East Side Birding

 While we have had some calm days, there have been many with brisk westerly winds, especially of late.

This past Saturday, I decided to head to Point Pelee for a change.  I wanted to see the long "Tip".  With the low water levels, the sand has been exposed at the Tip of Point Pelee and extends well over 1 km.  It is certainly the longest I have ever seen it, but one must take into consideration the erosion of the land mass as well.  Trees used to extend quite a bit farther out as I recall, since I have been visiting Point Pelee.

The winds were very brisk  out of the west upon my arrival, so I opted to head out Shuster Trail and walk down the east beach.  Just as well, since the road to the Tip was gated, when it is usually open this time of year.

It was an easy walk along the wide beach, except for one area where many trees were down.

There were lots of ducks on the lake.  A large number were Common Goldeneye.

A Killdeer was along the water's edge early on.  It eventually ended up working its way down to near the Tip.

Killdeer heading south near the "pilings"

One spot along the beach was quite eroded.

Upon arriving at Tip, an immature Iceland Gull was huddled up at the edge.  Obviously in some distress.

A couple of American Pipits were playing around on the beach.

I would have liked to walk out the sand spit, but it would have been rather risky to do so.  Though a friend of mine did!

He was interested in seeing if the White-rumped Sandpiper was still present at the very end.  It was....record late for Essex.  It is unknown why this bird has stuck around, never mind the harsh environment way out the sand spit!  

This photo turned out a bit blurry and does not give the situation justice.

Yesterday was the Blenheim/Rondeau Christmas Bird Count.  It was sunny and quite cold, but not really unusual for this time of year.  The big thing was the brisk west wind, making it feel even colder.  At least it was not heavy rain and high winds like the last two years!

I have been doing this count since the late 1980's, and have seen almost every type of weather.

I always start with a lakewatch at dog beach.  One is a bit exposed there to the winds, so it was quite uncomfortable this time around.  I could only handle it for about twenty minutes!  There was not a lot moving on the lake anyway, so I had to move on.

The lake was not all that rough, as seen in the photos, but it sure was cold!

I changed my route a bit this year, cutting out to the beach at the light beacon, and walking down to the trail washout, and back the trail.  It was just to try and get out of the brisk WNW wind first thing.

Interesting to look at the layers of sand deposited over the years. Almost like counting tree rings.

Of course, I came across that tree that is stuck in the sand.  One can only wonder when this tree fell.

Another exposed fallen tree buried long ago:

There were not many birds to count on this walk.

I arrived back at the car for a break, and beside me, was a Pileated Woodpecker!  (see header photo as well).

I was up for more walking, but there was hardly a bird to be found.  I walked back the old Dillon trail to the big slough.

The once-drivable road is getting more and more difficult to discern anymore.

Then it was up Harrison to the VC.  Unbelievably, there was not a single bird on that stretch!

Along the way I found this fallen nest.  Not yet quite sure what bird made this, but it is well made.

Walking back the road, it was nicely out of the wind, and there were a few birds, but not many.

I ended up with 32 species, below average indeed.

The entire count is at 101 species last I heard.  I do not think there was anything spectacular found, but there were some nice finds though.

Birds have resorted to eating snow!