May Madness Update 8-11

Not really madness, since birding has been painfully slow as the wacky weather continues.   We have had some quality birds though.

On May 8, I went back to Rondeau Park for another three days.  This is my favourite spot rather than the rat race at Point Pelee!  More places to go, more spread out, more relaxing and I can get more birds there.

The north end of the park has been rather productive this year.  South Point trail has been slow and one has to slosh through water anyway.  Solitary Sandpipers like south point though!

Summer Tanagers are still kicking around.  Rondeau has had 4 or 5 and two along Water Street are quite reliable.  One is a female, while the other is supposedly a young male.

While wandering around the north end of the park, I came across two Willets resting on a stick.

In the morning, a Yellow-headed Blackbird was found in Bate's marsh beside the causeway.  A nice addition to the day's list!

And, of course, the crazy White-winged Dove continues its routine along Lakeshore Road.

In the evening I walked out marsh trail with Keith Burk.  The "slow" day continued and the walk produced few passerines.  However, the only warbler we saw (besides the staple Yellows, and Common Yellowthroats) was a female Golden-winged.  It was only seen briefly as it worked on some dead leaves, hence no photo.  (We did see a Palm as well).

We did hear four American Bitterns and a couple of Least Bitterns, as well as two Soras.

Apparently we did not walk far enough, as  young couple that passed us found a Harris's Sparrow farther along!  We saw the record photo.

Wednesday morning was one of the better days.  Steve Charbonneau, Keith Burk and I worked the start of marsh trail, basically standing in one spot.  Birds were streaming north north and we saw up to 20 species of warblers, tanagers, orioles, etc.

It is an interesting phenomenon we often see under certain conditions.  It is fun to experience, but sometimes you cannot ID 90% of the birds!

We pounded the trails all day, sometimes missing some good birds.

"Where is that Kentucky?"

The Summer Tanagers were again seen along Water Street.  They are very active and difficult to photograph at times.

A perched Whip-poor-will on TTT was a novelty to see.  It was unusually high in a small tree!

This day was one of the best days of the week even though it was not hopping with birds.  Some were "walking" though.

Ovenbird

Thursday was painfully slow for birds.  The first few hours Steve and I spent with David Pryor and Iain Fleming.  It was good comradery and much fun was had looking for birds.

Cape May Warbler

Some pockets of birds were found such as the one at "log pond".  A nice variety of warblers was there, including the first Mourning of the season and several Northern Parulas.

At three Summer Tanagers were seen this day.  One colourful young male was visiting feeders in the campground.

At one point, I looked south towards the former sandspit of Rondeau.  It is incredible to see how much of it is gone.  We used to walk to the end often in the "old" days.

Thursday night got very cold.  Birding Friday morning was rather atrocious to say the least!  Steve and I spent some time birding with Ron Ridout.  Our highlight was a brief look at a Prairie Warbler along Water Street.  It flew in, stopped momentarily, sang once, and moved on!
We also saw the female Summer Tanager.  It has found a hole in a tree where bees are living.

It started raining by noon, so I called it quits and headed towards home.  Before actually going home, I checked a couple of local haunts such as Peers Wetland (more Yellow-rumped there than at Rondeau!), then out to Stewart Wetland.
To say the least, that paid off!  A number of birds were present at Stewart including the FOY Black Terns, as well as some shorebirds.  I saw a large dark reddish shorebird and had to look twice to confirm ID.  Hudsonian Godwit?  Holy....!

I watched it for about 15 minutes, meanwhile putting out an alert.  Next thing I know, a second one comes waddling up!

I did not get out of the car since it was pouring rain at the time, but record photos will have to suffice.

This probably the first record for the "Wallaceburg birding area" that I know about.  We do not see these often in southern Ontario, and certainly not every year for our individual lists.
Roberta Stewart Wetland can be good at times.  It is a spot I check every day as I work just down the road, but on a rare occasion, something good shows.
I had a very early Long-billed Dowitcher here once 23-26 April 2006 and I found a female Ruff 8-9 May 2006. This was in the wetland's first year.

A nice ending to an otherwise slow day!