Rondeau Birding April 20

Headed into Rondeau Park early this morning with snow and ice on the car.  Very strong winds made for some cold birding!  However there were a few birds of interest.
I met up with Steve and Jim.  After walking TTT, we headed up the road from the VC and found the Yellow-throated Warbler. But wait!  I spotted a second one high in a tree.  The two milled about making their characteristic chip notes.  Looks like they are here to breed again!  At least one was seen at the VC garden as well.

Purple Finches and Pine Siskins were around too.  The Red-headed Woodpecker was in the neighbourhood today as well, but we did not see it.

Roadcock!

Our main walk was south point trail.  We walked the entire loop. It was difficult along the lake as severe erosion has taken place  Since the early 1970's, several hundred feet (width) of shoreline has disappeared, and this past week a big chunk is gone!
We noted a couple of Blue-headed Vireos among a few Yellow-rumped Warblers.  Other warblers included Black-throated Green and Pine.

Hermit Thrushes were plentiful throughout as were White-throated Sparrows.

Along Harrison Trail we noted an early Gray Catbird feeding on some berries.
Later, Jim and I walked spicebush trail and came across a waterthrush.  Expecting a Louisiana, it turned out to be a Northern!  Despite looking in all accessible spots in the park, we did not encounter a Louisiana.
Another strange thing is that we never found a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.  Everyone else has them but Rondeau!

Winter Wrens were numerous

I stayed around and walked some other spots.  Along Tulip Tree Trail I had a brief encounter with a Wood Thrush. Somewhat early, but a couple others have been reported in the province.
I headed over to Erieau later and noted some Horned Grebes in the harbour.

Four Great Egrets were along the R/R track trail.  A couple of them seemed to be looking skyward, but nothing was above them!

Solemn Sunday

Pine Siskin

Common Baskettail Dragonflies

I got out for a nature walk early this afternoon. It was nice to get out on this fine day with so much on my mind. Even though it was quite cool, there were a few butterflies out, and even some new ones for the season

Giant Swallowtail

On another note, Pine Siskins are still at the feeder. Yesterday I noticed a pair with one feeding the other! Looking closely today, one appeared to be a juvenile type. There have been reports of siskins nesting in southern Ontario this year. No surprise here I guess!

Hobomok Skipper

female Juvenal's Duskywing

Inornate Ringlet

Northern Broken-Dash

Soggy Sunday

Common Redpoll

As our weather usually goes around here, it goes from one extreme to the next. Yesterday was so beautiful, then today was rainy, windy and very mild. It started with freezing rain making everything very slippery.

I did not go out until later in the morning because of the icy roads. The main roads were just wet, but the gravel road were sheer ice. I stayed off them!

I drove along the St. Clair River and noted lots of ducks. I did not stop to scope them though, but most were Canvasback.

This morning I made a list of birds I saw from the house for the Great Backyard Bird Count. This is an annual event in mid February where anyone can submit a checklists of birds from any location in North America. Thousands of people take part in this citizen science.

Whether is serves any useful purpose or not, it is something fun for people to do and they are contributing to bird study.

Since I came up with a decent number of birds at Rondeau yesterday, I submitted a list of the 27 species I saw there.

My yard list (including anything flying over) was 16 species, about average. Included were the Pine Siskins that have hung around all winter. This is only about the third time that I have had them in the winter here. As well, four redpolls were on the list. I only get those every few years. A surprise was a Herring Gull flying over early this morning, since there is no open water very close.

Go to GBBC to check out the results of this year's Great Backyard Bird Count.

Birding/Butterflying in the Wind

Today (Saturday) was an interesting day. There was a gale force wind out of the WSW. I would have preferred a NW wind for going to Point Edward on Lake Huron, but we take what we get. Despite the wind, it was a nice day.

I chose to go to Erieau and Rondeau. There was lots of action at the Erieau pier, but no rarities. A SE wind would have been better! There was only a handful of Bonaparte's Gulls among the hundreds of Ring-billed and Herring. Bonaparte's seem to be few and far between so far this fall. Getting late for seeing a Sabine's Gull. That species has never been officially recorded for the Rondeau area.

Over Rondeau Park, I noticed a huge flock of Turkey Vultures coming off their roost. Could have been 100. They were all over today. In fact there has been a huge number of them this fall.

In Rondeau Park, large numbers of Goldfinches and Pine Siskins were moving along the lake into the wind. It seems amazing how fast they go heading into the wind. There were also flocks of Cedar Waxwings. I tried looking for a Bohemian, but no luck. There are only a couple of records of Bohemian for Rondeau, and they are in February.

Also of note were quite a few Purple Finches. It could be a good finch fall as this type of bird is exiting the north in big numbers. When I got home today, there were about a dozen Pine Siskins at my feeder!

A number of butterflies were around today even though it was very windy. I noted at least eight species. The rarest was Fiery Skipper (see photo of one on this blog at the right). I was not able to get a photo of one today though. I saw one in Rondeau, and two later at Blenheim Lagoons. Hard to spot in that wind!

Several Common Buckeye were still around. I have seen so many of those this year. I got a photo of one today (see attached) where I had the Fiery Skipper. This time of year we see the Rosa form, which is reddish underneath.

Other butterflies included Monarch, American Lady, Red Admiral, Orange Sulphur, Cabbage White and Eastern Comma.

There were no shorebirds at Blenheim Lagoons. Lots of different ducks, including Ring-necked which we did not see last Sunday on the OFO outing. As well, several American Coots were present. We did not see those last Sunday either!

Not sure what I will do tomorrow. Probably go back to Rondeau!