Some Recent Arrivals/Sightings

 It has been rather wintry the last few days, but spring arrivals are trickling in.

A few days ago, a couple of early Blue-winged Teal were at Roberta Stewart Wetland.  Earliest spring migrants I have seen.  Unfortunately, just as I was settling in, a Bald Eagle came in and flushed everything!

Down at Erieau, I finally went to see the Lesser Yellowlegs that came in a few weeks ago in February.  It likely wintered not too far away since it was so early.

Nearby, the Whooper Swan was having fun in a small pond.  Certainly an impressive-looking swan, but any seen in Ontario are escapees.

Horned Grebes have been arriving in the last week.

Yesterday was blustery and cold, but I went down Rondeau way anyway.  Lots of open water had frozen due to the cold.  Any shorebird types were indeed not happy!

Things were quite frozen at Keith McLean C. L.  

This early-arrival Wilson's Snipe was wondering what it was doing here, huddled out of the wind.

Nearby, a Killdeer was complaining about the ice.

Today started out cold, and everything was frozen, but it was a cloudless sunny day.  I did not find anything of note.  Seems the Wilkesport Long-eared Owl has finally left for the north, as I could not find it in its favourite tree.

A pleasant walk at Reid CA in the afternoon took advantage of the nice weather.

Since this blog has had little subject matter in recent weeks, I have another history note for the boatnerds.

March 12, 1907 was the launch date of the D. O. Mills lake freighter.  Later renamed G. A. Tomlinson, it lasted until 1979 when it was scrapped.

Back when I was very young, I took a photo of this vessel on the Detroit River while on one of the Bob-Lo steamers.

On the return trip from Bob-Lo Island, it was docked somewhere close to Windsor!

Rondeau Birding September 24-26

 The last three days I took it easy and went down to Rondeau.  Thursday morning I stopped by Keith McLean C. L. to check on the controversial teal.  Although originally identified as a Cinnamon Teal the previous Saturday, by this time there was considerable doubt.  I was gearing up for my Algonquin trip when it was first reported, so was not prepared to drive down and see it.

I did see the supposed bird fairly quickly.  It appears that Blue-winged Teal can show some"cinnamon" colour to variying degrees on the chest and belly.  When one gets looking, there are several Blue-winged Teal that have some "rust" colour!  Overall, I thought the teal looked like a Blue-winged.  The bill was not all that diagnostic, but in Cinnamon, it should obviously be larger and more spatulate in appearance (in most cases).  There is still some discussion out there, but most observers have changed their tune and could not ID it as a Cinnamon, leaving it as "teal" sp.  It is certainly something to look into and do some research.

Just before I saw the subject bird, I was looking closely at the edge where we had Nelson's Sparrows the last couple of years.  It was a bit early in the season for them, but not entirely unexpected to have one around.  At one point, a sparrow popped up right beside me, and sure enough it was a Nelson's!  I fired off some photos without making proper adjustments to the camera.

There were a few shorebirds in, but they continually come and go at McLean's.

I then went into the park and started at south point trail.  Loads of warblers were at the parking lot right from the start, and many went unidentified as they quickly moved through the trees.  

Chestnut-sided Warbler

I ended up with 17 species of warblers, with large numbers of some, and including a somewhat late Northern Waterthrush.  Most numerous seemed to be Blackpolls.

It is amazing how many Blackpolls we get moving through in fall migration. I remember many years ago the park was littered with them.  I estimated at least 800 in the park.

American Redstart

I actually spent quite a bit of time in the park also looking for butterflies....especially Ocola Skipper.  Although I did not find one, there must be some there!  Lots of Common Buckeyes were around though.

Locally, I found a couple of Fiery Skippers.  One was even in the yard last Saturday.

I also watched for plants.  I came aross Closed Gentian in a known spot.

I was thinking it had been a long time since I saw Fringed Gentian in the park, but nearby I found some!

There is a lot of Great Plains Ladies Tresses.

Winterberry Holly is showing well.

Friday I went back to Rondeau and there were even more birds at south point trail.  They were quickly moving south and streaming at times, so once again, who knows what all was there.  Out south beach, JB reported a massive movement of warblers, numbering in the neighbourhood of 500!

I ended up with 17 warbler species, but a couple different from the previous day.

The north end of the park again revealed very few birds.

Peregrine

I stopped by McLean's on the way home.  Shorebirds were coming and going, including a dozen Pecs that suddenly dropped in.

Today (Saturday), I went back starting at McLean's for a quick look first thing.  We probably saw a Nelson's Sparrow, but they are quick to hide in the weeds.

At the start of south point trail, there were lots of birds yet again.  I did not add anything special today, but nice to be out.

Another Common Checkered-Skipper or two went through the yard this afternoon.  I was optimistic in hoping an Ocola would show up!

Sunday is the last day of my week off, so will have to make the best of it.

Good Friday Events

With the holiday upon us, I ventured down to the Rondeau Birding Area today.  New arrivals appear every day, so it can be interesting.



At the causeway outside Rondeau Park, I noticed quite a few ducks in the creek.  Included was a pair of Blue-winged Teal (my first of year).  Several have come in the last few days.

Within the park, I saw the first Eastern Phoebe of the day at the spicebush trail parking lot.  However, it was lying on road, dead.  I checked it out and the body was still warm, so whatever happened to it was very recent.




My first walk was along south point trail.  Lots of Golden-crowned Kinglets were along the trail as expected at this date.  The lake was fairly active and I spent some time watching.  One good vantage point is the foundation of an old vault toilet that stands out prominently.

Along the lakeshore, I found several newly-arrived Eastern Phoebes working the shoreline.  I counted at least eight, but there could have been ten as they moved around.

One of the resident Bald Eagles was having fun along the shoreline.

Later, I walked tulip tree trail just for the heck of it.  Soon we will have a Louisiana Waterthrush somewhere along the sloughs.

PAW's favourite TTT scene

I met up with Steve Charbonneau, and we walked the campground.  Nothing special was there but my FOY Yellow-bellied Sapsucker at the north end.  I missed one on south point earlier.




Over at Erieau, I tried for the Harlequin pair.  After some time, I finally spotted them far out off Rondeau's south beach.  I saw a couple of ducks with my bins that I thought were the Harlequins, but had to get out the scope to make sure.
Double-crested Cormorants are now showing up, and a single was off the pier today.





McGeachy Pond was full of ducks and a few Horned Grebes were out on the lake.  One can only hope for a Red-necked or even a Western!

I saw three Snowy Owls today--one off Erieau Road and two down Lagoon Road.

Blenheim Lagoons was full of ducks--too many to try and count!  Northern Shovelers were numerous with around 200 of them.  Some teal were there as well.

I even checked Ridgetown Lagoons, but could not find the Greater White-fronted Geese.  However, they showed up about an hour later.....apparently!

This evening, I went for a walk at Peers Wetland, Wallaceburg.  It was fairly productive with several ducks, a Wilson's Snipe, Pied-billed Grebe, American Coot, 3 Eastern Phoebes, etc.

More Waterfowl

As is often the case, recently-arrived waterfowl is abundant in mid March.  Lots of ducks, geese and swans were around the Rondeau area today. Upon arrival at Rondeau, a few different ducks were in the creek by Keith McLean's.  Included were my first Blue-winged Teal (2 males) of this year.  They were reported a couple of days ago (Craig Anderson).

I started on South Point Trail in the park for a nice walk in the crispy morning air.  It was calm and sunny first thing, but later the wind got quite strong.  (there's that wind yet again!).  In the first five minutes, I had three Eastern Towhees--first for the year.  Lots of Song Sparrows were around (all over throughout the day) as expected.

At one point, I caught sight of two Pileated Woodpeckers at the top of a tree.  I could have gotten a decent photo, but I saw them too late and they took off.
The lake was not too rough, and one could see for a long distance.  You could even see smoke plumes across the lake!

A nice flock of Wood Ducks was circling around, likely looking for a spot in the park.  However, the sloughs were frozen due to the cold night.  It was almost colder than most of the days all winter!
I checked a few other spots in the park, but it was rather quiet.  Lots of Tree Sparrows were around and a decent sized flock of Song Sparrows in the campground.  The usual wintering birds were not around save for a couple of Purple Finches.

Aythya type ducks at Ridgetown

Blenheim Lagoon had a good number of ducks and geese, but nothing noteworthy.  Not much at Erieau either. Only a few Bonaparte's Gulls were in the channel, a small fraction from yesterday.  A Little Gull was reported there by Allen Woodliffe yesterday.

After lunch, I headed over to Ridgetown.  I was tempted to skip this today, but with the number of geese always there, that could potentially be a bad move.  Happily, I found some Greater White-fronted Geese (12 in total).  Too far for a decent photo though.   Also present was a total of 22 Snow Geese (6 of those in the blue form).

Snow Geese on the dike

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