River Rambles and Weekend Woes

Although the appearance of winter (finally) was somewhat welcome, the timing was off.  Hopefully we are not starting this nonsense again when the weather goes for a crap each weekend!
Anticipating the approach of a 'typical' weekend, I headed upriver late Friday afternoon as far a Corunna before it got too dark.
Canada Geese were the popular bird this day, as hundreds were all along the river.  I stopped by Cath's Cart park where there were too many to sort through. I did pick out some small ones on the distant grass, but when they got up to fly, their higher-toned honks were obvious.  There were at least three Cackling Geese flying away.
Lots of ducks were in the area as well.

On the way to Corunna, I slid over to Greenway Line where I came across a Northern Shrike.  Just a few minutes earlier, I said to myself that it might be a good time for a shrike!  Sure enough....

Off Guthrie Park, there was enough light to see the wintering wigeon.

Saturday morning, before too much snow came down, I headed to Sarnia.  There was not a much to see as on the previous day.  Little was at the Sombra dock and certainly nothing new.

I did see some Tundra Swans at Cathcart Park which I had missed the previous evening, but I could not pick out any small geese in the poor light.  They were there somewhere.....

Cans

Not much was off Guthrie Park on Saturday.

I spent quite a bit of time at Sarnia Bay, where there was a variety of ducks and hundreds of gulls.

At least four Glaucous Gulls represented the white-winged variety, and there were lots of Great Black-backed.
At one point, I picked out two adult "Great Lakes" Gulls--hybrid of Herring and Great Black-backed.  Too distant and poor visibility prevented any photo attempt.

Note, duck on right is a hybrid

Many geese were at the entrance to the government dock area, but I could not find anything different.  The wintering Common Loon was taking a nap well offshore.

The north slip was mostly frozen, but some gulls were present.  Perhaps I missed a Horned Grebe which was seen there today!

On the way home, I took back roads as all the snow was making things dicey.  There were lots of Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, etc., and at one point I came across a nice flock of Lapland Longspurs.  It was a pure flock of at least 30.

Today, travels were limited with the howling wind and bitter cold.  Roads were dicey with the blowing snow, so my activities were curtailed.  No doubt it will be nice when Monday dawns.

I had been wanting to check the mouth of the Thames River for some time, but things have completely frozen up now.  At the Jeannette's Creek boat launch, one could see a thick mass of waterfowl downriver.

It was too distant to get much detail, but most were Mallards.  I did pick out four Double-crested Cormorants which had been wintering in the area.  Perhaps the Great Blue Herons had the common sense to leave, as I did not see any!

One has to wonder what all was in that mass.

A crazy number of Bald Eagles have been in the area this winter--I could see fifteen from this vantage point.

I wonder what that Common Merganser was thinking?

In the afternoon I watched the yard feeders, but nothing new showed up.  Feeders have been virtually dead so far this winter.  I am going to have lots of seed left at the end of the season I think!
I had three Red-breasted Nuthatches at one point earlier in the winter, but only saw one today.  It was looking a little worse for the wear.

New Year's CBC

We started off the New Year with one last CBC--the St. Clair NWA.  Although the relative temperature was not terribly cold, the wind chill made it unbearable.  As a result, we spent little time out of the car!

Milder years are much better with open water and much waterfowl.  It is not often we get a winter like this.

I checked out the wildlife area with Pete Read and Don Pye.  Normally we would walk the dike and Balmoral Line, but it was out of the question today.  There would not be much, if anything, along the dike.  Most birds would have been long gone or dead by now!

I arrived a bit earlier and scouted around.  On the way there, I saw two Snowy Owls along Heron Line in their usual position (way out).

One here

Several groups of Snow Buntings were seen along the way.  They do not mind this weather!

We decided to go by car down Balmoral Line.  There was a small open water area where geese and ducks were packed--only kept open because they stay there.  It was difficult to pick out anything different, and we could not stay out of the car any length of time.

However, there were two Northern Pintail and a single male Northern Shoveler mixed in with 2000+ Mallard and Black ducks.

A lone Tundra Swan, which we assumed was still alive, kept its head down the whole time.

Near the end of Balmoral Line, we encountered a group of Rusty Blackbirds working along the ditch out of the wind.

Once in a while, we get Brewer's Blackbird on this count, but not today.

We arrived back at the parking lot and noticed a bird under the Red Cedar alongside the ditch.  We got a little closer and I realized it was a Gray Catbird!  Of all the things to find out there this winter....

I am not sure if it will survive much longer as the weather is supposed to get even colder this week.

I believe I have seen one other catbird on this count when we checked out Bradley many years ago.

We decided to try a walk, but only got to the little bridge.  It was pointless to go any further!

By this time it was about 11:30 and we were pretty much done.  To accommodate everyone, the areas are small and there is not enough to go around for a full day's work anymore.  Just as well, it was pretty bleak out there today!  However, this count is always a good way to start off the New Year.

And of course, this count is known for the crows.

Early morning feed

Foggy and Soggy

Not surprisingly, there was dense fog this morning as this wacky weather continues.  I headed north towards Sarnia.  One could see virtually nothing on the St. Clair River except the wintering ducks at the Sombra ferry dock.

It was a little clearer at Sarnia and some of the Sarnia Bay waterfowl were at the parking lot along Front Street.

At the lakewatch on Lake Huron, the massive number of Long-tailed Ducks were in view.

I watched there for some time but the ducks were 99% Long-tailed--probably around 4000 birds. I did see two White-winged Scoters and a few Red-breasted Mergansers and Redhead.

Very few gulls are around right now.

After some shopping and an early lunch, I headed down Blackwell Sideroad and right away spotted a Snowy Owl atop a pole.

Sarnia Solar Snowy

A robin was beside the old landfill.  Earlier I saw two robins at Brander Park in Port Lambton.  Robins seem to be everywhere this winter.  Yesterday morning a small flock flew over the marina at Port Lambton.

A number of ducks and Canada Geese were in a cornfield between London Line and Confederation, but I did not see anything noteworthy.

There are several Short-eared Owls at the Sarnia solar farm this winter, best seen at dusk.  Perhaps I will head up that way during that time of day.

The River

I guess I better get something up today for you blog addicts.  I did see much today, but went to Lighthouse Cove.  As I expected, it was mostly ice, but one very small open patch held a Great Blue Heron, Double-crested Cormorant and a few Mallards.
Along the way there were the usual roadside birds including a couple of Savannah Sparrows near Jeannette's Creek.
No Snowy Owls to be found!

Just outside Wallaceburg, I was surprised to find a number of birds on the Snye at Bluewater Conference (where the Johnston Channel begins).  They were a bit distant, but included swans, geese, gulls and ducks.  One gull was a Glaucous (go figure!), a species which I had never seen before on the Snye. lol.

The photo does not do the ducks justice, but the bulk were Mallards!  There were 300+ and a few Blacks.  The divers were Canvasback and Common Mergs.  All a bit too distant to look for oddities.

More scenes on the St. Clair River.

One is continually drawn to that river at all times of the year!  For a birder, the winter is especially attractive.  I am not sure I could live anywhere else as the river has been a part of me my entire life.  In the summer when I was very young, we always had picnics somewhere along the river.  Our favourite spot was "The Willows" (now called Seager Park).  I always stop there to look for birds on the water.  And, this spot needless to say, was where I found the Ivory Gull--my most exciting find ever.

Rusty the Trumpeter and his/her partner has been hanging out at Cathcart Park the last few days.