Saturday, April 1, 2023

April Showers and Spring Rambles

 Today started out surprisingly nice under cloudless skies and with no wind.  Overnight we had heavy rain, and everything was flooded.  By noon today, the heavy rain came again!  April showers!

I managed to get out for a walk this morning at Reid CA.  It was the wettest I have seen it in two years!  It was touch and go for walking in some areas, but I carried on.  Rubber boots are a must this time of year.

Typical Scene


For something to do, I took some photos of the more impressive trees of Black Walnut, Oaks, maples, etc.

Red Oaks


Some nice Black Walnuts here too!


This one has a dbh of more than 4'.  Burr Oak I believe.



Here is another scene at Reid CA along the river at the highest point of land on the property, taken a few days ago.  In what is affectionately called the Lilly Bush, there is a different variety of trees here with more American Beech and Black Cherry.  More spring wildflowers are here as well.



Reid is never a place to find a lot of birds, but a couple of Eastern Phoebes were present as well as Fox Sparrows.  I finally saw my first Eastern Phoebe of the year at Erieau the other day.


A Pileated Woodpecker was calling this morning, so I guess they are still working the area.  I last saw them in early January, but they seemed to have been absent till this past week.

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers have been arriving in various locations, and I managed to get a glimpse of one at Rondeau on Thursday.



Other things will certainly be showing up in numbers this week.

Horned Grebe at Erieau


Spring plants are starting to pop up.  Reid CA is a nice place to look for plants early in the spring.

Wide Leek

Some remain visible all winter, such as this Sharp-lobed Hepatica.



Monday I did some birding in the Sarnia area before I went to a meeting in the evening.  Some Iceland Gulls were still patrolling the mouth of Lake Huron.  One was even a Thayer's type, but the other two were the usual Kumlien's type.




Some ships are still in winter layup at the north slip.  A far cry from the old days, when the harbour was chocked full of ships!

Kaministiqua, Michipicoten in the North Slip

North Slip 1974




Another Reid Scene April 1



No comments:

Post a Comment