Ups and Downs of This Week

 This past week was quite damp with fog, drizzle, rain and even some wet snow.  Wind changed direction several times, having an influence as to where I went!  With the damp weather, there was not much in the way of birding, let alone photography.

It was quite mild at times.  Frogs singing included many spring peepers, and even a Chorus Frog!

Tuesday I went to Rondeau on strong SE winds.  The lakewatch at dog beach had potential with lots of ducks moving.  Naturally, Red-breasted Mergansers were the most numerous and tallied over 24,000 during my watch.

Afterwards, I walked quite a few spots in the park.  Highlight was a roosting Eastern Red Bat!  It was in an odd spot I thought, right out in the open, hanging on a thin twig of a shrub.  How I noticed it was simply a miracle.

I no luck in photographing any birds, as they were quite active in poor light.  A tardy Common Yellowthroat was near the start of marsh trail.  The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher that will attempt to winter, was still in the campground.

Just before dark (it gets dark too early now!), a Chipping Sparrow showed up at the backyard feeder.  Been a while since I have had one this late here.  A Lark Sparrow would have been more interesting.....

(taken through a window)

Wednesday was essentially fog and rain all day.  I managed a walk at Mitchell's Bay and Peers Wetland in the morning during a break in the weather, but it was foggy.  Actually there was less fog on Lake St. Clair!

Peers Wetland

A Lambton Wildlife meeting was scheduled that evening, so I thought I might do some birding around Sarnia.  NOT!  It rained the whole time, so I spent most of the time in the car and driving around aimlessly!  Not doing that again....

Thursday was another dismal day, but by that night, the wind had switched to the NW and was stiff.  That signaled a visit to Lake Huron at Sarnia on Friday!

View from the parking lot

A good number of birders showed up for a lakewatch, but the weather was miserable with mostly rain and drizzle.  However, it was a good day for birds.  Lots of gulls.

The highlight was a Black-legged Kittiwake.  Finally one showed up (and four were at Bright's Grove as reported by Ken Burrell).  They had been absent this fall until now.  

Our bird was an adult, which is quite rare in our area of the Great Lakes.  I have only seen one other adult (at Van Wagner's Beach) in all the year's I have been birding.  Paul Pratt (also present) remarked that it was only the second one he has seen on the lakes as well.  However, it was too far out for photo attempts.

We also saw two adult Little Gulls, and not much variety in ducks.  Red-breasted Merganser was the most common besides Long-tailed.

Another highlight was a Short-eared Owl.  It circled aimlessly (as they often do) behind us and even came overhead at one point.  It was extremely backlit though.

As mentioned before, it has been a good fall for Short-eared sightings.

I left about noon, but some others stayed to tally a Red Phalarope!  Cannot get 'em all.

Algoma Compass downbound

Today, we had another NW wind, but lighter.  I figured it would not be as good of a day at Sarnia.  I have learned that most times when we have a good day, the next day is not so good!

However, farther north at Ipperwash, there was an impressive loon migration with over 1000 seen in about five hours.  Interesting how some decide to move en masse.

I opted to go to Rondeau today.  There were not a lot of birds around, but it was pleasant.  The lake was very quiet for moving ducks and gulls.

South point trail revealed quite a few Yellow-rumped Warblers, for whatever reason.  I managed to come across a Pine Warbler at one point, so that was the highlight of the day.

The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was still hanging around the campground.  Seems we get one every year that wants to try and spend the winter!

This Eastern Bluebird posed at one point, but I could not get a focus on it, except when it turned away.  Today was another one that I had no luck with the camera!

I did get an obscured view of a Pileated Woodpecker in the campground.

When I arrived home, a female Purple Finch was at the feeder.  Not often I get any staying here.

(taken through a window)

More seasonal weather is soon coming...and hopefully some rarities.

More Insects, some shorebirds, and a Bat

 A few days ago I visited my local conservation areas.  A new batch of Least Skippers has emerged at Peers Wetland.

Stream Bluets is one of our more common bluets.  Here is a pair at Peers making them even more common!

Up at Reid CA, I walked around the back field.  There are some plants in flower in the far back corner, attracting insects.  I thought this one was quite unique.

On iNaturalist, it comes up with a scientific name of Euperilampus triangularis

There is some Grey-headed Coneflower.  I doubt it was deliberately planted here in this particular location, but it is here in any case.

O course, I always come across a couple of Royal River Cruisers.  Like many things this year, they are not as plentiful as in the past.

At McKeough, I came across a Bronze Copper again!

Sunday was overcast and a bit rainy, so not much happening.  I came across a Common Bog Fly at Peers, a species which I had never seen before.

Spot-winged Gliders seemed to have arrived in the area.  I had one in the yard, which was new for here.

I also saw a couple at Peers Wetland.

Monday was a lazy day, so little happened!

Today, I ventured down to Blenheim lagoons to see what shorebirds were in.  The Red-necked Phalarope from the previous day was missing in action.  There will be more!

Highlight was a flyover of an Upland Sandpiper.  Steve and I heard it, then saw it directly overhead quite high heading east.  They probably do not nest in C-K anymore, but they must fly over on their way south!  It was my first in C-K in a long time.

Among other common shorebirds, a Baird's was in the sprinkler cell area.

After the lagoon visit, I headed down to Erieau marsh trail.  Nothing outstanding there, but I found a Red Bat caught up in burdock.

Burdock, an alien plant, has been known to tangle up birds as well.

I came across some Cicada Killer Wasps at McGeachy.  First I have seen this summer.

I was home by noon, but after lunch I headed up to Moore WMA to take advantage of the nice weather.  I have avoided the place for more than a month due to the excessive rainfall this summer that has brought up river levels.  Today, it was low enough to get onto the causeway.  Not much to see though.  Lots of Blue-fronted Dancers doing their thing.  Only a couple of Blue-tipped, but I could not close to them.

Blue-tipped Dancer

The only good thing about the high water recently, is that it has kept the giant ragweed down!

Summer is a good time to look for mussels when the water is low, but this summer has been the exception.  I have missed that this year.  However, I did find a couple of common ones today.

Giant Floater

Fragile Papershell

I also stopped  by Nicholl's Memorial Forest and Wetland at Wilkesport.  I did see one Royal River Cruiser hanging around.

There was not much at the little pond in the back field, but another Slender Spreadwing briefly posed....

Rondeau CBC: Birds, Bats, Frogs, Skunk, Opossums

Turned out to be an interesting day for the Rondeau/Blenheim CBC.  The weather forecast was completely wrong (again) and it was a fairly nice day weatherwise!  All week" they" (who are these people?) had predicted rain for the weekend, especially Sunday.  Wind too on Sunday.  It was quite windy today, but it later died out a bit.  It was raining a bit as I left home at 06:00, but stopped by the time I was outside the park.  The sun came out for a few hours today. It never rained!

Too windy for owling in the park, so I waited until daylight and started walking with Maris Apse.  Birds were sparse (as expected) but he lake was quite active.  We had some decent things such as a Black Scoter, a White-winged too, Long-tailed Duck (2), and hundreds of Red-breasted Mergansers (~900).  We had two Common Loons, which is always good.  Four Horned Grebes.  Later in the afternoon I found lots of Ruddy Ducks (78) on the lake.

The count total (preliminary) was 106, but will probably be at least 107.  Some good finds (no particular order) such as Wilson's Snipe, Red-headed Woodpecker (found last weekend), Blue-winged Teal (Ridgetown), Northern Goshawk, Dunlin, Killdeer, American Pipit, Common Yellowthroat.  Of course the four Ross's Geese were at Ridgetown.
Gadwall was record high at 6000 and Northern Shoveler will be a record high.
It was very balmy today.  At one point I almost stepped on a Leopard Frog.  Later in several areas I was hearing frogs which I assume were Chorus.


While at the north end of the campground I saw something of reddish colour on the fly.  A Red Bat!  First for the count.  Turns out I found at least five more in various spots flying about looking for insects.  Other counters had them as well.  I talked to a non-birding couple at the VC and they almost stepped on one in leaf litter.  Apparently they roost in leaf litter during the winter.
While on our walk, Maris and I headed out to Dog Beach.  I passed a recycling bin and casually glanced into it.  I saw some black fur.  I looked a little closer and there was a skunk! It was unable to get out, so Maris knocked over the bin and and opened the lid.  The critter refused to leave so we left!
Not a good day for other mammals as I nearly hit two Virginia Opposums on the way in.
A long gap till the next local count.  Wallaceburg is on the 29th.  Would be nice to get the elusive Northern Bobwhite for a change as it has been a long drought.

The hangover, err, I mean St. Clair NWA count is the usual January 1.