Waterfowl Times

 This is the time of year we usually concentrate on waterfowl watching.  Lots of stuff coming in on their journey north!

Last Friday, I checked out Lake St. Clair area.  There was still quite a bit of ice though.

The day before, a Eurasian Wigeon was along Angler Line, but did not show up for those looking Friday.  However, I did find a Ross's Goose which is almost as good.  A bit distant and looking into the sun did not help in the photographic department.

A couple of Sandhill Cranes nearby appeared to be in a mating ritual.

Saturday, I had the urge to head to Sarnia along the St. Clair River.  The river has completely cleared out, so not much in the way of waterfowl concentration.  Long-tailed Ducks were the most numerous, scattered all the way along.  There were no notables on my jouney!

Sunday, it was in the opposite direction where I headed to Hillman marsh for a long walk.  Water levels are quite low.

Still lots of ice there as well, but there was a good number of waterfowl and gulls by the hundreds.

At least five Trumpeter Swans were in the marsh.

Bald Eagles were nesting nearby, obvious to the very large nests they build.

On the way home, I checked out Balmoral Line.  Among other things, a single Greater White-fronted Goose was among Canadas.  Too distant though for a photo.  It was a first-of-year for me.

Monday, I did not do much, but spent some time along the river.  Went for a walk in Brander Park.

A large White Ash tree was a victim of the Emerald Ash Borer here.

Tuesday I went to Rondeau!  It was rather quiet for birds though.  I could see thousands of ducks on the far side of the Bay, much too far even for the scope.  No doubt a Eurasian Wigeon was among them!

Heading home, I swung over to Erieau and walked the marsh (rail) trail.  It was quite birdy with waterfowl.

Highlight, was a flock of eight Greater White-fronted Geese in the corn field.  Eventually, they got up and circle several time not knowing what to do next.

Today, was a cool, but sunny day, so I went for a long walk at Reid CA.  Practically no birds, but I did flush up an American Woodcock.  A first for the year.  I was quite happy with the long walk to get my mind off things of late.

The ice went out of the Sydenham last week very quickly and the water levels had receded by today.  I came across a couple of river mussels.

White Heelsplitter

Fragile Papershell

Now that ice is gone, I can look for mussels again after along winter!

In the history department:

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.

Week of December 11 Notes And An Upcoming Bird Count

 The weather was fairly decent this week, but birding was at a snail's pace.

Tuesday I did something different and went to Middlesex County, stopping at Wardsville Woods and Skunk's Misery.  I knew there would not be many birds, but the day was clear and crisp--just nice to be out.

Only a handful of birds were at Wardsville Woods, the highlight being two Northern Flickers.

In the misery, I walked my favourite trail off Sassafras Road.  There is a nice creek along the trail, but early this past summer, the place was destroyed as someone figured it was necessary to dredge the creek.  It was always a good place in summer for insects, let alone birds.

In any case, this recent visit revealed a few birds.  Most were in one spot, including a few Pine Siskins, Purple Finch, White-throated Sparrows, chickadees and others.

Wednesday I did virtually nothing, as I had to be at home.

Thursday was another nice day, so I went down to Rondeau Park for a long walk.  I did the marsh trail to Long Pond.  Rondeau Bay was partly frozen, but lots of ducks out there in the middle.  A good number were wigeon and Redhead.

There were not too many birds along the way, but the highlight was two Greater White-fronted Geese.  They were distant, but I did my best to take a photo or two.

On my way back, they were gone!  However, I later learned that two white-fronts were at the Erieau marsh trail.  Obviously the same creatures.

Nothing really of note, but an Eastern Towhee was heard along the way.

After finishing the 10 km round trip, I slid over to the campground.  Most birds were around the north washroom as usual, but the were quite mobile. I kept going back to the spot, as I knew there had to be something of note.

I did briefly get a look at the wintering Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, but it quickly disappeared right before my eyes!

Hopefully it make the count on Sunday.  Two years ago we had one in the same location!

At one point I was sure one of the Yellow-rumped Warblers was the Audubon's.  I persevered. and eventually found it working some Red Cedars north of the washroom.  It has a distinctive "chup" note which drew me to it.

I did have looks at it, but it stayed buried in the cedar, eluding my camera.  It was seen again today by Steve.

Hopefully it will be seen Sunday for a nice addition to the Christmas Bird Count.

Brown Creeper

White-throated Sparrow with seed

Speaking of which, once again, the weather will be very crappy.  But, it is the WEEKEND!

Today was another fine day before the usual weekend weather arrives.  I just drove along the St. Clair River to Corunna.  Hardly a thing to see since times have changed with warmer winters.

There are quite a few gulls off Corunna's Guthrie Park.  I counted about 150 Herring Gulls at one point.

Hopefully we get some actual winter weather this season to concentrate gulls here.

A walk before getting home, was at Wilkesport.  I heard some Eastern Bluebirds at one point, so some must be wintering in the area once again.

Bald Eagles near here have been busy the last couple of days.  Today, I seen they are building an upper level to the new nest site!

An End of January Update

 Been sticking close to home lately, but with lots of time on my hands.  I am not working now, but will only go in for work if the shop needs an extra hand.  It is the slow time of year, so there is not much to see, especially on this "slow" winter for birds.

This past week, a couple of Greater White-fronted Geese showed up at Ridgetown lagoons, so I went there on a rare, clear and sunny day.  This species is not a "problem" anymore for listing, but there was not much else to do this day.  One had to take advantage of this clear sunny day!

When I first started birding, Greater White-fronted Goose was a very rare bird and indeed a write-up for the OBRC.  I recall going to see my first ones near Grande Pointe in the old Dover Township 2 January 1993.  They had been reported on the St. Clair NWA CBC a couple of days previous.

After visiting Ridgetown, I drove through the countryside and ended up taking a walk at Clear Creek Nature Reserve.  There are never many birds here, but it is a beautiful place to walk on a sunny winter day.  Clear Creek meanders through the woods creating a scenic view.  "Old growth" trees enhance the scenery.

I have made a couple of trips to Rondeau Park, just to do some walking.  Birds are sparse, but you never know what may show when one is out and about.

An Eastern Screech-owl in its cumfy hole, is almost always a guarantee along Bennett.  It has used this hole for years!

I started out in freezing rain this morning.  I looked around Wilkesport.  Three Eastern Bluebirds are still being seen, and the Long-eared Owl was still content in its favourite tree.

The St. Clair River is very disappointing this year, and as mentioned previously, probably the quietest I have ever seen it for ducks and gulls.

The male Ring-necked X Redhead duck seems to be hanging around Sombra consistently.  I saw it again today in some less-desirable weather.  At least there is something of interest.

I had hoped to spend more time out there this morning, but the weather got nasty.  I went out the door with freezing rain falling, but it later turned to snow.  Roads got worse the farther north I went, so I turned back at Bickford Line and highway 40. A lone Common Grackle was at this corner.  I did not stop to take a photo though.  It comes up rare on eBird in Lambton, but that should be changed since there are always some to be found in winter at some point.

The last few days, Horned Larks and Snow Buntings have made a big appearance in southern Ontario.  Hundreds everywhere!  Some Lapland Longspur are mixed in as well, and you never know, a Smith's Longspur could be out there!

The Chenal Ecarte along Walpole Island north has held some waterfowl.  Yesterday I noticed three American Coots among them, which seemed to just have appeared from somewhere.  I tried some "distant" photos, but I am not at all proud of them.

The usual birds are coming to the feeder.  More than the last couple of winters, but nothing new.  

The other day, I noticed a female Cardinal with a bad leg.  Seems to be useless, but the leg is not well seen in this photo.  Taken at distance through a window.

Today I managed a better photo and noticed its right eye is no good. Obviously it had some kind of mishap.

With mild spells, more waterfowl is around and we have to keep looking out for oddities.  A Ross's Goose was at Sarnia yesterday.  Perhaps I would have gone that far today, but the weather turned me back.

Soon, things will pick up I am sure!

Here and There January 14-16

 It was too cold to do long walks this weekend, but I got out to various places in search of birds.  Friday I started at Rondeau in dismal weather.  Some sun was forecast all week for Friday, but that never materialized till late in the day.

There was not much to be found, as some birds bailed or were laying low in the cold weather.

After some time at the Park, I headed east to John E. Pearce Provincial Park where I sometimes walk in the winter.  I actually found quite a few birds, including some wintering Long-eared Owls.  Difficult to get a clear view of the four though.

Along the treeline were several birds including a few Tufted Titmouse, Red- breasted Nuthatches, etc.

While there, 12 Sandhill Cranes flew over heading west.  The last couple of days many have been reported heading west.  They bail when the weather gets consistently cold!

On the way home, I toured many backroads but nothing of significance appeared.  It is a rather quiet winter for birds!  My last stop was a short walk at Wilkesport.  At least nine Eastern Bluebirds popped up--a nice surprise.

Saturday I had the notion to head up to north Lambton.  Ausable River Cut CA was birdless!  I moved on to Pinery PP.  P9 is the best area for birds in winter as many people come to feed the chickadees, titmice and nuthatches.

After Pinery, I headed south and stopped at Ipperwash.  It is always hit and miss there as one might hope for finches or Bohemian Waxwings.  Most common bird was American Robin around the MNR parking lot area.

I recorded a conservative 33, but I know many more were farther back in.

I decided to head to Sarnia and look for gulls and ducks there, and along the river.

Although there are lots of Herring Gulls, there are very few white-winged gulls this winter.  Only a couple Glaucous and a couple of Iceland Gulls are around.

More ducks are on the river now that ice is forming.  A Harlequin female has appeared at the south end of Courtright, but in a difficult location.  I did not see it on Saturday.  I suspect it is the long-staying Sarnia bird, since that one disappeared some time ago.

Today, I wanted to see the Greater White-fronted Geese on the Thames River. I arrived at the right time, just before all the geese took flight.  The numbers have varied in the area, but I counted 14.

I was not able to get good photos looking through phragmites, as I did not want to spook the birds.

Some Snow Geese were there as well, but I did not get a good look at the entire gathering of geese before they took off.

Since there was not much to see farther on due to the frozen landscape, I headed up to the St. Clair River.  It was just too nice of a day with clear skies and no wind to pass up.  Unusual for a weekend!  Conditions were perfect along the river today.

With ice now collecting in the river, there are more ducks to be seen, as well as gulls.  Geese are in the thousands.

Redhead is the most common, as we rarely get many Canvasback anymore.

Some Ring-necked Ducks were there as well, but like most of the ducks, they were sleeping.

At the old ferry dock in Sombra, one has to sort through all the Redhead to find the annual hybrid Redhead X Ring-necked.

We have seen up to three in past years.

I stopped by Cundick Park near Stoke's Point but did not see the Blue-winged Teal found by Lars Bouman the other day.  Blue-winged Teal are 'outta here' when cold weather comes, so it is a novelty in winter!

I stopped at various points along the river, and even made three passes for the Harlequin Duck on my way to Corunna.  A no-show, but I know it was there somewhere.

Guthrie Park at Corunna is good in winter, but on a day like this, the gulls were too far out and lighting was very harsh.  I did not linger there, so headed back south.

Lo and behold, I did catch a glimpse of the female Harlequin Duck on my last pass by the location!  There was no chance for a photo though.

One last walk was at Moore WMA.  A few birds were present, and I was finally able to cross the creek.  No Yellow-rumped Warblers this winter, I do believe.  I have been visiting this spot for almost thirty years and this is perhaps only the third winter I have not found those 'butterbutts'!

It is nice to see more seasonable weather, but with no snow.  It can stay cold, but I have no use for a lot of snow!