Grey Getaway and More

Friday, I decided to take a longer drive and go up to Owen Sound in Grey County to see the Barrow's Goldeneye which has been in the sound for some time.  It was the first time in several weeks the weather was half decent (for a weekend), but even as I write this blog, we are getting a fair bit of snow! (My weekends start on Friday).

I basically drove straight through, which was at least a four hour drive from home.  The harbour area was frozen, but there was open water off Kelso Beach Park where one can look at waterfowl and gulls.

Goldeneye of the Common type

One of two Glaucous Gulls seen

I was there a good hour and could not find the subject duck.  I then left and drove around a bit, then came back.  There is really no other public access along the west side of the sound, I found.

The goldeneye was right off the park, as I looked on my second attempt!

I do not think I missed it earlier, but it could have been out of sight on the other side of the marina.

For the boat buffs, a couple of the older Algoma ships are resting at Owen Sound for the winter, as well as the Manitoulin Island ferry, Chi Cheemaun.

Algoma Buffalo, Algoma Compass

I have never done much birding in Grey County and mostly passed through in my travels.  One time passing through, I recall coming across a Palm Warbler in a boggy area somewhere near Walter's Falls on 23 June 2000.  It should have been much farther north at that date!

Another time, I specifically went looking for a Northern Hawk Owl that had been wintering south of Williamsford in 2001.  I had never seen one before that, so I thought I would take a chance and look for it, even though it had not been reported for about two weeks.  I got lucky on that one!
I drove around endlessly on January 20 of that winter, and was about to give up as I headed the car back south for home.  Along the highway, I finally spotted the owl atop a spruce tree!  I had no camera at the time, unfortunately.

Back to the present, after seeing the goldeneye, I headed west along highway 21.  By the time I got to Port Elgin there was a fine snow falling, so the weather was not ideal.  I checked the waterfront there, then headed down to MacGregor Point Provincial Park.  I do not think I have been there in the dead of winter before, so I checked it out.  It was very quiet for birds.
Visibility was not that great due to the falling snow.  Just after New Year's, an Eared Grebe was at this location.

Near the VC, there was a group of birds on the trail which were taking advantage of seeds that tourists set out.

Snow continued to fall as I headed south. At the Kincardine waterfront, it was downright gloomy!  There were lots of gulls, but the visibility was too poor to pick anything out.

I continued down to Goderich where I decided to spend the night.  Before sunset, I checked the harbour and walked over the old railway bridge.  Algoma Enterprise is wintering in the harbour.

Today was a much better day, at least in the morning.  South of Goderich, I walked the Naftel's Creek CA.  I usually stop here when I am in the area.  Very quiet today.  It is nice in the breeding season where one can find some good birds.

Skies were clear when I arrived at Pinery Provincial Park.  There were actually quite a few birds around, including several American Robins and a decent flock of Cedar Waxwings.  I looked for a cinnamon butt to no avail.

Wax Cedarwings Cedar Waxwings

Not a Fieldfare

The beach and road out from P9 is severely washed out, so I think there were will be no vehicle traffic there this year.  Seems to be a trend along every shore lately!

A number of friendly birds were at P9 parking lot as usual.  It is here that many people feed them.  Bring your sunflower seeds or the birds will be upset!

Heading south from Pinery, the weather deteriorated to more typical weekend-like conditions, as usual.  That was it for today!

Saturday Sandhills and other Stuff

I headed out early Saturday morning despite the crappy weather.  Fog had set in overnight, so visibility was poor.  Destination was Point Pelee!
Again, it was rather quiet for birds, but better than the last visit.  On the way in, I saw the two Sandhill Cranes resting on the ice of Sanctuary Pond.

I checked out the Tip area, finding very little.  A couple FOY Horned Grebes were swimming near the Tip.

The Tip has no sand and the water is actually quite deep so it will take a certain storm to build up again.

I checked out Shuster Trail, Tilden's Woods and Cactus Trail, but there is nothing to mention!
Four Brown Creepers were together in Tilden's-perhaps the same four I had there earlier in the winter.


Earlier on the way in along Road 19 I noticed two pairs of Ring-necked Pheasants in a familiar location.  They seem to be getting more difficult to find anymore.  It was dark and dismal first thing in the morning!

The south part of Hillman Marsh had quite a bit of waterfowl, but there was heavy wet snow falling at the time I was there.

Wheatley Harbour had a single Horned Grebe and some gulls, including one whole Bonaparte's Gull.  One has to wonder where they are yet this year!

I stopped for a walk at St. Clair NWA which was fairly good for waterfowl.

At the parking lot, 20 Cedar Waxwings provided some entertainment.

Along the trail were 4 Sandhill Cranes.

tracks!

They quickly disappeared.  In fact, I did not see them take off!  While on the tower, I saw some Sandhill Cranes and other waterfowl land in the field along Balmoral Line.  That was my next stop.

There were hundreds of Tundra Swans and some geese.  Also, 9 Sandhill Cranes were dancing the field.

ON my way home, I went up Heron Line and came across a couple more Sandhill Cranes.  These were in the field that held all that waterfowl in January.

Around the Mallard/Marsh/Winter Lines area, I noted 4 Snowy Owls as I drove by.  So, they are still lingering.

Today, Sunday I went down to Rondeau and Erieau where it was extremely quiet.  I should have stayed home!  However, there were thousands of ducks to sort through on the Bay.  Nothing new though.

Valentine's Day Birding on Rondeau Bay

I headed south today and started at Shrewsbury dock.  While Rondeau Bay has mostly frozen again, there are some open spots--one fairly close to the westerly side of Shrewsbury.  Here we had lots of waterfowl, including most of the Snow Geese!  Most were napping though.

Steve Charbonneau joined me and we spent about 1.5h there.  Nothing much moved, but every once in a while, the ice would crack and the geese and swans would wake up.

The Snow Geese were tightly packed and it was impossible to get an accurate count at that time.  At one point I though 170 (including everything there such as hybrids, Ross's), but we conservatively put down 160.  There were at least 40 blue morphs.

At the front of the flock were two obvious small ones, but one was for sure a Ross's.  Much too distant for photos, and the sun was harsh today.

Regarding swans, there were several hundred Tundras, about a dozen Mutes and the two aggressive Trumpeters.  The trumps were easy to pick out not only due to size, but their behaviour.  They nipped at the butts of other swans, ducks and geese!

There were some first year swans there with pinkish bills, and one perhaps a young Trumpeter, but I did not look too hard at it.  Luke Berg later reported a young Trumpeter.

Most ducks were Redhead, but a few Canvasback, a couple of scaup, two Ruddy, a male Ring-necked and a few Blacks and Mallards.

I headed to Rondeau Park and walked the campground to start with.  It was certainly the nicest day we have had this winter.  Totally clear skies and no wind.  It was cold, but that does not bother me.
There were quite a few birds in the campground, but nothing new.

Some Cedar Waxwings were present.  One of these days we will see a Bohemian.  There are only a couple of in-park records and a couple outside the park.  Last I saw some there was 30 January 2000 with a flock of 12 on south point trail.

There was not much activity at the visitor centre, but I saw the first Chipmunk of the year!

The VC was open this weekend for Valentine's Day and Heritage Day.

The east side had quite a bit of very smooth thin ice.

The whole sheet was moving and along the shoreline, it was flaking off making for some interesting scenery.

Halloween Birding

I decided to go to Point Pelee today, as Rondeau was somewhat disappointing yesterday and I did not foresee much change.  Ran into some terribly dense ice fog this morning south of Wallaceburg which lasted until almost Pain Court.  Must have come off Lake St. Clair.  Good thing it ended as I was tempted to just sit at Pain Court!

Lots of stuff was at the Tip first thing, but it dropped off very quickly.  A good number of
Bonaparte's Gulls, but that was it.  A few Horned Grebes and Common Loons were swimming around, but no rarities.  Things were desperate enough we tried to make one Horned into a Western!
The only warbler was a Blackpoll at the Tip.  (Yellow-rumped farther up the park).

I was with Marianne and Alan, so we went up to De Laurier to watch for flyovers.  More Pine
Siskins and Purple Finches.  Lots of Cedar Waxwings today.

Nothing much really, but later I went back down to West Beach Trail to look for...whatever.
I managed to find six species of butterflies--ones you would expect this time of year.  Buckeye was most numerous (~10).
A few Giant Green Darners were flying plus one Autumn (?) Meadowhawk dragonfly.




Along the way I watched for hawks, and they seemed to have started to move.  There were quite a few, mostly Red-tailed plus Red-shouldered, Cooper's and Sharp-shinned.  I even saw one juv Golden Eagle.

I decided to go back to De Laurier since there were hawks.  More Red-tailed plus a Rough-legged.  I also went down to the old maintenance area and looked for sparrows.  While there I had a Northern Goshawk (imm.) fly over among other things.  Eastern Bluebirds were around plus Blue-headed Vireo.

On the way home, I stopped at Tilbury Lagoon just for curiosity.  Just ducks and grebes (1 Horned and 3 Pied-billed) plus 2 Great Blue Herons.

 Near the mouth of Baptiste Creek there was a Great Egret.  Most have left as it was the first one I have seen in a while.

It is going to be warm for a few days, so not much movement with regards to birds. Perhaps some rare flycatcher will pop up this week.  We need some good birds down this way rather than at Hamilton or Ottawa!! (not for lack of trying).