Trumpeting Along the St. Clair River and Recent Rambles

 This past week was quite mild.....and windy!  I spent more time along the St. Clair River than anything.  Not sure why because there is not much out there!  Unless we get cold weather and some ice, there never will be.

Tuesday, a couple of Trumpeter Swans were at Cathcart Park.  Likely the same ones from earlier in teh winter

More Tundra Swans were around as well, probably due to the incoming mild weather.

Wednesday I went to Rondeau Park.  I started with a lakewatch at dog beach.  Over 500 White-winged Scoters were counted during my short stay.  A couple of Horned Grebes were new for the year for me.

As always, I checked the campground.  There were puddles due to the rain and melting ice.  At one point I heard some swishing behind me.  I had walked right by a bathing Cooper's Hawk!  It showed no fear.

Thursday was actually a very nice day.  I went for a walk at Wilkesport first thing.  Three or four Northern Flickers were working the area.  I only managed to get a photo of one from a distance.

I then went for a walk at Reid C. L.  It was just too nice of a day not to!  There were lots of Blue Jays feeding on acorns.  Another member of the corvids was a Common Raven that flew by  in the distance.

Some scenes:

Back Field

An adult Sharp-shinned Hawk stopped by the neighbourhood later in the morning.  It spent some time preening.

Friday there was very little in the way of birds, and I did not even do a bird list!

Saturday, it was back to Rondeau.  I did a lakewatch at dog beach with Steve.  It was not an ideal wind, but White-winged Scoters were the talk of the day.

Over 1500 were tallied.  No doubt conservative because many were way out.  At least three Surf Scoters were mixed in.

Today, I checked out the entire St. Clair River.  Not much to see.  Been too mild.  More hunters and decoys than birds!

This afternoon, I finally went to see some of the Sandhill Cranes east of Port Lambton.  Up to 144 were seen on the Wallaceburg CBC January 4, but every day sees different numbers.  I counted 42.

These creatures come over from Michigan each day.

The Fox Sparrow shows up occasionally here at home.  I have never had one spend the winter here, so it is nice to have!

Rondeau April 12

I guess the topic of this weekend is the weather. As usual, it was nice during the week, then come the weekend, it was all downhill. The rain held off for the most part today, but it was cool and windy.

I checked out Rondeau Park this morning. I spent quite a bit of time but saw very few birds. I started off on south point trail and saw a female Oregon Junco. Actually there were quite a few juncos in the park today especially around the store. They were gearing up to head out!

Near the Rondeau Road entrance to south point trail, there was quite a bit of squawking by a Cooper's Hawk. Near the trail was a stick nest, which I assumed belonged to this bird. I will have to keep an eye on this.

Around Spicebush Trail and Bennett Ave., were a few Yellow-rumped Warblers.

At the Pony Barn and compost heap, were the only two Fox Sparrows of the day, along with a White-throated Sparrow. The Fox Sparrows had obviously moved on during the week.

Also at the compost area were roosting Turkey Vultures. They always like this area for roosting.

At Erieau, a few Horned Grebes were on the lake. It seems that each one takes their own time in moulting into breeding plumage. I saw four in a group, and each one was in a different stage of moult.

Overall, kinglets were more plentiful today, especially Ruby-crowned. Yellow-rumped Warblers are moving in and I saw only about 12 today. Many were still quite dull, but there were some in full breeding plumage. A large number of Brown Creepers were throughout the park, and a few Hermit Thrushes were around. A number of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers were around as well. Chipping Sparrows have increased in numbers, a few Tree Sparrows were still around.

At home, it appears the two last Pine Siskins left after Thursday. I had about ten all winter here. More may show up on their way through, as I have seen them here as late as the 21st of May.