Recent Observations and a Trek Out Rondeau South Beach

 I have been checking out the St. Clair River lately, but very little is out there!  Certainly a far cry from what it used to be.  With climate change, it is just too warm with no ice, and no concentration of birds.  Very discouraging!  Last winter was the worst I have ever seen for birds.

Lately, a Northern Pintail male has been hanging out with the Mallards at the old Sombra ferry dock.  Always nice to see in winter, but hopefully it will be seen on the 27th during the Wallaceburg CBC.

Just outside of town, Bald Eagles are busy making a new nest.  I guess they gave up on last year's nest!

Today, there was light rain, so with nothing else to do I drove up to Corunna along the river.  Very little to see, needless to say.  The pintail was still present at Sombra though.

Lots of gulls have been off Guthrie Park at Corunna, but not today!  I think I saw four gulls, lol.  Some Hooded Mergansers were swimming offshore.

A couple of days ago, there was a window of opportunity to walk out Rondeau's south beach.  I was hoping to come across the Purple Sandpiper that was discovered on the CBC last Sunday.  Despite a thorough look, it was not to be found.  There is excellent habitat for it on the Bay side for more than a kilometre.

A few years ago, there was a rare spring record Purple Sandpiper in this same location.

Here is another view looking at the terminus of the marsh trail.  I remember one autumn it was dry enough to walk across!

I do not go out there as often as I used to, but it is forever changing.  There used to be quite a bit of wooded area, but that is all gone due to the high water a few years ago.  There were even times, there was no sand to walk on.  It was quite narrow a couple of years ago, as seen in the following photos.

As always, I look for mussel shells to photograph.  There were lots, but most seemed to be Fatmucket.

One was an Eastern Pondmussel, which is now an imperiled species.

Another I found on the Bayside, remains unidentified.  Not the best specimen, but it is suggested that it is a Plain Pocket-book (or Pocketbook).

After that long walk, I was too tired to check the campground.  Along the way, the trusty Eastern Screech-owl was showing in its usual cavity.

In other notes, the Limpkin was still being seen on December 22 at Wheatley Provincial Park.  Apparently it was looking well.

The Limpkin is truly a unique bird.  Something like a large rail, it is in a class of its own.  It is not all that common to begin with, but several records in Ontario this year, it is amazing.

Today in the history department, the sandsucker Charles Dick was scrapped in 1976.  It was  frequent visitor to Wallaceburg back in the day.

1949