More River Runs!

 The last few days I have been taking advantage of the waterfowl show along the St. Clair River.  There is not much else to do anyway!  As mentioned before, waterfowl has congregated on the St. Clair River like it used to be in the "old days".

Redhead is the most common of course, but this year we have had more Canvasback than usual.

Tundra Swans are regular wintering creatures anymore.  Never used to see them when I first started birding!

at Fawn Island

A young Bald Eagle stirred things up at one point beside Fawn Island.

Despite much effort, we have not found any real rarities!  Although, there are a number of hybrids hiding among the various rafts.  There has been Redhead X Canvasback, Ring-necked X Redhead, Redhead X Lesser Scaup and Ring-necked X Lesser Scaup.  Who knows what else, since there are so many ducks out there of late.  I guess some ducks get desperate and mate with whatever comes along!

There are hardly any gulls on the main part of the river, strangely, but lots are at Sarnia.  I had to go to Sarnia later on Wednesday, so I checked out that area.  The Lambton Wildlife meeting was in the evening, with a member's showcase night.  I presented show on Odonate highlights of 2024.  Since 2024 was an excellent year for odonates, it was a no-brainer!  I had incredible luck with odonates this past summer.

There was upwards of 1000 gulls around Sarnia, but most were Herring.  Oddly, there have been no rarities, yet!

I only carried the point and shoot camera this trip.

Manitoulin in winter layup

The Manitoulin just arrived from Buffalo where it was stuck in the ice for a couple of days.

I did see a likely American Herring X Glaucous Gull on the Bay.  At least six Glaucous Gulls (one would think there would be more by now!)

I recall some winters where we have had thousands of gulls on the river.  One day I counted 60+ Glaucous Gulls from Port Lambton to south of Sarnia 3 February 2013!

That morning, I was on the lower part of the river looking for things.  Just the "usuals' were seen.

Of interest, I noticed a White-tailed Deer in mid-river at Port Lambton.  I guess it tried to cross the river at some point.  It was still in place when I returned.

The Coast Guard ice breaker Mackinac was escorting the Iver Bright downbound at Fawn Island.

Thursday, I was out but only went to Cathcart Park.  There was one casualty there.

Common Goldeneye

Possibly an eagle dropped it.  I once saw a Bald Eagle take a Common Goldeneye, but it dropped the creature still alive.

Friday was a horrible weather day with rain, then snow and high winds.  I stayed in most of the day, but took a short visit to Port Lambton in mid afternoon.  Lots of Canvasback were there.

Half a dozen Ring-necked Ducks were in the mix here.  There are quite a few of this species on the river this winter.

Today, I went all the way up to Guthrie Park, Corunna.  It was ducks galore all along.  No way to look at all of the ducks.  There were not as many Canvasback today though.

I did not take much in the way of photos today.  At Cundick Park, a number of ducks were close.  I picked out what I think was a Ring-necked X Lesser Scaup hybrid.  We saw this type of hybrid on the river many years ago.

Lots of Common Goldeneye, among others species were at Stag Island.  Still could not pick out a Barrow's Goldeneye though!  Still lots of time....

There are a number of Trumpeter Swans on the river this winter, but they still come up rare on eBird.  It is probably time to get this off the "rare" list, since they are not so in Chatham-Kent or Essex anymore.

This swan I thought was a Trumpeter at Guthrie Park.  I am on the fence with this one though, as the head shape seems more like a Tundra.  

A small Cooper's Hawk visited the yard this afternoon.

View from the past at Stokes Point.

Guthrie Gullerama and Rondeau Tails

 With the recent "more normal" winter weather, we finally have some ice!  The St. Clair River has filled up with ice in the past few days.  Gulls have been gathering at Corunna'a Guthrie Park.  I checked it out the other day.  

Hundreds of gulls have arrived and enjoy riding the ice floes.  Hopefully we get something close to last year's numbers!

There were a few Glaucous Gulls, but no Iceland and certainly no rarities yet.

A few ducks were around including Common Goldeneye.

Today I needed another "long" walk.  The weather was not ideal (brisk east winds and a bit of snow), but Rondeau's marsh trail was the pick of the day.  It is actually the most interesting part of the park at the present with regards to birds.

With the wind, birds were hunkered down, so not as many as the last time I was out there.  I did manage to find three Common Yellowthroats.  One was an immaculate male at Long Pond which suddenly popped up in front of me while I was standing in one spot.  It quickly disappeared though.

On the way back, a female made an appearance and was more co-operative.

If you look closely, it has no tail!  I did not notice that at first. Maybe that is why it stayed for the winter.  It would need a good "tail" wind to go south!

Seems to be more chickadees out marsh trail than any other particular spot in the park.  Some being acrobatic.

I have been getting quite a few blackbirds around home, so I have been watching closely.  Unfortunately no yellow heads have popped up yet!  I do have it for the yard list, but many, many years ago.

Gullerama on Lake St. Clair

Monday morning I checked out the south shore of Lake St. Clair where thousands of gulls have congregated.  Most were Herring, of course, but it is an impressive sight.
Starting at Lighthouse Cove, I noted over 4000 Herring Gulls plus others. Gulls were out as far as one could see.

Also of note were many Bald Eagles on the ice.  It is not unusual to have a large number of Bald Eagles around this area in winter.  On my final scan, I counted 30.

Not too many ducks were evident on my visit, and certainly nothing of note.

Lighthouse Cove, at the mouth of the Thames River, is often an excellent place for waterbirds in winter.  I have had good times there in the past.

I next moved on to Belle River where we have the next big concentration of gulls.  There were not quite as many as Lighthouse Cove, but still an impressive number of several thousand.

This is a nice public area jutting out into the lake with parkland and lots of parking available.  I have been here in the summer, as there is a nice marina as well.

Here, I noted at least seven Lesser Black-backed Gulls fairly close.  Lighting was very harse with the bright sunshine (I am not used to it around weekends!).  There could have been some immature Lessers, but none stood out in the bright sun.

That was far enough along the shoreline for me, as I was fairly close to Windsor/Detroit, as seen in the distance.

On the way back, I stopped at Tremblay Beach CA at Stoney Point.  It is at a dead-end road east of the village.  I used to go there often back in the "old" days as it was a decent birding spot.
There is a wetland there, but it is now entirely phragmites.  A viewing tower stands at the parking lot for some unknown reason!  All you can see is phragmites.  The wetland was once good, but quickly filled in with phrag early on.  Kind of useless now!

It used to be a good spot as the sewage lagoon are adjacent too.  Good birds here in the past included Purple Gallinule (1984) and Black-necked Stilt (1989) and Swainson's Warbler (1993).  I first went here way back in June 1989 when the Stilt was present for a couple of weeks.  Good grief, how time flies!
Yellow-headed Blackbird used to nest here as well!  I recall seeing those too.

I used to walk along the shoreline, then along the dike over to the railroad tracks.  The tracks paralleled the lagoons so one could see into the lagoons.

Eroded Shoreline trail

On my visit yesterday there were lots of gulls on the lake, including a Glaucous fairly close.

I did not do much the rest of the day, so nothing to add!

Lake St. Clair at Tremblay Beach CA

Lambton Birding February 8

With colder temps the last couple of days, we finally have some ice in the St. Clair River, albeit slush ice.  It helps to concentrate gulls and ducks, which birders like.  It is good for looking at gulls, as they are lazy creatures that like to ride the floes!

I did a river run early this morning, then went to the east end of Lambton County through the countryside.  There appeared to be more birds today than I have been seeing of late.  Lots of hawks, Snow Buntings and Horned Larks were along the roads.

Back to the river, there were lots of gulls all along the river, but nothing new.

More ducks were at Stag Island, namely Common Goldeneye and Long-tailed.  Seems more Long-tailed have moved in there and off Sarnia on Lake Huron.

While heading upriver, I got word that four Harlequin Ducks were close to shore near the Bluewater Bridges.  I was going to check there anyway, so upon arrival, I found the four ducks were right there!

There was a brief bout of sun when I arrived, so lighting was not the best overall.  But, one has to remember it is the weekend afterall.  Nice to have them in close though!

Smile!

These were found today by Darrell Parsons.  Earlier in the week, Matt Parsons had four fly be Kettle Point.  No doubt these are the very same ducks!

I next headed down to the harbour area and Sarnia Bay.  There was lots to look at!  The ice certainly helps. 
In the harbour, a beauty of an adult Greater Black-backed X Glaucous Gull was swimming.  I spotted it at the last moment while looking through a fence, so no good photo.

Just south of the marina, I spotted the Greater White-fronted Goose on the ice hidden among Canada Geese.  It must have had a hard day yesterday as it slept the whole time.  Find it in this photo!

While there, five Cackling Geese flew in nearby.

Lots of gulls to look at, including one distant Lesser Black-backed.

As I was heading to the south end of downtown Sarnia, I got word that there was lots to look at off Canatara Park, including Black Scoters and Horned Grebes.  So, I did an about-face and headed to that location.

I spent a good hour at the beach coming up with one Black Scoter (FOY), one Horned Grebe (FOY), four White-winged Scoters, and hundreds of Long-tailed Ducks and Redhead among a few incidentals.

Next mission was to go through the countryside. On my way, I spotted a Common Raven along #79.  They are indeed becoming more regular in Lambton.

I ended up at the Middlesex border.  I had hoped to see a Golden Eagle, but my bad luck persisted and I did not find one despite a very thorough search.  Everyone else finds them right away, but not me!  Baffling to say the least.

Consolation prize was a Red-shouldered Hawk, always nice to see in winter.

I did come across a shrike from the north, but the weekend lighting was not good where it was perched.

I saw lots of hawks, including a couple of Rough-legged, which I had not seen all winter believe it or not.

Several harriers were out and about, including one male on the ground that I saw out of the corner of my eye.  I had to turn around to take another look as I had visions of a Gyrfalcon!  I guess I would not be that lucky since I cannot even find a Golden Eagle.

One more day on the weekend.  Who knows what the weather will be....the forecasts continously change.