Some Recent Arrivals/Sightings

 It has been rather wintry the last few days, but spring arrivals are trickling in.

A few days ago, a couple of early Blue-winged Teal were at Roberta Stewart Wetland.  Earliest spring migrants I have seen.  Unfortunately, just as I was settling in, a Bald Eagle came in and flushed everything!

Down at Erieau, I finally went to see the Lesser Yellowlegs that came in a few weeks ago in February.  It likely wintered not too far away since it was so early.

Nearby, the Whooper Swan was having fun in a small pond.  Certainly an impressive-looking swan, but any seen in Ontario are escapees.

Horned Grebes have been arriving in the last week.

Yesterday was blustery and cold, but I went down Rondeau way anyway.  Lots of open water had frozen due to the cold.  Any shorebird types were indeed not happy!

Things were quite frozen at Keith McLean C. L.  

This early-arrival Wilson's Snipe was wondering what it was doing here, huddled out of the wind.

Nearby, a Killdeer was complaining about the ice.

Today started out cold, and everything was frozen, but it was a cloudless sunny day.  I did not find anything of note.  Seems the Wilkesport Long-eared Owl has finally left for the north, as I could not find it in its favourite tree.

A pleasant walk at Reid CA in the afternoon took advantage of the nice weather.

Since this blog has had little subject matter in recent weeks, I have another history note for the boatnerds.

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.

On the return trip from Bob-Lo Island, it was docked somewhere close to Windsor!

Then There Were Three

I headed down to Rondeau and area early this morning to check out the sights.  It turned out to be rather soggy a better part of the morning (yes, it is the weekend!), but some good birds were around.
There was a break in the rain, so Steve Charbonneau and I scoped the massive number of ducks on Rondeau Bay (20,000?), at the old pier area.  I had just started scoping and I put myself right on a male Eurasian Wigeon!

Usually Steve finds these things each year, but my ducks were aligned today (pun intended!).  Lighting was not the best at times, but there were thousands of ducks to sort through.
While there, we noticed lots of birds streaming north along the shoreline (most were juncos), so we thought a walk out marsh trail was in order.  Just after we got out of the cars, it started raining again....so much for that idea!


It looked like a long rain, so we headed our separate ways outside the park.  I went over to Ridgetown Lagoons and saw the Cattle Egret that Jeremy Hatt reported on Friday.  It was as far away as it could possibly be!

This IS a Cattle Egret!

Next stop was Erieau where the pier area seemed rather dead.  I did not get out to scope the rocks though, but I see that Steve "spotted" a sandpiper.  Also a Ruddy Turnstone.

I walked the rail trail to the viewing stand and some birds were present including a Gray Catbird and a Marsh Wren.  The wrens often are present on the CBC in December, so it may stay.

Blenheim Lagoons was on the agenda next.  Right away, I saw two Cattle Egrets on the main berm.

Along the edge of the middle pond, were three Wilson's Snipe and about 100 Dunlin.

I also picked out a single Pectoral associating with the Dunlin.

Over at the sprinkler cells, were a few more Dunlin, 11 Greater Yellowlegs and 4 Lesser Yellowlegs.

On the way back, the two Cattle Egrets had cloned another.  There were three!

The number of Cattle Egrets seem to fluctuate, so who knows how many are actually around.

Down along Stefina Line, I saw an adult Golden Eagle heading west over the pasture.

Feeling shortchanged from the morning, I went back to Rondeau and walked out marsh trail.  I saw some different birds from the morning including Vesper Sparrow perched in the Willow tree along the marsh boardwalk.  Seemed like an odd spot for one!
I also had a Marsh Wren near the tower.

I did not try to look at ducks as they were farther out than in the morning.

It was a good weekend and certainly a very exciting Saturday at Point Pelee (see previous blog post).

Pelee Tip Lovefest and Gull Mania at Wheatley!

Although there was a brutal west wind today, there was quite a bit of activity at the Tip of Point Pelee.  A number of people showed up today and only a couple of LLB's!

Although we had hoped for a desirable SW wind (which was forecast all week), we take what comes along.  Conditions were difficult for getting a good look at gulls barrelling down the west side as we had to take shelter out of the wind.  As well, there was a significant shimmer today which made focusing on distant birds impossible.

The only notable gulls were a couple of Lesser Black-backed sitting on the Tip.  One fine adult and one first cycle.

Several Horned Grebes were around as I counted around 30, but loons were slim picking with only about 3 Commons.

Quite a few Peregrine Falcons were on the move today.  Difficult to say how many, but I saw at least 8.  A couple of Osprey headed south over the lake as well.

Several times during the day, sleet came down!  Not sure what else to call it, but there were ice pellets.  A depressing sign of things to come.

I checked out Shuster Trail and De Laurier.  A few passerines were hiding in the shrubs.  Included were a few warblers such as an Ovenbird, a couple of Gray-cheeked Thrushes and Eastern Phoebes.

Passing by Hillman Marsh, I saw a number of Great Egrets, including this one with blue wing tag #E89.  It was banded at Nottawasaga Island 19 June 2014 by Chip Weseloh and crew.

I stopped at Wheatley Harbour on the way home and spent some time there as there were well over a thousand gulls or more!  I saw at least three Lesser Black-backed Gulls there (2 adult, 1 second cycle).

Kevin McLaughlin and Bill Lamond came along later to check out the situation too.

An early Long-tailed Duck has been frequenting the harbour this week....

I decided to take a different route home and stopped at Blenheim Lagoons.  It was actually pretty good.  Lots of shorebirds in the sprinklers again, including at least 75 Lesser Yellowlegs. Several Dunlin were in as well among other species.

The female Bufflehead is still present and a couple of American Coots were new among the usual ducks.
A good number of Tree Swallows were in (about 100). I carefully looked them through, but could not come up with any different ones.  We talked about Violet-green Swallow this morning....maybe Pelee's next new bird?

McKeough/Reid Insects and More

This morning I made my daily stop at Stewart Wetland west of town.  Finally some migrant shorebirds!  Among the many usual Killdeer, were 4 Lesser Yellowlegs, a Least Sandpiper and a Short-billed Dowitcher.  These are the first shorebirds I have seen there this month.  Habitat is excellent!

Just as I arrived, 5 Sandhill Cranes were coming off Walpole Island and at least a couple others were in a field just over the river in a field.

This evening I had the goal of finding one of the Sydenham River specialties--Flag-tailed Spinyleg.  I found several which were my first of the summer at McKeough CA.

Here are some other dragons.

Black Saddlebags

Twelve-spotted Skimmer

Also had Halloween Pennant, but it did not want to sit for any length of time!
Have not seen Pronghorn Clubtail yet.

I made a brief stop at Reid CA and saw some usuals such as Royal River Cruiser.  I like these big green-eyed creatures!

Here are a couple other dragons.

Common Whitetail male

Widow Skimmer male

Quite a few Banded Hairstreaks were milling about.  Getting worn!

Too late in the day for sedge skippers.  They go to bed early!

Pelee Parulas and Some Shorebirds

I headed down to Point Pelee early this morning and met up with Steve Pike. I walked the main road to the Tip before Steve arrived on his bicycle, then we checked out the Tip area.
Many of the birds today were just heard, but along the way  a Black-throated Green Warbler was singing just north of the half-way stop.  A couple of Ovenbirds were singing in the woods as were a couple of American Redstarts among the common birds.

Cedar Waxwing were plentiful today, but midges were even more so!  Black spots on this photo are midges.

The Tip had a number of gulls, but nothing notable.  Many were off the east side where lighting was not good.  It was a year ago I had three Common Loons, but none noted today.
We decided to walk up west beach trail.  Behind the serengeti tree, a Northern Parula was singing.
North of that on the lake was a male Greater Scaup...all alone!
Along the way, many Giant and Spicebush Swallowtails were flying, but practically no dragonflies.

Several Little Wood Satyrs were out today--the first I have seen this year.

Later in the morning I saw this female Twelve-spotted Skimmer south of northwest beach.

It was a fine day, so I headed towards De Laurier. Along the road I heard another Northern Parula north of White Pine with its characteristic song.
Later, Steve mentioned that he another Northern Parula and a Black-throated Green Warbler in the visitor centre area.

Listening at the old maintenance area, I briefly heard a Wilson's Warbler singing.  Often some are lingering into June in southwestern Ontario.

Inspired by Pelee Chickadee's blog post, I checked out the nesting Black Terns on marsh boardwalk.  One had to brave a couple of very aggressive Red-winged Blackbirds along the way!

They are close to the boardwalk, affording stellar views.

On the way home, I slid into Hillman Marsh to check out the shorebird cell.  Habitat is still excellent with many birds to see.  A total of 18 Great Egrets was present.

Semipalmated Sandpipers and Dunlin were feeding, as were Spotted Sandpipers and Black-bellied Plovers.

Quite a few ducks were swimming including the long-staying male Bufflehead.
No Little Gulls today, at least around noon.

Probably most notable was this Lesser Yellowlegs.  Fall migration (uggg!) is not far off, so we will be seeing these again soon!

Nearer home, I quickly checked Angler Line and Mitchell's Bay.  Lots of human activity, but nothing notable in birds.  As I mentioned before, the Yellow-headed Blackbirds have left the scene!

I finally got around to getting the Bird Trax back up after having some difficulty with it.  See right sidebar to check out sightings in Chatham-Kent.