Sarnia Stuff

I had the urge to go to Sarnia today.  A strong NW wind was in the air so there had to be some activity at the lakewatch.  (Might have been better yesterday with the north wind).  We have always called this spot Point Edward Lakewatch or something similar, but actually it is within the city of Sarnia.  Point Edward is an isolated municipality virtually surrounded by Sarnia except along the St. Clair River.  The Lake Huron shoreline is included within Sarnia's boundary to the river entrance inshore to about where the old railroad cuts across.  Some trivia I did not realize until recently!

I arrived at the lookout just after daybreak to note about 400 Long-tailed Ducks working the current.  There were practically no other ducks except for a handful of Lesser Scaup, a few Red-breasted Mergansers, a few Bufflehead and a couple of Common Goldeneye.  A few Mallards came out of the Sarnia Yacht Club.
Gulls were quite active at first, then dropped off.  Later, more started streaming by from the direction of Canatara Park.

An adult Iceland Gull was working the shoreline.  Two first cycle Glaucous Gulls were around too.
A Pied-billed Grebe was of interest along the US shoreline (only grebe out there today!).
Two Bald Eagles flew to the Michigan side.

The best bird was too far distant to ID, but it was a jaeger.  I would assume Pomarine at this juncture in time, but who knows.
Three distant loons flew westward.  Two were decidedly Common, but the other looked smaller--possibly a Red-throated.
I also checked the marina and bay areas noting many gulls and ducks. Lots of Common Mergansers were present.
Two Pied-billed Grebes were next to the marina restaurant.
A Common Loon was in the north slip.

A Kestrel alighted upon a post near the chembarge and a sharpie alighted on the Algorail!
(not the best day for photography as it was very dull today {obviously the weekend!})

A number of dickie birds were in the scrub area near Beasley Machine including a Carolina Wren.
After an early lunch, I had an enjoyable walk at Perch Creek CA.  It looked dismal at first, but then I heard some American Robins.  Turns out a flock of about a dozen were milling about.  That was interesting since robins seem to be rather scarce this winter. First I have seen in several weeks.

On the slope of the Blackwell landfill, about 40 Common Redpolls were working the weeds (same spot as last time! Same flock?).  A sizeable flock of American Tree Sparrows was there too.  (Seems to be more after yesterday's storm!).
In the low spot along the trail at the north end of Perch Creek, several species of birds were present, including a group of six Eastern Bluebirds.  Also present were some Golden-crowned Kinglets, a Song Sparrow, chickadees, Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers and several Tree Sparrows.

Down the trail I decided to cut across the plantation area and noted a flicker.  I walked back the cedar/spruce treeline and found a Northern Saw-whet Owl.  I thought perhaps it had left, but no!

The drive home was rather uneventful despite trying to find some birds!

Point Edward Day 2

Birders lined up

Did not get much sleep last night.  Who could sleep with all this howling wind? Probably the strongest sustained winds I have ever had here.

Work took a back seat today and I headed up to Point Edward mid morning.  On the way up the river I noticed some scoters, rather uncommon for the river.  Two Black and two White-winged were off the Port Lambton dock.

I arrived at the Point and took note of many birders present.  Even fellow blogger Jeremy Hatt was there!  Early birders already had Red Phalarope, Sabine's Gull and Black-legged Kittiwake plus a jaeger.
I was there for about five hours whens things seemed to drop off considerably.

Two Kittygulls

Photos of the jaeger (courtesy Josh Bouman) which I think is a Parasitic.

Most notable today was the number of Brant geese.  After some discussion there had to be around 250 present most of the day.  They would fly into the wind, and drift down with the currrent.  The geese kept coming and going, so it was difficult to judge accurately.  This is really an exceptional number for location at one time.

A few Brant

"Frankengull"

Highlights are listed in my Ontbirds posting:
(I determined there were at least 3 kittiwakes after examining my photos.  Also confirmed 2 Sabine's Gulls).

Brant (150+) --an exceptional number for location. (We usually see only a
few each fall).
Red Phalarope --seen early before I arrived.
Sanderling --many
Thayer's Gull --adult
Iceland Gull --first cycle
Lesser Black-backed --adult (?)
"Nelson's" Gull --probable and under debate --first cycle
Sabine's Gull --one juv, possibly 2.
Black-legged Kittiwake --2 or 3 juv.
jaeger sp. --1 or 2 juv --photo to be examined later.
hundreds of ducks and gulls to look at!

Typical Scene

Winds did die a bit through the day.  However, they will be strong all week from the NW, so birding can still be good.

Entrance to Yacht Club!!!

Frankenstorm at Point Edward

I went to work today wondering what Point Edward would be like.  Maybe TOO windy for birding?
Well, I had to go to Sarnia anyway later today (luckily) so I left work early and arrived at the lakewatch spot just after 4 p.m.
Many people were coming and going to get a look at the lake.  Non birders of course.  However, I managed to get my favourite parking spot right away at the very west end.  Here you can see the start of the river and anything coming and going.
It was an incredible sight!  Hundreds of birds everywhere having fun in the wind.  They would head into the lake into the wind and drift back and repeat the process over and over.
Firstly, six Brant geese were on the lawn right in front of me.  Very nice to see.  They stayed in the area the whole time but once in a while would get up thinking they could fly into the wind.  They got nowhere.

It was a challenge to try and watch all the birds in bad visibility at times.  With sustained winds at 60+ km/h one could not get out of the car.  I managed to pull up the scope a few times in the car and look at particular birds.  The two phalaropes were one, then the Franklin's Gull.  The phalaropes appeared to be Red, as at one point they came fairly close and I got the scope on them.  Although one could not tell bill size, wing pattern was obvious.  On the other hand, Red Phalarope is more likely at this time of year and more likely in this scenario.
Earlier I thought I had a Franklin's Gull, but due to visibility and movement I was not sure.  Then later I saw it again and got the scope on it to confirm.
At one point I spotted a jaeger fairly distant but it never came very close.  Mike Bouman, who had been there a while and was beside me saw it as well.  Jaeger sp.
Only five minutes after Mike left, a jaeger came in fairly close and I was confident it was a Parasitic.
Mike also mentioned a kittiwake.  Not surprising in this weather!  Early on I saw a bird on the water that looked like a kittiwake.  Again, not sure due to bad visibility and motion.  I kept watch for it and just before it was too dark I saw it come out of the river.

Hundreds of ducks were present heading into the wind, drifting down with the current and repeating the process. I notice quite a lot of White-winged Scoters today.  A few Black and Surf were there as well.  I did see one small dark duck, possibly a Harlequin, but not sure. I would not doubt if one or two was around.
Several Horned and Red-necked Grebes were present as well.
Photos are courtesy of Mike Bouman and much appreciated.

Below is my post to Ontbirds which sums up the situation:

Brant Geese (6) --on the ground until dark right in front of my vehicle.
Parasitic Jaeger (juv) --a little before dark as it came in fairly close.
1 jaeger sp. (possibly above bird earlier, but not sure)
Red Phalarope (2) --seen several times, but I am confident of ID due to
past experience.
Sanderling (~13)
Franklin's Gull (ad.) --well seen --saw it earlier but not sure at that time
due to visibility
Thayer's Gull (ad.)
Black-legged Kittiwake (juv.) --knew it was there (Mike Bouman told me about
it). I did not see it until almost dark as most birds came out of the
river.
all three scoter species --lots of White-winged
several duck species.

It was incredible to see so many birds in such a brutal wind. Binoculars
were well used the entire time. I expect tomorrow these birds and more will
be around. No place to go!

Scoters to Siskins

Unfortunately it was a bust.  An excellent wind was blowing up at Point Edward, but birds failed to come in. A fair number of bonies coming and going, but nothing with them.  A few of us stood vigil for a few hours in the stiff NNE wind.  The next few days have even stiffer North winds, but I have little patience and time!
Lots of Common Loons were flying about, not sure where to go it seemed.  Only saw one Horned Grebe.  I saw one White-winged Scoter, one Surf Scoter and one Black Scoter.  There were other scoters very far out with other ducks obviously too distant to ID.
Many birds were flying very high. Lighting was horrible today so many birds were silhouettes. Gulls were initially quite high, and many ducks were very high flying south.
A few Long-tailed Ducks were riding the current too.
A Peregrine Falcon put on a show for a while, as did a couple of Bald Eagles.

Afterwards I left and headed over to Perch Creek WMA.  Not many landbirds, but I did find a good group of sparrows as well as chickadees too.

I decided to check some pine trees just for fun and was delighted to find a Northern Saw-whet Owl.  Nearby was a Long-eared Owl as well.  Too much crap in the way to get a good photo of each, but you get the picture.

Farther south I stopped at Moore WMA.  No landbirds there either!  I did flush an American Woodcock though.






A McKeough CA I came across a group of Fox Sparrows.

I encountered a couple of Northern Shrikes on the back roads as I drove home.  First for the fall.







Here at home, like many places now, Pine Siskins have come en masse. There were close to 80 at one point.  As usual they were quite approachable.

Junco with colour at McKeough.....

Weekend Birding

Cave Swallows have now reached Ontario.  Not surprisingly a good number were seen at Fifty Point near Hamilton today.  The Peregrine Prints guy and others stood vigil along the shoreline.  No doubt others were around somewhere along Lake Erie as well.

(two years ago at Erieau)

Tomorrow I am heading up to Point Edward for a lakewatch.  It is only a 45 minute drive, so not far to go.  Decent north winds are predicted, although not as strong as originally forecast (what's new?).  There have been no good north winds until now this fall.  A very strong NW wind was blowing early this morning, however it somewhat died out during the day and the wind is light out of the north right now.
It will be a good change of pace since the last few weeks I have headed down to Lake Erie.  Cave Swallows have been seen at Point Edward in the past, but probably little chance of them there for tomorrow.

Yesterday was probably the last blast of SW winds for a while at least.  I checked the gardens at Brander Park and found a few Fiery Skippers.  A decent-looking Summer Azure was there as well.  Never got a photo though as the winds were strong blowing things around.  Getting rather late for one of those creatures.

As I like to include some history on this blog, and not necessarily nature, here is some more for history buffs like myself.  Railroad to be exact.  Recently I looked at some old photos my father took in 1966.  He always had the camera and took thousands of photos over the years.  Steam locomotive 7470 was a switcher at the Canada and Dominion Sugar Factory here in town.  It was a very large operation in its heyday.  I had always wondered what happened to this locomotive.

I googled the number and instantly it came up!  I was fascinated to know that it is still running out in New Hampshire as part of the Conway Scenic Railway.  It blew my mind to find this.  I was there with my father when he took the photos, so I remember it well.  (top of my head is at lower left!)

Come on kittiwakes....

NORTH !

There have been way too many south winds so far this fall (not that it is bad for some locations).  Looks like this weekend we may finally get some northerly winds. We need some of these to bring birds from the north.  And, I am anxious to get a look on Lake Huron at Point Edward.
Point Edward is our local hotspot for jaegers, good gulls, and other waterbirds.  Last year was a banner season with many jaegers, etc.  On the first day of October 2011 there were several including all three jaegermeisters. Plus a Sabine's Gull.

Long-tailed Jaeger (submitted photo)

Although I hate being in one spot for hours on end, sometimes it is exciting when lots of birds are coming in.  Maybe even a kittiwake or two.  Where are they this fall?

Also a good spot for loons flying over.  I have not seen many of those either this fall.  I had one on the St. Clair River at Port Lambton last week.

We have had Red Phalaropes there as well.  November 11, 2006 there were three in mid river.  It is still a review species in Michigan.  I wrote them up, but was rejected.  They seem to have a different agenda in Michigan than our OBRC.
King Eider is also on their list, which we get there on occasion.  A number of years ago Lance Allin and I saw a female type first.  It was on the US side and Michigan birders saw it shortly afterwards.  Although I wrote up a detailed report (was accepted), they got credit for first finder!
Hopefully the weather forecast will be true.  It constantly changes and has changed completely in the last 24h.

(need one of these for this year!)

Just before dark this evening I rushed out to Mitchell's Bay to get a look.  (It gets dark way too quickly now!).  Lots of mud but no shorebirds or ibises.  Only a few Killdeer.





The highlight species was American Coot.  I estimated about 6000!  Very few other ducks.

Of course, usual for the location, many Mute Swans.  About 215 in view tonight.

Time for Jaegers and other Seabirds

Algomarine

Another strong northerly wind on the weekend!  Hope this trend continues unlike previous years.
When a strong north wind is "predicted" (does not always come true) in the fall I always head up to Point Edward on Lake Huron, at least on weekends.  Today was perfect.  It is early in the season and not a lot is moving, but some jaegers decided to fly.  Forecast was for 30 K winds, but it got close to 40 K.
After an hour and three quarters of sitting I finally spotted a group of three jaegers coming from the east.  It was nice to see one was an adult.  Two of them circled close right overhead as they sometimes do there.  Others followed.
Below is a copy of my posting to Ontbirds:

About 07:45 a group of 3 jaegers appeared just offshore from the east.  All
appeared to be Parasitic.  Two were intermediate morph juveniles with one
being a fine adult.  One juvie broke away and headed up the US shoreline,
while the other two headed overland at Sarnia just after passing close
overhead.
About ten minutes later, I noticed an adult heading up the US shoreline (not
sure if it was another bird or not).

A short while later I spotted a jaeger fairly distant that was likely a
juvenile Long-tailed.  It came from the east and headed up the US shoreline.

About 10:35, a very dark juvie appeared very close to shore from the east.
Paul D. Pratt also spotted this one. It continued up the US shoreline.

Other birds of note included two Osprey and a group of 4 Red-necked
Phalaropes.

Weather was miserable (lots of rain) but that is when it is good.

Impossible to take photographs in poor light, gale force winds and birds that were dipsy doodling all over!

This week strong NE winds are predicted all along, so more should show up.  However, who is going to look?  Some of us have a job to go to!

Shorebirds, Sandhills, Skippers

Not wanting to go too far today, I headed up to Point Edward to take in the strong north wind.  It is getting to be "lakewatch" time at various points around southwestern Ontario.  It is early in the season so I would not expect much, but some jaegers will be moving.  Van Wagners had a couple today!
Point Edward on Lake Huron is a good spot on a north wind, although we do not get the volume or diversity of birds that they do at Van Wagners.  Some days can be good in the fall, but it seems that things do not show up like they used to.  Last year we had only one decent day with some jaegers.
I went up today anyway.  Lots of shorebirds were moving including quite a few Sanderlings.  Others included Least Sandpiper and Semipalmated Plover and some larger shorebirds I guessed as Long-billed Dowitchers (not sure though!).  Also a couple of phalarope species likely Red-necked at this time, although Red could be showing up soon.
A few ducks included teal species.

This afternoon I stopped at McKeough and noticed a large number of Common Buckeye butterflies.  Not sure why, but there were dozens there!

Also stopped at "Frog Pond"!

At Port Lambton I checked out the flower garden at Brander Park and found a large number of Peck's Skippers (~15).  Also one Fiery Skipper.  These along with Tawny-edged will likely be around until late September as they have in the past years.

A couple of Common Sootywings were doing their usual ground level patrols.

At Stewart Wetland, a Short-billed Dowitcher and a Stilt Sandpiper among a few small shorebirds were on the mudflat.  All were juveniles.  A Yellow-rumped Warbler was along the edge.  Still no rarity!  In fact there have been none anywhere!

Nearby in one of the cut fields (#2 location), 24 Sandhill Cranes were loafing about in the distance.

On to another week......again....