Sunny Morning at Reid CA

 Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day weather wise. All week, the forecast called for cloudy skies and some rain.  Obviously wrong again!

It was muddy walk, but nice to be out under sunny skies since it has been so gloomy lately.  I ended up walking the better part of 4 km.

In the woods, there was lots of lichens and fungi to look at.

Little Nest Polypore

On the same log:

Oak Shield Lichen

The river was low enough to check out the edge for a while.  I found quite a few mussels.  Mapleleaf is a common and easy to ID species along the Sydenham, even though it is a vulnerable species in Ontario.

Another one:

Deertoe is another fairly common one, also vulnerable.

Probably the most common species one may find is Giant Floater.

One of the rarest is Lilliput.  This is a small mussel I recognized right away when I saw it. This one was about 3 cm which is about average.

Last year, I found Lilliput here, which was a new location for the species.  I also found one or two up at Ausable River Cut CA along the cut.

It is endangered and critically imperiled depending where you are in Ontario.

The river was calm, and a single male Bufflehead was swimming at Reid.  Not often one sees a Bufflehead on the Sydenham.

Some blackbirds were flying over Reid, including lots of Common Grackles and a few Red-winged Blackbirds.  I have not seen many lately, as one would expect this time of year.  But, there are always some hanging around somewhere.

Here is another deformed tree seen along the way.

Today, was rainy as expected by the forecast.  At least they got that right!  I did some "car birding" along the St. Clair River up to Corunna.  There was not much (again!).  Quite a few Redhead (and two Canvasback) were at the Sombra waterfront.  We used to get tens of thousands of these on the river in winter, but with climate change, they have no need to congregate here.

Along the Chenal Ecarte (Snye) three Pied-billed Grebes are still lingering.  No need to leave!  No photos today due to the weekend weather.

Double Whammy Today!

 For a change in scenery today, I went up to Sarnia for a lakewatch.  A decent NNE wind was ablowin'!

American Herring Gull

  

There were not large numbers of birds, and certainly not much variety.  Less than an hour after I started, a single Brant flew by heading west.  I was actually looking at a flock of mergansers, and this bird was tailing!  It went up the Michigan side and out of sight.

About twenty minutes later, I caught sight of it swimming in the channel.  Several times, it flew upstream, then floating down.

Eventually, it flew back east and past Canatara Park.  I wonder if it kept going, as James Holdsworth had one at Highland Glen CA a while later.  Timing would be about right if it kept flying, but we will never be sure.

Always nice to see a Brant since we do not get many in the area for the most part.

Things got quiet, and I headed towards home.  I stopped at Moore WMA, then McKellar Tract, but not much was at either place.  I have had White-winged Crossbills at McKellar during incursion years, but I did not hear any today.

That big tree is still in the way at Moore!

A few mussel shells were visible.  Deertoe was one of them.

I then stopped at Nichols Memorial Forest and Wetland.  Highlight was a Great-Horned Owl.  A Barred Owl would have been better!

When I pulled into the driveway at home, I got word that a Mountain Bluebird was at Keith McLean C. L.  I was not ready to head out and stayed around for an hour at home.  The urge was too much to resist, so I headed down towards Rondeau.

Mountain Bluebird has never been seen in the Rondeau circle.  The only other in C-K was at Wheatley P.P. if I remember correctly.  I had to go as it was certainly a very overdue bird!

The bird was still present upon arrival, but light for photos was not good.  However, I took some photos anyway.

The bluebird was constantly going down to the mud and finding dragonfly nymphs to eat.

This was certainly a nice way to end the day!

This past week was rather uneventful, again. There were a couple of trips to Rondeau and McLean's.

Friday though I went up to Ipperwash in hopes of getting White-winged Crossbills.  I picked the wrong day.....again!

Random Scene along the trail

Instead I did another lakewatch for a while.  Yet again it was boring!

On Saturday, I worked the north end of Rondeau Park only as it was quite windy.  I finally came across some White-winged Crossbills, but they were single flyovers.

As usual I stopped by Keith McLean C. L., but nothing really different.  There has been a good-sized flock of Dunlin hanging around.

And, lots of gulls, but no good ones!

With the warm weather, lots of Autumn Meadowhawks are still flying (even today).

Sunday was a bit rainy and I did not go far.

Monday, it was back to Rondeau Park.  This late in the season, birds are getting fewer, but there was enough to keep me interested.

Another Carolina Wren

dark American Herring Gull

It was quite windy, especially along the lake at south point trail.  That concrete structure is getting farther out!

A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in the campground was of interest.  Seems we always get a late bird there!  However, lighting was absolutely horrible.

Nothing new at Keith McLean's that day.  Ironically, I was thinking of Mountain Bluebird while there, and that perhaps this will be the year that we will get one in the area.  Little did I know that this idea would become reality!

Many March Meanderings

 To start off the month of March, I went down to Rondeau on Friday.  It was another nice day, but not with many birds.  I walked out marsh trail with Steve, once again going as far as Long Pond.  Northern Pintail was numerous in the duck department. Over 300!

Later, I checked out a bit of Black Oak trail.  It is a good place to look for lichens.  Here are a couple more continuing on that theme.

Star Rosette Lichens

Rough Speckled Lichens

While there, I noticed some very tiny creatures on a tree.  They were a type of springtail, as far as I could tell.  Just like snowfleas, which I have not seen in a long time.  Too difficult to get a good photo though.

Hypogastrura

After heading out of the park, the trusty Red-headed Woodpecker was on its usual tree near the end of Kent Bridge Road.

Saturday started out gloomy as I walked the south shore trail at Mitchell's Bay.  Still lots of duck on the water, most of which seemed to be Canvasback.

At home, the resident Merlin made a stop in the yard.  I took a quickie photo out of the window.

Sunday, I had the urge to check out Hillman Marsh.  I had the notion that a Eurasian Wigeon should be around.  However, there were not a huge number of ducks.  I did the long walk, with scope, but I did not spot the European variety of wigeon.

Trumpeter Swans are a regular sight there.  I saw two pairs.

I also went into Point Pelee for a brief period, but it was extremely quiet.

Strangely, later in the afternoon, a Eurasian Wigeon showed up at Hillman!  Go figure.

Today was quite balmy.  I had to go to Corunna, so took my time going up that way.  An Eastern Bluebird was finally at Nicholl's Memorial Forest and Wetland near Wilkesport.  Some wintered there last year, but this was the first one I came across this winter.

Long-tailed Ducks continue to be the dominant duck on the St. Clair River from Courtright and northward.

Quite a few Common Mergansers were around as well.

This afternoon was so nice, I went up to Reid CA for a long walk.  With temps reaching 22 C, I knew there had to be some butterflies out.  I did see three Eastern Commas, but no Mourning Cloaks.

A visit to Reid is not complete without checking out the riverbank for mussels.  Just the usuals again.  Two of my favourites, easily identified.

Deertoe

Mapleleaf

Not many birds, as usual, but this White-breasted Nuthatch was caching some food.

Here is a scene in the "Lilly Bush"  along the river.

Soon, spring wildflowers will be out.  But this fern stayed out all winter!

Christmas Fern