Christmas Eve Birding and More Stats

 Hardly seems like Christmas with the mild and damp weather today.  I checked out the Erieau-Rondeau area this morning, but it seemed rather quiet.

I started at Erieau in hopes of seeing the Purple Sandpiper, but once again it was a no-show!  It has a hiding spot, as I did not see it yesterday either.  It had been seen around mid day on Thursday, then about an hour after I left, it re-appeared!  I have had this type of luck (or lack there-of) too often this year.

A number of Canada Geese were in the area, and yesterday, the Greater White-fronted Goose was mixed in a flock off the Erieau rail trail late yesterday.  It was again off the public beach at Erieau first thing this morning.

Thursday

After being sandpiper-less at Erieau, I headed over to Rondeau Park.  It was rather quiet.  A few Red-throated Loons were seen off south point, plus a couple of Commons.

The north end of the campground was fairly busy with the usual birds.  No gnatcatcher though!

Snowy Owls are here and there, and Wallaceburg area has a few.  I saw a couple along Meadowvale Line on my way home today.

The Blenheim/Rondeau Christmas Bird Count was epic in proportions at final count.  An astounding 124 species was the final tally!  It just happened to be a perfect day weatherwise, with migrants, and lingering birds.  It may never happen again, but who knows.

Other notables included Golden Eagle, House Wren and Orange-crowned Warbler.

High counts were established for Sandhill Crane (141), Red-throated Loon (304), Turkey Vulture (19), Bald Eagle (38), Merlin (4) and Carolina Wren (63).  Thanks to Jim Burk for providing these numbers.

I did not have anything exciting in my area other than the sheer number of Red-throated Loons.  As I thought, around 300 were tallied for the entire count.  At least I had two species that nobody else had: Eastern Towhee (2), and Pileated Woodpecker (2).  I often get those anyway!

Next count in the area is Wallaceburg on December 27.  Mild and rainy weather forecast does not bode well for this count.  Cold weather is better! Hopefully, though, some surprises will be found.