Easter Parade and Touring Around

 Things have been rather slow recently, so not much in the way of new sightings as Easter is now in the rear view mirror.

Not the Easter Bunny!

Easter Sunday, I went to Rondeau and paraded out marsh trail.  Surprisingly, nothing new in the way of birds.  There are countless scaup on the Bay.  Seems like more than usual this year.

  On my way back, a Brown Thrasher was singing atop at tree.  It was way up in dull lighting, so not good for a photo.

Monday turned out quiet nice, at least in my area.  After touring around a bit, I went for a long walk at Reid CA for exercise.  The cool weather has not enticed plants to change much, but some of the early wildflowers are starting to show.

Purple Cress

Virginia Spring Beauty

Sharp-lobed Hepatica

Leaves have a sharp point, as opposed to Round-leaved Hepatica.

As always, I checked the shoreline for mussels.  Mapleleaf is regular here.  These two pair were together in one spot.

Here is a very small one from Moore WMA.  Its distinctive outer shell pattern is a giveaway.

I found two more Lilliput mussels.  Not sure why I have never seen them anywhere before, but I now know what to look for!  Nice to know that these critically-imperiled creatures are here.  Distinctively small.

With some recent rain, things are still quiet wet, which is a good thing.

Old Rivercourse at Reid CA

Tuesday was rainy, so I drove around quite a bit in the Erieau-Rondeau area, but never came across anything of interest much to my dismay.

Today was mostly cloudy, but with some sunny breaks.  I went to Mitchell's Bay first thing, then toured around by car.  Some creatures are already nesting, or building nests.  Looks like this Wood Duck was checking out a nesting box.

On my travels, I came across a few Lapland Longspurs.

There was not much in the way of blackbirds.  Yellow-headed should be arriving now.  We often see them in the fields when they first come in, but I saw none today.  There was one near Jacob Road a number of days ago, where we often see them.

It will still be cool and wet for a few days it appears, so only a few things will be trickling in.  And creatures will be doing their thing.  Here is a neat photo from the past.

(Garter Snake with chorus frog)

Spring Things and Arrival of Winter (?)

 The past number of days have been quite cool, unlike many of the winter days.  This past Wednesday   I went for a walk at Reid CA again.  With the cool weather this week, things have slowed down.

I looked for Harbinger of Spring again, a bit tough to see with a bit of snow on the ground.

Purple Cress, another spring plant is starting to peak through.

At one point in my walk, I came across some impressive galls.  These are a result of a wasp and called Oak Rough Bulletgall.

Thursday was sunny but cold, and I had no idea what to do.  I ventured over to Middlesex County to walk a couple of TTLT properties and a trail within Skunk's Misery.  Nothing of note!  This groundhog was keeping close to its home.

I did not see Golden Eagle this visit, but a pair of Bald Eagles were tussling about in the air.

Last walk was at Wardsville Woods.  Even though Easter is coming, this was not an Easter egg.  The property was once a golf course, so the odd golf ball may be found!

Friday, winter returned with a vengeance.  At least in my area where we got up to 12 cm of snow!  I had already put away the snow shovel, so had to get it out again.  Oddly, there was absolutely no snow down Rondeau way!  It was probably the worst snow storm for the whole winter here.

Today, I went to the balmy south to get away from the snow. It was still cold, but at least it was sunny as I walked south point trail and the campground.

Changes are afoot on south point trail, as the shoreline has finally reached and washed out the trail.  It was inevitable!

Over the years, we have seen the shoreline shrink here.  Here are some views of the same area.

Fall 2017

The above photo shows that mysterious concrete structure beginning to show in the fall of 2017.  There was once a campground office here well back from the shoreline!

Over the years, erosion continued in this area.

Later that year.........

December 2022

The trail late fall 2023

The same view today..........

The mysterious concrete structure is getting farther and farther out!

Amazing the power of waves and wind!

I checked out Erieau later.  Thousands of ducks to look at, but I could not find any anomalies.

After tomorrow, we should see some warmer weather.