We had some cold mornings this past week creating some steamy conditions over water. Each morning I have watched the river at Port Lambton. (Thursday and Friday I did not see much due to the fog!).
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| Friday |
Still lots of ice coming down with the cold weather.
I did see a Sandhill Crane overhead Thursday morning.
As I mentioned before, huge numbers of Long-tailed Ducks are on the river this winter. They seem to drift downriver during the night, and fly back upriver first thing in the morning.
I have been looking at the river quite a bit lately, but nothing new seems to appear. One would think at least a Harlequin Duck might pop up!
This morning I started at Port Lambton. A couple of Bald Eagles were riding an ice floe downriver. As usual, the clouds rolled in for the weekend, so lighting was not that great.
I went all the way to Sarnia, but just found the same old stuff.
Feeling rather bored and somewhat discouraged, I headed inland and ended up at Skunk's Misery! It was just one of those days when not much was around to see. I went for one walk and a Hermit Thrush was still present just off Sassafras Road. Many fewer birds than the last two times there.
Farther up Dogwood Road, I came across a Red-shouldered Hawk along the railroad. Certainly the highlight of the day.
These hawks are indeed very nice-looking birds! I first saw it out of the corner of my eye, but by the time I stopped and raised the camera, it took flight and went some distance.
As I headed back home, I came across a flock of Common Redpolls along Mosside Road. Soon they will be heading north!
Recently I have been looking into Mastadon findings in Ontario. In mid-April, Lambton Wildlife will have their annual dinner and meeting, and the entertainment program is about the Highgate Mastadon finding back in 1890. It was the most complete skeleton found in Ontario. It was well-travelled and eventually ended up in a museum in North Dakota!
http://blog.statemuseum.nd.gov/blog/how-move-mastodon
Closer to Wallaceburg, some bones were found on the Ferguson farm in 1939 (and later) near Tupperville. I remember my grandfather talking about this, since the Fergusons were his cousins. Apparently the specimens ended up at the ROM.
Some years ago, research was done about Mastadon findings in Ontario. Locations were put on a map, which you can see here:
Mastadon Locations in Ontario
Interesting stuff!
As winter ends (soon I hope!), major projects have been completed at the workplace.
Winter has run its course, so hopefully spring-like conditions will arrive very soon.
Part of the mastodon bones that were dug up from the Carman Toll farm in 1962 were on display at the Rondeau Museum from about 1963, when it opened, until the early 1980s when we packed the bones up and sent them to the ROM. The most notable and impressive piece was the largely intact tusk. The mastodon display occupied a good portion of where the Friend's of Rondeau bookstore is in the current Visitor Centre.
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