Some Recent Sightings and Finds

 Where has winter gone already?  Checking out the St. Clair River lately has certainly been a waste of time.  In the past I always looked forward to birding along the river at this time of year.  I must say last few days have been the "quietest" I have seen the river for this time of year.   What ice we had, is mostly gone already, along with the few birds.

We need extended cold weather and ice to concentrate ducks and gulls.

I am sure the Double-crested Cormorants near Corunna are not minding the mild weather.

There is, however, lots of activity on the lakes at key watching points.  Good numbers of gulls and ducks can be seen.  Some Black-legged Kittiwakes seemed to have stuck around (eg. Ipperwash, Goderich).  Usually we do not see any in early January!

A good showing of ducks and loons can be had at Rondeau Park.  This morning, a few of us checked out the lake at dog beach.  Hundreds of White-winged Scoters are still around.  Dozens of Red-throated Loons can be seen feeding on the lake.

As alluded to some time ago, they used to be quite uncommon, but in recent years are the default loon by a longshot in early winter.

Several Horned Grebes were also seen today.

The highlight was a distant Short-eared Owl coming in off the lake.  We have seen this often, both here and up on Lake Huron.  I guess they have second thoughts once they are out over the lake, and make a beeline for shore!  Nice to get that one out of the way in the first week of January, rather than wait till later in the fall!

This past Wednesday was the Skunk's Misery CBC.  We were skunked with the weather (too foggy), and birds were not all that numerous.  I did my usual area around Thamesville.  I guess my highlight was a Belted Kingfisher at the bridge site, the only one on the count.  

There were some obvious misses, and Golden Eagles are not around this year.  Usually several are on that count!  A few highs though (eg. Tufted Titmouse at 15 and Fox Sparrow at 3).  Total species was only 53, below average.

View along the Thames, which was running high

Yesterday, I ventured well into Essex County.  Usually I do not go past Point Pelee, but Holiday Beach was beckoning me!  It is an hour and 45 minute drive from Wallaceburg, so I rarely get down that way.  A Boreal Chickadee was found on December 27 at the Memorial Forest.  A real novelty for Essex County, or even southwest Ontario for that matter.

It took about twenty minutes before I spotted the brown-capped creature.  It was feeding on dogwood berries quite actively.  It would grab a berry, than take off and eat it in a spruce tree, as chickadees typically do with their food.

It was difficult to get a photos, especially under the dark, dreary, drizzly skies.

This fall, it was obvious there was a bit of a movement of chickadees heading south, and as often is the case, the odd Boreal Chickadee can be mixed in.

There have been "invasions" in the past such as was the case in the early 1980's and other times when many were found in southwest Ontario.

To my recollection, I have only seen Boreal Chickadee in Algonquin Park, so it was a real treat to get this one.  I missed it last September for the first time. The species it getting more and more difficult to find even in Algonquin anymore it seems.

On the way back home, I stopped by Hillman Marsh for a quick look.  I managed to get a bonus bird!  A Northern Saw-whet Owl was present!

Today, the sun finally came out for a bit this afternoon which was nice to see.  We have had so little sun in the last month it was getting depressing.  Hopefully sunny days will be a trend in the next week, but who knows (weather forecasts are not helpful!).