for doing a lakewatch on NE winds.
We arrived at first light and found hundreds of Bonaparte's Gulls moving into the wind.  Early on, an adult Little Gull made an appearance.
Eventually the bonies started heading back south, but nothing unusual was with them.  We did see two Lesser Black-backed Gulls (one first cycle and one third cycle).  Lessers are becoming more common in recent times.  At least four have been hanging around Erieau.

The only shorebirds were a Killdeer and five Sanderlings.

A good number of ducks were moving as well--the most common seemed to be Ruddy with well over 200.  A few Surf Scoters were seen as well as Mallard, Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon and scaup of both varieties.

Horned Grebes numbered over 30.

After two hours in the drizzle, we headed over to south point trail.  There were lots of birds to sort through, but they were quickly moving.
Early on, we found some kinglets and warblers going cuckoo.  Usually this indicates they found an owl, but all we could find was a Yellow-billed Cuckoo.  We concluded they were upset at its presence!

We found around 13 species of warblers including at least 4 Tennessee, lots of Nashville, a Bay-breasted and Orange-crowned.  I counted seven Northern Parula, which is a good number for the date.  This species has become a bit more common in recent years.

We found a single Philadelphia Vireo, but it was likely the same individual as yesterday since it was in the exact same spot!

Thrushes included only Hermit.  It is a good time of year for Varied Thrush (one is at Long Point right now!).  It was back on 14 October 2002 I found one on south point trail.

We have still not seen a huge number of sparrows yet, but perhaps more are to come.

It was a good weekend for birding, as often is the case Thanksgiving holiday weekend.