Rock Glen Falls to Sarnia Bay

Today I headed up to Arkona for the first Canadian Br  Christmas Bird Count (CBC).  Road were bad on the way due to WAY too much snow, but that was the trend all week as the weather forecasts for amounts were WAY  off.  It actually snowed all morning (was not supposed to!) making conditions less than ideal.
Rock Glen and Arkona village is always my area and I started at the CA before 08:30.  This spot is well-known for fossils.

A number of birds greeted me at the parking area, including a Song Sparrow (any sparrow other than American Tree, is good on this count!).

I headed past the falls, then down the stairs to the river valley.

frozen falls

I often get a number of birds in the valley, but it was slim pickings all over today.  I did  find a group of birds farther along, but nothing too noteworthy.  A couple of Golden-crowned Kinglets were mixed in and I heard a flicker.  I used to go quite a ways downriver, but have not done that in several years.

old dam along river

Although it was uphill to get out of the valley, it was downhill for birds from there.  There was hardly anything throughout the CA and I did too much walking in deep snow for no birds.
Looking out over the field to the north, there was nothing to see.  In the past I have seen hawks, shrikes and Golden Eagles, but not a single bird today.
Back at the parking lot, there was one small highlight in the form of a Winter Wren.  There seems to be one here almost every year so it was no surprise.

A check of Arkona village was a birdless adventure, save for a Sharp-shinned Hawk and some Horned Larks south of the village.
I was done by 11:00, so turned in my list and headed towards Sarnia.
I wanted to check out the gulls in Sarnia Bay.

There were oodles of them!  They came in this week with the weather.

Herring Gulls were impossible to count, but numbered over 1500.  There were almost 100 Great Black-backed Gulls, an Iceland, and Glaucous (7) Gulls.  A Lesser Black-backed was among them. I probably would have seen more things, but I did not stay too long.  We are certainly due for an Ivory Gull in these parts!

dirty Glaucous in mid photo

No special ducks were seen, but I did not get out a scope.

A Double-crested Cormorant was on the dock in the marina.  There always seems to be at least one here each winter.

Sunday I will be at Rondeau with Quinten to turn up some good birds. (I hope!)

Saturday CBC-Arkona Area

Today I went up to Arkona to help out with the Kettle Point CBC.  My area was Rock Glen CA and the village of Arkona, as I usually do.  The roads were rather dicey heading up this morning, but at least it had stopped snowing.
There is much more snow up there due to the lake effect, so walking was difficult.  Especially at Rock Glen!

To get into the river valley, there are two sets of long stair cases. Pick one!  With over 30 cm of snow on the ground it was not easy.

With the recent cold weather, things were rather frozen.  Much more than usual!  Quite a difference from last year.

Rock Glen Falls17 December 2016

2015

The Ausable River was mostly frozen which is not normal compared to the last many counts.  Often there are Common Mergansers on the river, but there is not enough open water!

Once down in the river valley, I heard a Belted Kingfisher--a decent bird for this area at this time. However, I have had one several times in the past here.

I only had one Bald Eagle, and I never saw a Golden Eagle this year.

Another decent bird was a Swamp Sparrow along the river.  Any sparrow on this count (short of American Tree Sparrow) is good!

2016

2015

I also saw a White-throated Sparrow in the yard near the gate where there is a feeder.  A number of birds were there including a Red-breasted Nuthatch.  Lots of Black-capped Chickadees were around.

With the early onslaught of winter, many birds bailed, so numbers were lower compared to some years.

Driving around, I did not see much, but a flock of just under 100 Snow Buntings was nice to see. Some dark morph Rough-legged Hawks were around too.

Tomorrow is Rondeau...........

CBC Birding

It was a tiring weekend with lots of walking and long days for doing a couple of Christmas Bird Counts.
Yesterday I went up to Arkona to help Pete Chapman in his area around Arkona.

As with many of the counts this year, birds were scarce.  I have been doing this count for many years and it is always nice to get to that area, especially along the Ausable River gorge.

One of the highlights for me is to check out Rock Glen CA.  In the earlier years, I did this on my own in the morning, then joined Pete for the other areas.
There is a nice waterfall there, and the spot is known for Devonian era fossils.  I remember going there a couple of times as a kid.

I always got some decent birds there, including a Golden Eagle most years.  Yesterday I told the others we should look out over the north field, especially for an eagle.  Just after we peeked out past the fenceline, I spotted a Golden Eagle!  It was too distant for a photo, but I think this is the fourth time I have seen one from that vantage point.

old dam at Rock Glen

We often get Golden Eagle near the Sylvan bridge as well, but not this year.  There is some good walking along the river here and we have had many different birds over the years.  We usually get Yellow-rumped Warbler here, but this year they are very difficult to find anywhere.


Today, Sunday, was the Rondeau/Blenheim count.  Preliminary result just in, is at 109 species.  It was a windy day, but at least the sun was out after a nice sunrise.

View from south point parking lot

It was quite cold at first as well, so it was uncomfortable along the lake.

unco-operative Ruby-crowned Kinglet

I worked the park with Maris Apse and some decent species were found.  We had the only Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2), Purple Finch (where did they all go?), and I saw the only Killdeer and White-winged Scoter (13) of the count.

view from south point

The Killdeer was a flyover at Dog Beach while Maris headed up to the VC.  Late afternoon I went to the south point light beacon to watch the lake. I came up with the 13 White-winged Scoters.  Too distant for photos though.

Rough Lake

Some good birds were on the count including Thayer's Gull at the lagoons, Savannah Sparrow, Wilson's Snipes, Eurasian Wigeon, Greater White-fronted Goose, Sandhill Crane (2), Common Yellowthroat (2), and a record-breaking 92 American Robins.



My next count is Wallaceburg on the 27th, and we could use some help!

A Blustery CBC!

Although not the windiest/snowiest Christmas Bird Count I have ever done, there was a persistent strong east wind with snow today. It was a widespread storm, but thankfully not a big dumping of snow.  Visibility was poor and birds were hunkered down on the Kettle Point CBC today.
I took yesterday off work and worked my way up to Sarnia.  The St. Clair River is decidedly void of ducks save for a number of Long-tailed, but Sarnia Bay was loaded with a variety of gulls and waterfowl.  I first took a look at the Bay and saw all three types of mergansers, a variety of diving ducks including a Surf Scoter and some American Coots.  A huge number of Canada Geese was present, but not a Cackler amongst them.  Needless to say no Brant either!
With virtually no gulls on the river, Sarnia Bay had lots to choose from. No Bonaparte's around anymore, but I did pick out an adult Lesser Black-backed, and adult Iceland and a 2nd cycle Glaucous.
Over at the government dock area, a Northern Shoveler was amongst the Mallards.  Josh Bouman brought this to my attention the other day, and here is a photo taken by Josh. (thanks Josh).

At the mouth of Lake Huron, many Long-tailed ducks present plus a White-winged Scoter or two.  Looks like the bonies have finally left as I did not see one.
I headed out of Sarnia via Michigan Avenue, but did not find a Snowy Owl, especially in the airport area.

On the way to Pete's place in Hungry Hollow, I stopped at Rock Glen CA.  Quite a few birds were at the parking lot as the adjacent house has feeders.  Nothing special though.

Upon arrival at Pete's he showed me his special count bird at the feeder.  A Yellow-bellied sapsucker showed up a day or two earlier.  Seems every year Pete has some special feeder bird.  A couple of years ago a bright male Rose-breasted Grosbeak was present.  Sometimes it is an Eastern Towhee, or a redpoll (in a non-redpoll winter) or a White-winged Crossbill.  The Brambling in 1993 came well after the count!
In the afternoon Pete Chapman and I did some scouting for the next day's CBC.  Harriers must have been on the move as we saw at least six or seven.  Rough-legged Hawks were numerous as well.  We were hard-pressed to get a Red-tailed!
At the Sylvan bridge area, we came across a couple of Northern Flickers, an elusive Carolina Wren, an even more elusive Winter Wren and a flock of 13 Yellow-rumped Warblers.  The warblers are always a guarantee here as there is ample poison ivy and lots of cover.
A Northern Shrike right in Thedford was a novelty.

Early this morning, but not too early, we got up to check for owls at some known locations.  We came up with seven Screech owls with not much effort.  (It was just too cold, snowy and windy to put in a concerted effort!).

Steve Charbonneau joined us this morning in the limited visibility.  Our longest walk of the day was in the river valley near the Sylvan bridge. Highlights here included four Northern Flickers, five butterbutts, a single male Common Merganser in the river (phew!), and some eagles.  Just as we were arriving at the spot, an adult Golden Eagle flew over the road.  We assume this was one of the ones we saw later when two were together soaring around.  (Just after that we saw our only Tufted Titmouse of the day).
As we were about to leave in the vehicle, another eagle made an appearance.  An immature Golden Eagle! To have three in one area on a count is pretty unique.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog, we often get one Golden over the river valley each year.

Today we managed to come across some Snow Bunting flocks.  In one flock, I managed to count 14 Lapland Longspur.  Horned Larks were fairly plentiful as well.
During lunch, the sapsucker showed up at the feeder to be counted for the day.

I checked Rock Glen after lunch and added a Sharp-shinned Hawk for the day.  I headed home early as I had enough of this weather and the drive home would be stressful enough.  Surprisingly the roads were not too bad.

By the way I could not bother lugging a camera on the count.  It would not have been any good with the weather today anyway!

Our FOY CBC: Kettle Point

(scene near Rock Glen a few years ago)

Today, many of us "locals" participated in the Kettle Point CBC.  I arrived Friday evening at Hungry Hollow in very fine weather.  In fact, it was very clear and calm.  We took advantage and did some late evening owling in our area.
It was a good work-out as Eastern Screech-owls are not really plentiful there, but we came up with nine.  As well, we had two Great-Horned Owls.

Ha!

Also, we tried for Northern Saw-whet and Barred Owls.  A Saw-whet was across from Pete's place a couple of days ago, and the nearby Barred Owl was seen yesterday morning.  No luck with those though.
Turns out there were no more owls, including today.
This morning was crisp and somewhat clear, so it was rather pleasant.  Just out the door, Steve and I got the female White-winged Crossbill and a White-throated Sparrow at the feeder area. A good start.

(several of these today)

Sparrows are rather scarce this time of year in the Arkona area and it turns out the White-throat was our only one of that species.  Sparrows are quite scarce in general this winter.  The only other sparrow-type (besides a few American Tree Sparrows) was a Song near the Bingo gravel pit.  Juncos were here and there of course, and no Oregon this year.  Usually we manage to get one on this count.  It seems many birds left with the big wind storm at the end of October.

Our first stop was a pond area SW of Arkona.  Here we had four Common Mergs, the only duck of the day!  Many Canada Geese, but no Snow Goose seen the previous day.
We also had a couple of Common Redpolls fly over, and Steve had a definite Red Crossbill.  About the same time I had a finch type flyover, but could not get a handle on it.
Heading north, we caught sight of a Northern Shrike on a hydro wire--always nice to see on a count.  A short while later we came across a small flock of Common Redpolls.

Up by the Sylvan bridge, Pete and I got two Yellow-rumped Warblers at a usual spot.  Decent was a pair of Tufted Titmouse nearby.

At Rock Glen, we had a good number of "dickie" birds including two more titmice.
A blackbird of any type on this count is a big deal.  None today, but later in the afternoon I spotted a flock of European Starlings and said that there must be a Brown-headed Cowbird amongst them. Sure enough we found five cowbirds.
Weather deteriorated throughout the day, and by 3:30 it was raining.
Hawks were incredibly scarce, with only about 3 Red-tailed, and 1 Northern Harrier first spotted by Laurie Clancy who was with us today.

We ended up with 39 species in our area alone, lower than usual, but simply put, birds are scarce this year!
(No camera today as I often do not carry one on a count--probably will not tomorrow either as it will likely be raining and I have to carry a scope as well!).

(I wish!--near Pete's house a few years ago)

Arkona Birds

Scene along the Ausable north of Rock Glen

Just got back from a nice day of birding around Arkona.  It snowed all morning!  Something about Arkona as it always gets snow.  Anyplace else can be dry and/or clear!
As expected numbers of birds were low.  Best bird was an adult Golden Eagle over the Ausable River at Rock Glen (told you so yesterday!).  For some reason it is reliable almost every year.
I like Rock Glen and used to specifically do the whole place first thing in the morning for the count.  The above photo shows an outcropping at a scenic spot quite a ways downriver from the falls.  Lots of Hemlock trees there.
When I was young, we went up there to hunt for fossils.  The area is well picked over now, but some still are found.  Today I found a brachiopod and a couple other types.


The Ausable River was running high and very turbid, so nothing on it.  We did find 3 Common Mergansers at a gravel pit pond at the end of the day.
Up near Joany's Woods, we found a 'flock' of Yellow-rumped Warblers.  Nice to see at least 15.  I think that is the most I have seen in one spot in winter, and certainly on a Christmas Count.  I've had up to ten or so at my secret winter spot north of Wilkesport one winter.
Sparrows were virtually absent, but usually are scarce on this count.  Steve and I managed to find a White-throated under some Norway Spruce on a property we look at.  We had a few Song Sparrows and only a few Tree Sparrows.
Juncos were around and we managed to find a nice male 'Oregon' at a feeder.  We quite often find one on this count (I mentioned that one also yesterday!).  A male Eastern Towhee was a nice find near the north end.  Pete Chapman found this one yesterday while scouting.

A Northern Shrike along Arkona Rd. N. was a nice



find too.
Harriers were numerous, which was unusual for this count.  We had five or six which is a new high for our area.
Owls were scarce, but Pete had 8 Screech while checking early this morning.



We had all the usual 5 species of woodpecker, including two Pileated in a reliable spot.
Finches were scarce but we had a few Pine Siskins.

I will try and find out tomorrow final total for this count.
Just got word of a nice winter bird near Cedar Beach (west of Kingsville).  Jim Burk found a White-eyed Vireo on the Cedar Creek CBC today.

NOTE:  photos here do not apply to today!
More later.

Snow, Snow, Must be Hungry Hollow

I headed up to Arkona late Friday to do the Kettle Point Christmas Bird Count today.  Stayed in Hungry Hollow at Pete Chapman's as usual.  I got some appreciation of the snow that Eastern Lambton and Middlesex County received earlier this week.  Good Grief!  We are not used to that much snow, although that area tends to get dumped on in the right conditions.  They perhaps received upwards of three feet, and the drifts were incredible. Walking was limited.  There were not many birds anyway.  I think they bailed! Or got buried?

I could not be bothered with the camera today, although I should have to get shots of the snow and scenery and one particular bird.
Highlight of the day was an adult male Rose-breasted Grosbeak coming to Pete's feeders.  Apparently it has been there a while.  It appears healthy, as it eats sunflower seeds.  It is one mixed up bird.
Pete will welcome viewers, but you will likely need to come into the house as the feeders are at the back and the birds will be spooked otherwise.  Pete's house is in Hungry Hollow, about 3 km east of Arkona. Arkona is between Strathroy and Forest. To get to the house, go east on Townsend Line out of Arkona (also called County Rd. 12) for about 3 km. Turn left (north) on Sylvan Rd. His house is less than a km ahead on the right, #30544.

Pete has had some good birds there in the past including a Brambling in the winter of 1994 and a Mountain Bluebird a few years previous to that.
 
Today we worked for the birds.  We did come across a pair of Eastern Bluebirds along the Ausable River after a long and strenuous walk (due to snow depth).  I finally got a Shrike.  I don't think I saw one all last winter! Weird.
Owling early this morning produced 4 screech Owls and one Great Horned.  It was very windy today so spots were limited.  We did come across another Great Horned along Ridge Road.  I spotted it roosting in a Pine tree as we drove by.  Almost missed it.  It never moved, but looked our way as I made some squeaking sounds.
Chickadees were plentiful and we had one Tufted Titmouse.

Rock Glen was completely birdless--highly unusual, but we did not spend much time there due to snow depth.  I usually spend the whole morning there and along the river tallying many birds.

Never got an eagle--highly unusual.

Lots of juncos at feeders, including one Oregon.  We quite often get Oregon on that count.

Well, must rest up for Rondeau tomorrow.  Should be interesting..... Will bring camera....