Week of December 11 Notes And An Upcoming Bird Count

 The weather was fairly decent this week, but birding was at a snail's pace.

Tuesday I did something different and went to Middlesex County, stopping at Wardsville Woods and Skunk's Misery.  I knew there would not be many birds, but the day was clear and crisp--just nice to be out.

Only a handful of birds were at Wardsville Woods, the highlight being two Northern Flickers.

In the misery, I walked my favourite trail off Sassafras Road.  There is a nice creek along the trail, but early this past summer, the place was destroyed as someone figured it was necessary to dredge the creek.  It was always a good place in summer for insects, let alone birds.

In any case, this recent visit revealed a few birds.  Most were in one spot, including a few Pine Siskins, Purple Finch, White-throated Sparrows, chickadees and others.

Wednesday I did virtually nothing, as I had to be at home.

Thursday was another nice day, so I went down to Rondeau Park for a long walk.  I did the marsh trail to Long Pond.  Rondeau Bay was partly frozen, but lots of ducks out there in the middle.  A good number were wigeon and Redhead.

There were not too many birds along the way, but the highlight was two Greater White-fronted Geese.  They were distant, but I did my best to take a photo or two.

On my way back, they were gone!  However, I later learned that two white-fronts were at the Erieau marsh trail.  Obviously the same creatures.

Nothing really of note, but an Eastern Towhee was heard along the way.

After finishing the 10 km round trip, I slid over to the campground.  Most birds were around the north washroom as usual, but the were quite mobile. I kept going back to the spot, as I knew there had to be something of note.

I did briefly get a look at the wintering Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, but it quickly disappeared right before my eyes!

Hopefully it make the count on Sunday.  Two years ago we had one in the same location!

At one point I was sure one of the Yellow-rumped Warblers was the Audubon's.  I persevered. and eventually found it working some Red Cedars north of the washroom.  It has a distinctive "chup" note which drew me to it.

I did have looks at it, but it stayed buried in the cedar, eluding my camera.  It was seen again today by Steve.

Hopefully it will be seen Sunday for a nice addition to the Christmas Bird Count.

Brown Creeper

White-throated Sparrow with seed

Speaking of which, once again, the weather will be very crappy.  But, it is the WEEKEND!

Today was another fine day before the usual weekend weather arrives.  I just drove along the St. Clair River to Corunna.  Hardly a thing to see since times have changed with warmer winters.

There are quite a few gulls off Corunna's Guthrie Park.  I counted about 150 Herring Gulls at one point.

Hopefully we get some actual winter weather this season to concentrate gulls here.

A walk before getting home, was at Wilkesport.  I heard some Eastern Bluebirds at one point, so some must be wintering in the area once again.

Bald Eagles near here have been busy the last couple of days.  Today, I seen they are building an upper level to the new nest site!