May Birding: The Fun Begins

Now that we are well into the month of May, birders are beating the bushes for birds in their favourite spots. 

On May 1, I stayed fairly close to home.  There were not many birds that day around anyway.

Along the St. Clair River, the Nautica Queen was upbound.  It is a cruise and dinner vessel out of Cleveland, Ohio.  Not sure where it was going.

In the afternoon, I went for a walk at Reid CA just admiring the scenery.  There are lots of hickory trees there, including some Bitternut Hickory.  One of the large ones fell down for some reason during the winter.  It would have made for some nice lumber!

Nearby, another of same size was looking healthy.

Blue Phlox is blooming, but I found this one not quite out.

I happened to come across a rather large patch of Harbinger of Spring in a spot I missed before.  It is amazing how much is within Reid CA.  Not worth a photo at this stage though.

Other scenes:

Sedgy Area

Aspen patch

Eastern Forktail emerged in recent days.

On Thursday I went to Rondeau.  There were lots of new birds, including a good influx of White-crowned Sparrows.  This one was showing off its white crown!

After Rondeau, I slid over to Erieau.  It was  a good turtle day everywhere, as they were all out taking advantage of the warm sun.  I saw five species along the rail trail!

Spiny Softshell

Blanding's Turtle

Northern Map Turtle

Heading home, I decided I was not done for the day, so took a detour over to the south shore nature trail at Mitchell's Bay.  Lots of turtles there as well.  I saw at least 30 Map Turtles along the trail.

I have seen Spiny Softshell on the Bay there in the past, but not on this particular day.

The Snowy Egret was apparently still present, but somehow it remained hidden during my visit.  I missed it by about 15 minutes!

I kept an eye on the field, as often Yellow-headed Blackbirds forage in it.  I was not disappointed, and noted five.  Just too difficult to get a proper photo though.

Friday, I started out at Mitchell's Bay on the trail again.  It was rather quiet for birds though, but I always have to check.  Not knowing what else to do later, I eventually ended up at Point Pelee!  It turned out to be a good choice.

There had been a massive influx of birds overnight (same thing at Rondeau), but many were streaming out.  I parked at northwest beach just in time to see lots of warblers streaming north.  Most were Yellow-rumped (we finally got numbers!), but others were mixed in.

Along the west side, the grasses were littered with Palm Warblers as well.

Some warblers lingered.  Many first-of-years birds were tallied, including lots of Cape May Warblers.

A few Black-throated Green

Lots of Northern Parula

I had some good finds, including Golden-winged Warbler, Summer Tanager, and Fish Crow.

After birding the park for a few hours, I was too tired to stop in Hillman Marsh, so ventured home.

Today, it was back to Rondeau.  The "morning flight" fizzled!  In fact, the park was very quiet for birds.

I happened to be in the right place at the right time, when Jeff Tunstall spotted an Olive-sided Flycatcher.  He managed photos, but I did not as it flew back too far, then out of sight.  This is remarkably early for that species, but some have been reported elsewhere already.  Usually we look for this one in the second week of May and beyond!

The other decent bird was a Yellow-breasted Chat.  I completely missed this one last year (there were not many), so nice to see.  Unfortunately, it was very elusive (true to nature) and did not co-operate for the camera.

The chat is much scarcer than it used to be needless to say, but there has been a good showing already this year in various places.  Hopefully some stay to nest.

As always, I keep an eye out for plants.  I believe this one is Oak Sedge, an easily over-looked plant that looks like grass.

I also took a look at the trusty Goldenseal, which is already well-advanced in flowering.  This rare plant is always nice to see.

A brief stop at Keith McLean C. L. did not reveal much.

Sandpiper by itself (Solitary)

Possibly the Red-headed Woodpecker that wintered nearby

This Bald Eagle may be ill.  It rarely moves, and is easily approached.

This coming week should be good, as I will spend most of it at Rondeau Park.

Woodland Wanderings and Historic Day on the St. Clair

 Birding continues to be painfully slow this spring.  While wandering through local woodlands, I kept an eye out for plants.  This week, my target was Twinleaf, one of my favourite.  For some reason, I could not find the ones in Reid CA, so later I checked out W. Darcy McKeough CA where I knew of a spot with several plants,  These were almost ready to bloom.

At Reid, the first Jack-the-Pulpits are popping up.

Over at Port Lambton, I checked out my birding hotspot, Brander Park.  There are a few Red Trilliums there.

While there, an odd crow got my attention.  It did not move much, but going by the sounds it made, I concluded it was a Fish Crow!  It was high in a tree, and a photo would do no good anyway.  It was just a couple of days earlier that James Holdsworth confirmed one at his end of the county, constituting Lambton's first record.  Probably overdue.

Today, I went down to Rondeau.  There was heavy ice fog all the way, making me wonder what I was doing!  However, it mostly cleared at Rondeau.  With few birds yet in the park, I opted to go out marsh trail where one could find a variety of birds.

female Eastern Towhee from the other day

Some first-of-year included Common Gallinule, Common Yellowthroat, Marsh Wren and Sora.  Nothing else special, but better days are ahead no doubt.

On the agenda today, was to see the historic ship tow (for many reasons) of the last Edwardian passenger ship in the world, Keewatin.  After Rondeau, I made a beeline for the St. Clair River. I was worried, as the fog returned north of the park, and all the way home.  However, it cleared by the time I got to Sombra.  The tow was not as far as I thought, so I ended up at Corunna to wait.

Here is the first view off the north end of Shell Refinery:

My next position was Mooretown, where I got some good photos.  Many people were out to see the event.

Readers of this blog know that I have visited the Keewatin when it was on display at Port McNicoll.  

in the wheelhouse

Not the Titanic!

This ship was built in Scotland in 1907 and came to the upper Great Lakes.  In 1967 it was a museum ship in Saugatuck, Michigan, then in 2012 it was moved to Port McNicoll. It had to move, as plans changed there.  The museum in Kingston bought it, and that is where it will end up this summer.

Two of these identical ships came to the lakes.  The sister ship, Assiniboia, met its demise in 1969.  I was on it too (August 1968) in Sarnia!

Today's tow was the first time the ship was in the St. Clair River since 1907!  It is quite remarkable this ship still exists.   It will get good exposure in Kingston, and hopefully will last for many more decades.

April's Final Weekend Birding

Birds are trickling in, but numbers are certainly down from what we have been used to the last few years for this time of year.
Saturday I went to Rondeau.  For some reason, birds are not showing up at Rondeau to any degree!  One was hard-pressed to find a Yellow-rumped Warbler. I did a lot of walking on Saturday, so at least I got some exercise!
I started at Tulip Tree Trail, where I heard and saw an early Wood Thrush.  I also heard some sharp chip notes characteristic of a waterthrush, but that is as far as it went.  It stopped and I never saw the bird.
On south point trail, Steve and I saw a couple of Nashville Warblers, and a few Yellow-rumped.  On the lake, Steve spotted a Red-necked Grebe not far offshore--an excellent bird for this time of year.  They are quite rare at Rondeau to begin with.

grebe record shot

The lake was quite active all morning, but nothing else unusual was seen.

Over at Blenheim lagoons, the Eared Grebe was still present.  It is not one to come close, so photos are poor.

It was extremely windy and difficult to stand up straight there!  The shorebirds were hunkered down in the sprinkler cells along the northerly edge.  There were still lots of Dunlin, Pectoral Sandpipers, a few Lesser Yellowlegs and a single Least Sandpiper.

Can you see the Dunlin?

There were lots of swallows present, so I decided to see if I could pick out all species.  I got all five plus Purple Martin.  No violent-green as Kevin would say.

I also checked out Erieau.  Some Pied-billed Grebes were in McGeachy, and some Horned on the lake, so it was a four grebe day!  It was too much to ask for a Western.

There is still some snow along the north-face of the dike.  Evidence of the harsh winter was there with most of the shrubs and small trees broken and crushed due to the weight of the snow.

Both Sora and Virginia Rails were calling along the Marsh (aka R/R track trail).

Today I went to Pelee since there was no sense in getting more depressed at Rondeau!  It was a good choice as there were birds to look at.  Still very slow for this time of year, but apparently it was pretty good based on the some of the previous days.
I went to the Tip first thing.  An immature Glaucous Gull was floating off the Tip. Some Common Loons were flying overhead among ducks and gulls.

The Tip area, Loop Woods and north of Sparrow Field were the busiest.  A whopping 8 species of warblers were seen or heard today in that area.  The Hooded Warbler was heard again and Barb Wire's group had a Cerulean Warbler.
There were quite a few Palm Warblers including the "yellow" version again.  Some Black-and-White and Black-throated Green were nice to see for my firsts of the year.

At one point, Steve Pike and Chris Law announced a Fish Crow.  There was skepticism, but eventually the subject bird made an appearance heading south along the west side while we were south of the solar panel. We all had good views of the bird.  It headed well out over the lake towards Pelee Island, but turned back and headed into the park.  It was briefly seen again.  Many got to see it, and the characteristics certainly pointed towards Fish Crow.  However, it never vocalized.
Here is my attempt to get a photo (LOL!):

The bird was moving fast and I never got focused on it quick enough.

The Yellow-throated Warbler is still hanging around, but very elusive.  It has been reported everyday, but still remains hypothetical in the books of Ron Tozer and Mike Nelson.

I walked down west beach trail later in the morning.  It was nice and warm there.  Just a Red Admiral or two.  (Tom Preney said they saw a Buckeye today, which is weird since it would be a record early for Ontario by a longshot).  Lots of ducks were in close on the lake including dozens of Surf Scoters.

A good number of warblers were still along the road by Sparrow Field and a bit north.

One of several Pine Warblers today

"zee zee zoo zee"

After lunch I checked out Hillman Marsh and noted the two remaining Marbled Godwits.

Another one of those 'record' shots

At 'least' one Least Sandpiper was present with many Dunlin and a crappy-looking Black-bellied Plover. Habitat is good there and no doubt some Avocets will show up this week, among other things.

Lesser Yellowlegs