Dovetown Birding and Tip Watching

 Friday, the mission was to check out Shrewsbury where some doves were seen recently.  On May 27, Ian Richards, Shrewsbury's newest resident, found a Eurasian Collared-Dove near his house.  It was relocated by some intrepid birders earlier this week.

On Thursday, Garry Sadler was looking for it but turned up a White-winged Dove!  He eventually saw the collared-dove as well.  You can see his photos on eBird.

Early Friday morning I arrived just after sun-up and took on the search.  There are an amazing number of Mourning Doves to sort through!  After some time, I left without any luck on the collared-dove, but then Steve Charbonneau found it at the west end of Metcalfe Street.  I raced back to find it singing in a dead tree.😉

There are few records for the Rondeau area.  For me, I only heard the one that was at the park in May 2003.  I was certain I had one fly over south point trail many years ago as well.  I never wrote it up though!

I suspect the White-winged Dove is still hiding in Lonesome Dove as well.

I then did some birding in Rondeau Park, just finding breeding birds.

Acadian Flycatcher

A stop at McLean Conservation Lands is always interesting, so that was next.  An amazing number of gulls has been present, but no rarities.

At least four Lesser Black-backed Gulls are amongst them.

The White-faced Ibis was not seen after Thursday.

Today, a change in scenery was needed so I headed to Point Pelee where I had a good feeling about seeing American White Pelicans.  They are regular there at this time of year since they now breed on the small islands in Lake Erie.

Upon arrival at the Tip, three pelicans were there to greet me.😄

Heading back, I took a look out the east side from the "42 sign" trail.  I saw two more pelicans for a total of five.  Where those two suddenly came from, I have no idea!

There was good gull action at the Tip as well.  I saw two first cycle Little Gulls early on, with one in an odd plumage.  A small percentage of first cycle birds will develop a full hood.

I have had Franklin's, Black-headed and Laughing Gull there at this time of year, but none were to be seen today.😢

Most bonies were immatures, but this one adult stood out.

I had the Tip pretty much to myself for almost two hours before the "tourists" arrived.

Little Gull (lower bird)

I did not spend much more time in the park.  As usual, butterflies were scarce.

Eastern Kingbird

I stopped by Hillman marsh to take a peek at the shorebird cell.  By this time of year it is always drained, but worth a look.  Nine Great Egrets and three Sandhill Cranes were there among some Mallards.

On the way home I stopped by the Camper's Cove field east of Wheatley where one would expect Dickcissels by this time.  Sure enough I heard one.

Mission accomplished for today!

Recent Observations (Pelee) and Events (Sombra Ferry)

With the very hot and dry weather, little has been happening at my end.  Or, at least one has no ambition!

Today I wanted to go to Point Pelee.  We can now get in the park at 7 a.m., so one can beat the heat and tourists!  I walked to the Tip and watched for over an hour.  I had the place to myself, so that was nice.  A few gulls were around, including the Lesser Black-backed that has been around for some time.

There were no Bonaparte's Gulls for some time, but all of a sudden, a bunch came in.  Possibly they were scared off Seacliffe Beach by tourists.

Several Black and Common Terns were loafing about.

Pelicans have thinned out, but at one point I am sure I had one in the distance.

I walked up west beach trail, then cut over to Sparrow Field in hopes of seeing the resident Yellow-breasted Chat.  It was still there and made a lot of noise in the underbrush for the longest time.  It popped up briefly, so I got a quick look, then it disappeared again.  So much for a photo!  Included here is a photo from last year (2019) at northwest beach in the park.

It was a FOY, as there were only a couple of at Rondeau this spring I never caught up with.  The one at McGeachy Pond never co-operated for me despite my efforts!

I continued up west beach trail, but there was little to see.  I am sure the hot and dry conditions kept leps and odes at bay.  I saw only a few common species.

Common Whitetail (f)

Black Saddlebags

Blue Dasher (f)

I checked Cactus Field trail as well before leaving.

Out of the park, I passed by Mersea Road 21 fields.  Seven Short-billed Dowitcher were in the wet area.

I headed east and ended up at Blenheim lagoons.  We are indeed well into fall migration, and lots of shorebirds are showing up.  There were over 30 Lesser Yellowlegs at Blenheim, among other species.

Halloween Pennant

The summering Ring-necked Duck and Canvasback were still around.

Blenheim bonie

Now I must inject an historical note here!
It was the end of an era at Sombra this week, as the ferries were sold.  The Daldean left about 05:15 Tuesday morning, much too early for me to get up!
Some photos were taken just downriver by M.B., and I thank him very much for these.

My cousin Rusty was at the helm to take the Daldean to its new home at Bob-Lo Island.

This ferry means much to me as it was built new at Erieau in 1950-51 on order from my grandfather, Morgan Dalgety, and his business partner at the time.
There was much fanfare on its maiden voyage and arrival at Sombra July 1, 1951.  There was a big celebration for the 'big new ferry' after its arrival.

The photo below was taken at Port Lambton July 1, 1951 by my uncle Bill Abraham passing near the old Ohio Cottage Hotel. The Mann summer cottage was nearby.

Three long and two short!

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

Guthrie Gulling

With the wacky weather upon us today, my plans were changed (stop looking at the forecasts!).  There was not much else to do except head up to Corunna and look at the gulls off Guthrie Park.  I ended up spending 2.5h hours there!  There was a good showing today with upwards of 2000 gulls and good variety.

Needless to say, most were Herring gulls, but there were several each of Iceland (including Thayer's), Lesser Black-backed, Glaucous, and of course Great Black-backed.

Yet again there was nothing really new, but it was fun to sort through the constantly-moving gulls.

I figured that there were five Lesser Black-backed Gulls of various ages, but I never got good photos of them.

It took a while before I saw Glaucous, and even longer before I saw an Iceland.  I saw at least five Glaucous.  Three adults, one 2nd cycle and one first cycle.

The first Iceland I saw was a biscuit-coloured first year bird.  Later I saw another first cycle, but obviously different.  There was also an adult.

After re-positioning, I spotted one that seemed to fit Thayer's-type or at least close.  A nice adult and I managed to nail a photo.

There was also a Herring X Great Black-backed Gull.  Possibly a third cycle bird which I did not get a proper photo since I got on it too late.  Different than the one I had seen earlier in the month.

After some time there, I left for home as there was not much else to do in gale-force winds!