Scenes of Late and Dickcissel Arrival

 Lately, many of us have been roaming around to see what we can find for the breeding bird atlas.  'Tis the season!  I have not found anything new in my area, but as time goes on it gets more difficult to upgrade breeding codes.  One can only cover a small fraction of the territory.

Monday I drove around the Port Lambton-Sombra area for my "half" square.  It includes the lagoons of both villages, but I did not venture into them.  It is a "process" to get legal access to them and I did not want to be bothered with that this year.

I stopped by Reid CA after the drive.  I saw those flies again.  Only thing I can come up with is a type of bog fly.  Nobody can ID them on iNaturalist it seems.

Common everywhere, are Narrow-headed Marsh Flies.

A few butterflies were flying, including this Tiger Swallowtail.

Tuesday I needed a long walk, so the best option was to go to Rondeau.  I did a beach walk, starting at the light beacon area, all the way out south beach.  There was hardly a thing flying on the lake, and the only things swimming were a couple of Common Loons.

It was a nice calm and clear day, so it was enjoyable.

I did not see any shorebirds until I got well out south beach.  There were lots of Semipalmated Sandpipers (62), Semipalmated Plovers (8), a Sanderling, and a White-rumped Sandpiper.  There were even four rather late Least Sandpipers.

A single Black-bellied Plover was a tardy individual.

The only ducks were two Mallards, two Red-breasted Mergansers and this impaled duck.

We will be seeing fall migrants soon.....unfortunately!

For mussels, there were lots of Fatmucket as usual, but I picked out a couple of the rarer types.

Wabash Pigtoe

Eastern Pondmussel

After the long walk at Rondeau, I stopped by Keith McLean Conservation Lands.  Nothing of note, except this American Coot seemed lonely.

Wednesday, I stayed fairly close to home and checked out more things for the bird atlas.  I walked along the diversion channel from McKeough to highway 40 first thing.  Seemed a bit quiet to me, and certainly not as many Orchard Orioles as usual for example.

I went to Reid CA as well for a bit, but nothing to photograph!

I rolled by the Sombra Solar Farm as well. The Western Meadowlark was still present, but will not likely stay.  That afternoon, apparently, the grass was cut.  Unfortunately that meant lots of nesting birds were destroyed.  Some rural landowners have to do what they have to do, but are oblivious to the wildlife they are killing off.

In the afternoon, I drove out to Port Lambton to check the pond at Brander Park.  Some Eastern Amberwings were flying, as well as Skimming Bluets.

Soon, I will have to check for the rarer Westfall's Slender Bluets there!

Things are starting to bloom in the garden, so I will be checking for insects.  This bee is a new one as far as I can tell.

Patchwork Leafcutter Bee

And, common things such as Bi-colored Sweat Bee.

Today I needed to go farther afield and ended up at Hillman Marsh for a long walk.  Seemed a bit on the quiet side to me.  As always, I keep an eye out for insects.

Halloween Pennant

Viceroy

Skimming Bluet

It was still early when I finished, so headed over to Point Pelee.  I did not stay long, but walked to the Tip.  American White Pelicans are getting rather common there anymore!  There were at least 60 upon my arrival--the most I have ever seen there at one time.

It is a good time of year for a rare gull, such as Black-headed.  I have seen two!  However, no appearance today.

I was hoping to see lots of insects, but they were rather few (again!).

Blue Dasher (female)

While there, word came out about some Dickcissels near Fletcher.  That was perfect since I would be going home that way!

We had just talked about Dickcissels yesterday and how they have been absent so far.  There are lots Michigan and westward, but not in Ontario.  Perhaps things will change soon, depending on weather and breeding success out there.

Two birds were singing upon my arrival at the specified location.  Not close though, but good enough to see and hear.

May is Winding Down!

It has been a somewhat busy week here.  There are fewer migrants to be seen during my morning or evening walks, but more mosquitoes!
On Monday, I checked out Rondeau Park for a few hours in the morning.  Highlight was a singing Connecticut Warbler right beside the south point trail.  Steve and I even got to see it, but it was not too visible for a good photograph.

I even had one in the yard here Tuesday morning!

There was a good variety of warblers to sort through, but as the morning wore on, things got quiet.

I decided to head over to Hillman Marsh shorebird cell.  It was a good choice as there were thousands of birds.   Most were Black-bellied Plover of course.  Perhaps up to 6000 eventually came in until something flushed the lot.

Whimbrel were already there, but more came in.  They are always neat birds to see, and hear.

Highlight there was a Marbled Godwit.  It is always a treat to see a godwit, especially Marbled.  It was reported earlier in the morning.  I never did see one last year.

Before work, I take a look at the St. Clair River each morning.  At least one Common Loon has been hanging around Port Lambton.
This morning, I saw this boat--a familiar sight from Tobermory.

I often see these boats heading downriver in the fall to winter at Hike Metals in Wheatley Harbour. They will go there to get inspected or serviced.

This evening I went out to Mitchell's Bay.  One can always hope for a White Pelican, but I do not seem to have that kind of luck no matter how many times I go out there!  There were lots of white birds in the form of Mute Swans though.  One that flew in turned out to be a Tundra Swan.  I did not have the big camera, so no good photo.

Yellow-headed Blackbirds are still somewhat reliable at the end of Angler Line.  I did see one male at the very end.

Lots of migrants are still to come through, so this weekend should prove interesting.

Tim S. Dool

The above ship was upbound at Port Lambton yesterday morning.  Today it was in Lake Superior, but lost power and went adrift!

Rondeau and Point Pelee and more "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warblers

With nice weather finally upon us, I was anxious to get out and about this weekend.  No doubt many birds are sailing right on through with the clear nights and suitable weather.  Perhaps that was the case at Rondeau on Saturday as I did not see a single warbler in six hours!
There were other birds to look at as sparrows are building in numbers, and Ruby-crowned Kinglets are more evident.
I walked with Steve Charbonneau the first few hours.

Barn Swallow at marsh tower

Horny Grebe

Hermit Thrushes are becoming plentiful and other thrushes will soon arrive.

The warm weather has drawn out butterflies.  I saw my first Spring Azure yesterday behind Rondeau's maintenance compound.  It was not too co-operative though!

Wildflowers are starting to pop up and this Bloodroot was near the Azure.

More sparrows were in.

chippie

One of 5 Savannah Sparrows

I headed home after six hours and arrived to see this photo on my email.

photo by Sharon Nethercott

Sharon and Deryl Nethercott found an "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped at Sarnia along Front Street opposite the Bay area!
Interestingly, a similar bird was found at Point Pelee as well.

Saturday evening was the Lambton Wildlife annual dinner at Camlachie, so I headed up that way.  I stopped at Wawanosh Wetlands to get my Yellow-rumped fix for the day.  I found four right away!
Guest speaker at the LWI dinner was Jean Iron.  She talked about the Arctic and Iceland and Greenland.

Sunday I planned to go to Point Pelee.  Things got a bit mixed up as a running event was held from the VC to the Tip.  Not to knock the worthwhile cause, but this is at least the fourth time my plans have been altered!  There is a small window of opportunity of times that I can get to Point Pelee, so it can be frustrating.

However, I met up with Jeremy Hatt and Marianne Reid and we checked out Woodland Trail, walked up West beach trail, into Tilden's Woods, up to Black Willow and down to White Pine.  A large number of Ruby-crowned Kinglets were around, but not as many as the previous day.

We saw several Yellow-rumped Warblers, but none with a yellow throat.  Along the way, we got word that Steve Pike refound the "Audubon's" at the Tip.

Lots of ducks were off the west side towards the Tip, including all three scoters.

I went off on my own after Jeremy and Marianne left, and decided to check out the Sanctuary area while much of the crowd dispersed.  More kinglets and Hermit Thrushes.  As I got close to the north end of Sanctuary, I caught site of a Northern Parula (male of course).  It was obvious in the brief sighting, but it flew into the sun and south and I lost sight of it.  I did not relocate it, but while looking I did hear it sing once.
Certainly a neat sighting at this date considering that Yellow-rumped and Pine are just arriving.  My earliest sighting of a parula is 18 April 2010 at Rondeau's spicebush trail.  I was with Jim Burk at the time.

I got word from Dwayne Murphy that he was looking at the "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped, so I thought I would head down.   The road was not yet open so I walked down west beach trail.  I actually met Dwayne as he was walking back.  I arrived at the specified location, and could hear the call note repeatedly.  The note is distinct from the "Myrtle" Yellow-rumped.  It took some time to locate the bird, but there it was.

It was a bit high and lighting was harsh, but I got some half-decent diagnostic photos.

A Pine Warbler was also accompanying the bird.

A stop a Hillman Marsh shorebird cell revealed 10 early Black-bellied Plovers.  Lots of Dunlin were present and 3 Greater Yellowlegs.

Two of Them

I am tired!  lol.

Several of these Today