Mostly Waterfowl

 This past week some waterfowl has been on the move, but it was still quite frozen in many spots.  Spring weather is slowly creeping in after a cold winter.

I have spent more time along the St. Clair River than anywhere else trying to find something of interest.There was a lot to look at last Friday, but nothing of note.

The next day, I went to Lake St. Clair area.  Everything still very frozen, but a change in scenery was in order.  Fishing enthusiasts were quite happy with the ice this winter.

One could barely see the Detroit skyline in the distance.

I walked the south shore trail off Angler Line.  A couple of American Robins were along the trail, perhaps overwintering ones since there are lots of berries in the area.  Could be new arrivals since it was late February.

I then went to St. Clair NWA.  I did not expect much in the way of birds, but a good walk was in order.  It was the first time I had been there since it closed last fall for the new bridge installation.

Quite a fancy bridge!

Some Tundra Swans were flying overhead looking for a place to land.

Sunday I did not do much, so I went out Monday.  It was kind of a nasty day with a brutal northerly winds and blowing snow, but I had to get out.  Roads were iffy in some spots.

The previous day, some little white geese were reported at Blenheim Lagoons, and nearby.  Upon arrival in the area, I did not see them along Allison Line, but further down Lagoon Road, there were some geese in the corn field.

Initially, there were six in flight, which were likely the Ross's Geese.

Then I photographed four in flight, which were indeed Ross's.

Four others circled a bit and set down in the field.  They appeared to be Snow Geese.

In total, there were six apparent Ross's and four definite Snows.  I never got good looks at the other two "Ross's", but one has to be careful since they can hybridize.

It was quite uncomfortable in the strong cold wind, so I did not linger.

That same day, eleven Ross's Geese were photographed at Cathcart Park along the St. Clair River.  Looks like there was some movement of the species!

The next day was calm and clear, so I headed out to the St. Clair River.  Viewing conditions were excellent, but the river has completely opened up, so waterfowl spread out.

I did not see anything of note until I got to the CF Industries outfall.  Lo and behold, the eleven Ross's Geese were present! I really did not expect to see them.

I stayed in the car though, since I did not want to flush anything.  It may be the most Ross's Geese I have seen at one time.

There was a lot to look at along the river, but I could not find anything in the rare department.  I did find a male Northern Pintail at Sombra dock, which was a first for the year.  Perhaps an early migrant.

Here are some duck scenes.

Wednesday, I had no ambition, so did not do much until afternoon.  The LWI meeting was in the evening in Sarnia, so I worked my way up along the river. In recent trips out there, there is not much to see once you get north of Bickford Line.

Before sunset, I checked out the Sarnia area.  Nothing of note!

Today, I had no intent on going far, but went for a long walk at Reid Conservation Lands first thing.

In the afternoon, I went for a walk at the south shore trail at Mitchell's Bay.  The robins were still present along the trail.

There was a large flock of blackbirds along the trail as well, but just the usual species, and certainly no yellow-headeds!  Migrants do not come in until almost mid-April though.

Lake St. Clair is still very frozen as far as the eye can see, but with mild weather approaching, spots will be opening up.

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

River St. Clair Ducks

Ducks continue to be in good numbers along the St. Clair River.  I did some looking around at noon and after work today.  Now that days are getting significantly longer, there is more time after work!
A good raft of ducks was in close at Port Lambton all day.  Most were Redhead of course, but some Canvasback, Greater Scaup, Bufflehead and Common Goldeneye were mixed in.

The hermaphrodite Mallard made an appearance today.  It is unique enough that I know it was been around at least 8 years!

Late this afternoon, a nice concentration of ducks was at the McKeough Outlet south of Sombra.

portion of the group

A decent raft of ducks, mostly Canvasback, was off Cundick Park and Stoke's Point.  I found a male American Wigeon along the shoreline associating with Mallards.  I only had the G16 camera, so quality is not that good.

We still have hundreds of Herring Gulls along the river and rather few white-winged gulls.  More Ring-billed Gulls seem to be showing up, and perhaps lots more will show up this coming weekend with the very mild weather!
Those northern rarities (Ivory or Ross's Gulls) I hope for still elude us!

New Year's Birding Along Lake St. Clair

Sunrise in Dover

It was a very windy start to 2015 with a westerly wind up to 50 km/h here.  That made for some uncomfortable birding along Lake St. Clair for the 35th St. Clair NWA CBC!  This count is a good way to start off the year as we often see some good birds in areas we normally do not have access.

This year I got into some territory that I had never been in before.  It was quite interesting and would have been more productive if it was not for that wind.  A couple of decent birds were tallied though.
At dawn, I saw 2 Snowy Owls along Winter Line between Marsh and Mallard Lines.  One was on a fence, but as I put up the camera, it took off!

Along Lake St. Clair there are several private marshes so access can be an issue this time of year. Our party got into one.  One of our first birds was Wild Turkey when we saw a group in a corn field with deer right alongside.  In fact, there were several White-tailed Deer, including this one watching us along a dike.

Just after this encounter, we came across a couple of Common Redpolls, the only ones recorded on the count.  It was uncertain how many were present, but it was another tick on the list.  There have been very few redpolls yet in our area, but maybe they will become more plentiful soon.
Farther down the same dike, we came across a good-sized flock of juncos/tree sparrows but nothing was with them.  Along a hedgerow, a pure flock of close to 15 White-crowned Sparrows came along.  Nice to see that especially this winter when very few sparrows are around.  These were the only ones on the count!

In another section of the property beside our only small woodlot consisting mostly of Trembling Aspen, I heard the characteristic sound of a Fox Sparrow.  I came back later and obtained good looks at the bird which not surprisingly was the only one on the count.  In the process, a Great Horned Owl flushed for another tick on the list.

On the return walk, a Merlin darted past us and perched briefly.  It has been a while since I have seen one, but a few stick around during winter.

Bald Eagles were plentiful, as we saw at least 15 in our area.  They nest in the area which obviously has something to do with the number.  At one point we saw about 12 out on the frozen lake.

Later, while driving some roads, I came across 3 Snowy Owls in one field.  These were known wintering birds though.

As always, it will be interesting to see the result of the count, including the number of Snowy Owls.