A Few Autumn Colours and Notes

 Fall colours are in full swing now.  A few days ago I took a short walk at Reid C. L.  Here are some scenes along the trail.

Also went into the woods to the "tall oaks" section!

I took note of another Chinquapin Oak at Reid.  I saw the leaves on the ground a year ago but did not find the tree.  I finally found it this week.  Not a big tree by any means, but that brings my count there to five small trees, and one very large Chinquapin at Reid.

Of course, I have been to Mitchell's Bay a couple of times, but bird diversity is now low.  I am looking for quality birds now...

If you like blackbirds, that is the place to be.  There were hundreds on my last visit roosting in trees and feeding in the field, so it was quite noisy!  I did not pick out any with yellow heads this time though.

A Wilson's Snipe was in the same spot two days in a row.

I seem to have  habit of taking a photo the water tower each time....

Peers Wetland has not been very productive lately, but I get there maybe three times a week for a walk.

Colourful Scene at south end of Peers.

Purple Finches are almost in every location right now.  Some are hanging around the yard taking advantage of the seeds in the trees or garden.

Yesterday, I went to Rondeau to try a lakewatch.  I have been anxious to do one, but conditions have been less than ideal this fall so far.  It was better this time, but no too exciting.

Looking SE

However, I did catch sight of a "decent" bird in the form of a Red Phalarope.  Distant scope views were only obtained, but it is a bird we can expect this time of year.

Looking NE

The day was threatening rain, and it did start just as I decided to leave.  Therefore, there was no other birding for the day!

Random Roadside Scene

On the way home, I got word that a Cattle Egret was spotted in the usual pasture at the corner of Bisnett and Erieau Roads.  It is almost an annual thing here, and there have been at least five that I can think of here over the years.  They are called Western Cattle Egret now.  There must be an Eastern Cattle Egret somewhere....

It was too late to head back down, so this morning I did so.  Unfortunately, it was in a bad location upon my arrival.  There is no place to properly pull off on Erieau Road, especially when most drivers are going at excessive speeds (like every place else!).

LOL

Here is a distant view from Bisnett!

Angus the cow

While in the general area, I decided it would  be a good day to visit Keith McLean Conservation Lands.  It was indeed, as there were a lot of birds there. 

 

Upon arrival, there was a lot of activity in the trees not far from the parking lot.  Yellow-rumped Warblers seemed to be streaming in over the field (and still were when I left), so I have no idea how many went through.

Lots of sparrows too, especially Chipping and White-crowned.

Chippie

The mudflats had quite a few shorebirds, including a couple of dowitchers with long bills, Dunlin, both yellowlegs, Least Sandpipers and a flock of Pectoral Sandpipers which flew in while I was standing there.

Pecs

LBDO

Greater Yellowlegs

Just before I left, coming up to the parking lot, a Peregrine Falcon went through.  All the ducks and shorebirds got up.  I had no idea there were that many Killdeer there....

That is it for now, as yet another weekend approaches.

 

Recent Lakewatches and Things In Between

 This week I attempted some lakewatches at different locations.  It was not a good week with the camera, as I could not get on things to photograph, or the camera simply did not co-operate, lol. Hence, some photos here are from the past!

Tuesday was a rainy day, so the only option was to go to Erieau and stand under the pavilion at Laverne Kelly Memorial Park.  It is an excellent spot on a rainy day when winds are from the east.  One is somewhat protected from the wind and rain!  And there are picnic tables for convenience.

A look at the pier area showed it was not a good place to hang around.

Erieau Pier Area

There were lots of ducks moving, but no standouts.  Highlight was when Steve spotted a Red Phalarope heading east, low at the surf line.  We had good looks to  determine the species.  Perhaps it ended up at the pier area.  It is always nice to see the rarest of our phalaropes. It seems to be a good year for them, as there have been quite a few in southern Ontario reported this past week.

Pelee Bird

Wednesday I did not go too far.  The annual showing of Sandhill Cranes west of Wallaceburg continues.  It is interesting that these creatures come from Michigan every morning, then depart later in the day for the night.  We have had over 100 at times.

The St. Clair River has been extremely quiet this fall any time I have been out there.  One of the few classic lakers left went by Port Lambton one morning.

CSL Tadoussac

Thursday looked good for a lakewatch at Rondeau's dog beach.  Nothing spectacular though.......once again.  Hopefully it will be a decent day on December 17, when the Blenheim/Rondeau CBC takes place.

Checking the campground afterwards, there were quite a few sparrow types and others.  A Blue-grey Gnatcatcher seems to be stuck in the campground, working the north end mostly. We usually get a late one here every year.

I attempted to photograph it, but for whatever reason, the camera would not focus.  Just one of those days!

Ruddy Ducks are hanging out on the east side as they usually do this time of year.  There were close to 1000 when I looked on Thursday.

After leaving the park, I stopped by Keith McLean C. L.  Some Dunlin were still kicking around, and a lone Black-bellied Plover was prancing around the little island.

In the afternoon, I went for a walk at a local property.

Screech owl poking out of this box!

Today, there was a strong NNW wind, so you guessed it, I headed up to Ipperwash.  Upon arrival, the sky was littered with Ring-billed Gulls, perhaps numbering close to 3000!  I attempted a photo with my cell phone, but it is difficult to see the gulls here.

The lakewatch was quite lame with low numbers of ducks moving and not a lot of gulls after the initial movement.  At times, there was nothing to look at!  Difficult to figure out sometimes.

Afterwards, I ventured up to Pinery P.P.  I do not go there that often anymore.  It is just not the same as it used to be, as there are very few birds anymore, or so it seems.  Looking at other's eBird lists, it is the same thing.

I was on the hunt for waxwings, especially Bohemian.  I finally found a big group in Dunes campground.  I only had a brief period of time to sort through, but I did find a couple of Bohemians.  Before I could get a good look, a Sharp-shinned Hawk came through and the flock took off.  Just my typical luck.

At Erieau a few years ago

Other than that, there were very few birds to be found.

I stopped by McKeough CA for a short walk just before getting home.  It too was rather quiet today.  A few juncos were kicking around.

Some Recent December Birding

Sunrise at Rondeau December 8

The last three days I made my usual rounds looking for birds.  Rondeau was on the agenda for Friday, as I had not been there since the previous Saturday.  One the way there, I did see the Red Phalarope in the field at McLean Conservation Lands.  It has been around for some time, and one can only hope it stays another week for the CBC.  Red Phalarope has been recorded on the Rondeau count before.  It is to get quite cold by mid-week coming up though.

I started with a lakewatch at dog beach as usual along with Steve Charbonneau.  There was a good movement of ducks, especially Lesser Scaup.
Loons have thinned out, and the difficult one to find now is the Common!  We did see at least six Red-throated.  Hopefully some will still be around in another week for the Christmas Bird Count.  I will start with a lakewatch.

We checked the north end of the park, and the campground had a nice flock of birds with a good variety of species.  A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is around, as there always seems to be in the winter there.

The flock had a couple each of Fox Sparrow and Field Sparrow, a Chipping Sparrow and several White-throated.  In fact, there are quite a few White-throated around the park right now.

Yellow-rumped Warblers, Black-capped Chickades, both kinglets, creepers and others rounded out the flock.

Saturday, I headed up the St Clair River, since Rondeau was closed for the deer cull.  There are certainly not many ducks on the river yet, as one would expect.  Times (and weather) have changed!
There are lots of gulls though.  99% are Herring.
The best concentration is at the north end of Corunna at Guthrie Park and the Shell docks.  I checked it out on Saturday and there were around 1000.  There was only a handful of Great Black-backed and certainly no white-winged gulls.
Reports today made it obvious that more gulls had moved in with a few white-winged involved, as well as a Lesser Black-backed.  Time will tell, but something of interest may show soon!  An Ivory Gull would certainly stir things up.  It has been 24 years (wow!) since I found the one north of Sombra.

I checked out various spots inland, but there were few birds.  As I mentioned earlier, birds are very scarce this winter.  There are some 'good' birds out there and some keep popping up, but generally it will be a very quiet winter.

A Long-eared Owl at McKeough CA was in its usual spot, but I could not get a proper look at it.  It was certainly well-hidden and never flushed.  This is the best I could do for a photo (!):

Speaking of owls, early Wednesday morning I awoke about 2 a.m. for some reason.  Not five minutes later, a Great Horned Owl started calling outside the house.  A few minutes later, another called.  They kept calling back and forth for a half hour!  It was the first time I have had this species in the yard here in town.

Although cold yesterday, I did see a 'lep'.  It was one of those Bruce Spanworm moths which are quite hardy.

Today, I went back to Rondeau and started with the usual lakewatch.  It was a far cry from Friday, if that is possible.  I did get another 5 or 6 Red-throated Loons, but there were fewer ducks.  Gulls have been scarce on this side of the park lately.
A walk on south point trail was very quiet.  I could count the birds on one hand!

A check of the campground was just as quiet.  There was no sign of the 'flock' of birds from Friday.  They must be somewhere though!
A few White-throated Sparrows popped up, and this one appeared to be yawning!

I stopped by Keith McLean C.L. and a Dunlin was keeping the Red Phalarope company on the ice patch.  Shallow water will be frozen by the end of the week, so they may disappear.
I walked up to the viewing stand as well.  A number of geese and ducks were in the back.
A Northern Flicker was near the house, species I have not seen in a while.

One last stop was Ridgetown lagoons.  Some ducks were sitting on the ice.  Besides Mallards and Blacks, there were some Northern Shovelers, and Mallard X Black Duck and a wigeon.

The Christmas Bird Counts start next week already!  Some of the local counts:  Kettle Point is December 14, Blenheim/ Rondeau December 15.  Skunk's Misery is December 21 this year and Wallaceburg is December 28.  St. Clair will likely be January 1 as it traditionally is.