Wild Weekend!

Erieau Pier

It was a pretty amazing weekend both for weather and birds.  I am not sure I have seen such sustained strong NE winds for several days in a row, but it made for some interesting scenery.  Shorelines were battered and some areas flooded.

Saturday, I got up early to do a lakewatch at Erieau, joining Steve Charbonneau, Mike Bouman, Deryl Nethercott first thing on the beach.  We found a fairly sheltered spot towards the westerly end of the public beach.  We were later joined by Garth Riley and his son Dan, as well as Allen Woodliffe.

For the most part, there was not a huge number of birds, but a very steady stream of them mostly going east.  Horned Grebes were in good numbers, with at least 250 going by or swimming in the 4+ hours we were there.

I was intent on seeing a Sabine's Gull for my Rondeau list. NOT!  It was seen later in the day, but I could not stay as I wanted to head over to Point Pelee area for the OFO convention.

Early on, we saw the first jaeger.  It turned out to be a decent day for jaegers, with about eight sightings.  (Difficult to say if a couple of those were repeats coming back).  However, Steve and I got a Rondeau list bird!  A Pomarine Jaeger came in towards the pier, and it was in fact the closest jaeger we saw.  Photos were useless!

We did see two definite Parasitic Jaegers.  This is all significant because in the 27+ years I have been birding Rondeau, I have only seen 3 jaegers (one unidentifiable was last week!).  They are very rare at Rondeau, but this year seems to be good.

Another good sighting was a flyby Willet heading east.  Certainly a different bird than Willie at the the lagoons.
Some birds were taking shelter where possible.

Steve and I checked a spot near Erie Beach later (where the one Sabine's was seen on Friday) and had another distant jaeger.

After the lakewatch I headed west over to Mersea Road 21 and road 2 where there was gull mania.  A Sabine's was seen there and at least 3 adult Little Gulls.

By this time weather was horrific with rain and high winds.  Must be the weekend!  I did not see the Sabine's at first, but persisted after most people left and finally saw it.
Birds were taking shelter in the fields.  Even Horned Grebes were in this field!

I wandered around a bit till 4 p.m., but spent a little time at the park near Pelee Wings.  What else to do?  There was quite a bit of action here actually.  After some time, some Horned Grebes drifted in close to shore.  I thought this would be good time for an Eared Grebe.  Not long after, I spotted one!
Mike Tate et al saw this bird a bit later after I put out the word.

Today, Sunday, I was a bit apprehensive since I was to lead a trip in Rondeau Park.  Sometime yesterday, I decided to change meeting place due to the weather and a couple other factors.

Marsh Trail was the best choice and a good choice it was.  We had lots of birds, including 14-15 species of warblers.  Some were getting late in migration such as Northern Waterthrush and Blackburnian. I only had the Canon G16 today.

Blackburnian

Some Indigo Buntings were seen, and probably the best bird was a Sora at the marsh tower.  I heard the bird on the walk out, then another couple actually saw the bird briefly.
Checklist from eBird:
OFO Rondeau Park

After lunch the tour went to Blenheim Lagoons.  Lots to see there as well.  A single Red-necked Phalarope started things off.  Lots of ducks too.  Among the many bonies was a Little Gull.
On the walk to the sprinklers, I had some luck with a brief sighting of a Nelson's Sparrow.  My initial look noted a short spiky tail, and luckily it alighted on some weeds for a brief look.

Over at the sprinklers, some shorebirds were in including 3 White-rumped and others.  At first we could not see in the back cell, but a closer look revealed 5 Long-billed Dowitchers and....Willie the Willet!  I assume it was the same bird that has been around a month.  Not sure why the place is so
appealing.

White-rumped Sandpiper with Killdeer

Greater Yellowlegs were also in the back cell to add to the day's species tally.
Checklist from eBird:
OFO Blenheim Lagoons

It was  a fun weekend in crappy weather.

marsh trail Rondeau

Saturday Scenery and Birding

I headed down to Point Pelee early this morning.  Since it is the long weekend, I wanted to get there at some point, and today seemed to be a good day.  I walked to the Tip first thing to see what was going on besides thunder and lightning.  There were lots of warblers, etc. in the woods, but it turned out the lake was not as active as I had hoped today!
Some interesting scenery was there for a couple of hours with thunder and lightning on the lake, and quite a bit of light rain.

Steve Pike joined me and we spent some time taking in the scenery and birds.

The rain was right over us (clear sky to the north and south), making it feel like a typical weekend.  What is a weekend (even it not forecast) without rain?  LOL. Eventually the sun came out though for a very nice day.






There were lots of warblers and thrushes every place I checked today.  A good variety of warblers was seen, with a large number of Blackpoll.
Around lunch time I walked De Laurier and saw lots of birds, including a Golden-winged Warbler. It was not too co-operative for a photo though.

There were not very many butterflies again today.  I came across another Buckeye at NW Beach and a duskywing beside the Cactus Trail.

Lots of darners of course, mostly Lance-tipped I presume.

I checked the onion fields for Buff-breasted, but I guess they do not appear on weekends!

Shorebirds are plentiful at Blenheim right now, so I headed there on the way home. I was interested in the Willet and I finally found it at the last minute just up from the gate!  I thought I had a glimpse of it upon arrival, but then could not find again until later.

There were still a few Redheads (not rare anymore!), both Green and Blue-winged Teal, etc.  The Tundra Swan will likely see its swan song there at freeze-up......

More Snowy Owls and Pelee Birds

It turned out to be a nice day weather-wise.  Since I did not take my annual trip to Niagara Falls this weekend, I went down to Point Pelee. Not many gulls have been reported at Niagara yet, so I took a chance on birding this area.  Maybe later to Niagara when things pick up.

On my way to Pelee, I encountered a Snowy Owl at the corner of Maple and Jacob Roads...in the dark!  Recently, a few have been reported in the old Dover Township, but it was neat to get one in the dark.

Point Pelee had hardly any visitors today, and certainly no LLB's (!).  I did a Tip watch for almost two hours.  Dan Greenham joined me for the first hour, but I had a whole hour to myself.  There was a fair bit of activity, but nothing unusual.  Only 2 Common Loons and a few Horned Grebes among the ducks and few gulls.

A fair number of White-winged Scoters went by this morning as well a some Surf Scoters.

After the watch I walked up to Sparrow Field and over to west beach trail and back to the parking lot.  It was quite pleasant walking around today.  Not many landbirds in the Tip area though, but I did flush up an American Woodcock near the famed serengeti tree.

Next walk was Shuster Trail. A few White-throated Sparrows were along the way plus a Carolina and Winter Wren.  Also a Ruby -crowned Kinglet.

On the beach at the east end was a lone Killdeer.  That was it for shorebirds today!

I checked out De Laurier as well.  More White-throated Sparrows and a Ruby kinglet.  Again, rather quiet.

Just for fun I went over to NW Beach area.  In the old parking lot area, I flushed up a sparrow which turned out to be a Lincoln's.  I had good looks as it perched briefly, but was unable to get a photo of it.  Probably the latest I have seen one.  It was associating with a Field Sparrow which was more co-operative.

In the Blue Heron area, a good-sized flock of Cedar Waxwings and American Robins was there.  I spent quite a bit of time sorting through them, but nothing of note was found.

Along the road I spotted a Rusty Blackbird.

Not a Brewer's Blackbird

Strangely, no warblers today.  Even the Yellow-rumped must be scarce there.  Some always winter in the park though.

Out of the park,, I came across a Snowy Owl south of the cement block road.  It was way out in the field, but later, Dwayne Murphy got a better photo.

I skipped Wheatley this time and headed up to Tilbury.  Along the way, a Golden Eagle was soaring over Road 37.

Earlier, Deryl Nethercott reported 4 Snowy Owls in Dover plus another closer to Wallaceburg.  I found 3 of them on the way home, but they were way out as they usually are.

Up to 1000 Tundra Swans were scattered about in the corn fields, but I saw very few geese.  Recently, a couple of Ross's Geese have been reported though.

There were lots of geese off Mitchell's Bay when I stopped for a look, but I could not see anything different.  Could have been a distant Snowy Owl, but he shimmer made it impossible to be certain.

Birding the Last While

As per usual, I am out birding this time of year and have little touch with the internet.  Nice to get away from the computer for a while. lol.
Last Thursday I got off work after lunch and headed down to Rondeau.  It started off with a bang.  First stop was the visitor centre to see what was happening.  I met Reuven Martin who is this year's bird hike leader.  Just after heading out the VC door, I was shocked to see a flash of blue at my feet.  No, I did not get hit by lightning, but it was the tell-tale sign of a White-M Hairstreak!
I did not have my camera in hand, but I ran to the car and came back to take several photos of what was likely a recently-emerged White-M Hairstreak.

I co-operated nicely as it rested on a post, then it went to the ground upon a leaf.

Since it is very early in the season, and this species was present for the first time last summer, and there have been virtually no immigrants this spring, I surmise the larva overwintered.  Quite a record.

Birding was rather slow the whole few days.  The volume of songbirds is just not there for whatever reason, but there certainly have been some good birds around the province.
The Friday morning was fairly decent on south point trail where a number of warbler species (a lot of ones and twos!) were flitting about.  I did see Golden-winged Warbler as well as Blue-winged and Hooded.  Turns out that was the first of three Hooded for the day. It is a desirable species for many birders, but I do find quite a few each year.

Hooded Warbler in flight!

Some other first of year species were seen this day.

I also saw one of the Yellow-throated Warblers.  Quite some distance up the road later in the morning I heard one singing.  I assume it was one of the two present ones as they wander widely.

Blackburnian Warbler

Saturday was slow, but a very nice bird made up for it.  Steve Charbonneau and I were walking along the eroded shoreline when a bird came gliding by from our right.  It was perhaps no more than 20m distance and not very high.  We both looked at it and soon as it went by we virtually said "kite" at the same time!  It was an adult male, but it was cruising east.  This was about 7 a.m.
I think this is only the second record for Rondeau, as we had the first 25 May 2003 when we saw a sub-adult from the marsh trail.
Steve walked along the edge of the woods, while I walked the trail in case it perched somewhere.  But, it was never seen again.  Apparently one was seen late in the day at Pelee, but I would consider it a different bird.
Soon after the sighting, I ran into Mike Burrell who had camped the night in the park. I mentioned the Mississippi Kite to him, but that was bizarre because later in the morning on his way to Pelee he spotted the Swallow-tailed Kite!  You know the rest of the story.
However, I left Rondeau before noon on my way to Pelee. I stopped at Sinclair's Bush as Steve had just found a fine male Cerulean Warbler at eye level.  I got to see it, but it did not co-operate for a good photo.

 Cerulean Warbler

Just as I was heading out of Blenheim, I got the message that a Swallow-tailed Kite was heading into Point Pelee.  I rushed over, in hopes it would stick around, but.....no.  I was aiming for a two-kite day!

Sunday at Pelee saw a few more Hooded Warblers, and talk of the town was the number being seen this year.  I saw some more first-of-the-year birds including Wilson's Warbler.
Around 3:30 I got the message of Black-necked Stilts at Hillman.  I rushed over there as did others, and we did not find them in the cell.  However, two were found as seen from the Hillman bridge.  We ran over there, some risking heart attacks, to see the two in the distance.  A fine way to top off a slow day of birding.

(there is a Black-necked Stilt there!)

Today I started at the Tip and was one of the first ones there.  Lots of gulls were milling about including a couple of young Little Gulls, a young Glaucous and a Lesser Black-backed.  Soon after I spotted an immaculate Laughing Gull fly in.  Many got to see this beautiful bird.  I think it is one of the nicer-looking gulls.

Laughing Gull!

lots of White-crowned Sparrows around