Fall Flings Around Rondeau

I did some birding in Rondeau Park and the surrounding area the last couple of days.  The weather was cool but nice.

As usual, I started with a lakewatch with Steve at dog beach on Friday morning.  There was a good variety of ducks and loons were on the move.  Both Common and Red were in good number.

Shy Semiplover!

After the lakewatch, we checked out south point trail.  Warblers were mostly Yellow-rumped as one would expect, but several Blackpoll were still around plus a Tennessee and Magnolia.

Here is the list for the day:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S74892970

I also spent some time at McLean Conservation Lands.  Here is the list for there:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S74893146

We came across an attractive, but common moth caterpillar.

Smeared Dagger

Today I once again started at Rondeau Park.  I always arrive early to start the day.

I opted out of the lakewatch and went directly to south point trail.  More Yellow-rumped Warblers appeared to be around, and other warblers included Black-throated Green and Nashville.  Only one Blackpoll today!  Here is today's list:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S74937114

Eastern Phoebe

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

I was going to stop by McLean's again, but as I was passing there, I received a message that Steve Charbonneau had found a Cattle Egret at Ridgetown sewage treatment ponds.  I went directly there, even though I had seen one of these little herons earlier in the fall.  It was a bit distant for a decent photo though.

After seeing the Cattle Egret, I thought it was time to pay a visit to Blenheim Lagoons.  It had been several weeks since I was there!  It was a good choice, as raptors were moving.  Often, the lagoon site is a good spot to view raptors when they are migrating a bit inland on a southerly wind.

Turkey Vultures were the bird of the day, as they kept coming!  Steve and I counted almost 2000 in just over three hours.

There were several other raptors including two Golden Eagles.

Red-shouldered Hawks were also in the mix.

It was an interesting watch at the lagoons!  Here is the list for there:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S74972845

Lambton Birding February 8

With colder temps the last couple of days, we finally have some ice in the St. Clair River, albeit slush ice.  It helps to concentrate gulls and ducks, which birders like.  It is good for looking at gulls, as they are lazy creatures that like to ride the floes!

I did a river run early this morning, then went to the east end of Lambton County through the countryside.  There appeared to be more birds today than I have been seeing of late.  Lots of hawks, Snow Buntings and Horned Larks were along the roads.

Back to the river, there were lots of gulls all along the river, but nothing new.

More ducks were at Stag Island, namely Common Goldeneye and Long-tailed.  Seems more Long-tailed have moved in there and off Sarnia on Lake Huron.

While heading upriver, I got word that four Harlequin Ducks were close to shore near the Bluewater Bridges.  I was going to check there anyway, so upon arrival, I found the four ducks were right there!

There was a brief bout of sun when I arrived, so lighting was not the best overall.  But, one has to remember it is the weekend afterall.  Nice to have them in close though!

Smile!

These were found today by Darrell Parsons.  Earlier in the week, Matt Parsons had four fly be Kettle Point.  No doubt these are the very same ducks!

I next headed down to the harbour area and Sarnia Bay.  There was lots to look at!  The ice certainly helps. 
In the harbour, a beauty of an adult Greater Black-backed X Glaucous Gull was swimming.  I spotted it at the last moment while looking through a fence, so no good photo.

Just south of the marina, I spotted the Greater White-fronted Goose on the ice hidden among Canada Geese.  It must have had a hard day yesterday as it slept the whole time.  Find it in this photo!

While there, five Cackling Geese flew in nearby.

Lots of gulls to look at, including one distant Lesser Black-backed.

As I was heading to the south end of downtown Sarnia, I got word that there was lots to look at off Canatara Park, including Black Scoters and Horned Grebes.  So, I did an about-face and headed to that location.

I spent a good hour at the beach coming up with one Black Scoter (FOY), one Horned Grebe (FOY), four White-winged Scoters, and hundreds of Long-tailed Ducks and Redhead among a few incidentals.

Next mission was to go through the countryside. On my way, I spotted a Common Raven along #79.  They are indeed becoming more regular in Lambton.

I ended up at the Middlesex border.  I had hoped to see a Golden Eagle, but my bad luck persisted and I did not find one despite a very thorough search.  Everyone else finds them right away, but not me!  Baffling to say the least.

Consolation prize was a Red-shouldered Hawk, always nice to see in winter.

I did come across a shrike from the north, but the weekend lighting was not good where it was perched.

I saw lots of hawks, including a couple of Rough-legged, which I had not seen all winter believe it or not.

Several harriers were out and about, including one male on the ground that I saw out of the corner of my eye.  I had to turn around to take another look as I had visions of a Gyrfalcon!  I guess I would not be that lucky since I cannot even find a Golden Eagle.

One more day on the weekend.  Who knows what the weather will be....the forecasts continously change.

March Meanderings and Mastadon Mentions

Little to report in the last week as winter lingers on.  Not much has changed other than some blackbirds and the odd Killdeer that have returned.  Looking at past notes, things are sluggish this year.
We had some cold mornings this past week creating some steamy conditions over water.  Each morning I have watched the river at Port Lambton. (Thursday and Friday I did not see much due to the fog!).

Friday

Still lots of ice coming down with the cold weather.

I did see a Sandhill Crane overhead Thursday morning.

As I mentioned before, huge numbers of Long-tailed Ducks are on the river this winter.  They seem to drift downriver during the night, and fly back upriver first thing in the morning.

I have been looking at the river quite a bit lately, but nothing new seems to appear.  One would think at least a Harlequin Duck might pop up!

This morning I started at Port Lambton.  A couple of Bald Eagles were riding an ice floe downriver.  As usual, the clouds rolled in for the weekend, so lighting was not that great.

I went all the way to Sarnia, but just found the same old stuff.

Feeling rather bored and somewhat discouraged, I headed inland and ended up at Skunk's Misery!  It was just one of those days when not much was around to see.  I went for one walk and a Hermit Thrush was still present just off Sassafras Road.  Many fewer birds than the last two times there.

Farther up Dogwood Road, I came across a Red-shouldered Hawk along the railroad.  Certainly the highlight of the day.

These hawks are indeed very nice-looking birds!  I first saw it out of the corner of my eye, but by the time I stopped and raised the camera, it took flight and went some distance.

As I headed back home, I came across a flock of Common Redpolls along Mosside Road.  Soon they will be heading north!

Recently I have been looking into Mastadon findings in Ontario.  In mid-April, Lambton Wildlife will have their annual dinner and meeting, and the entertainment program is about the Highgate Mastadon finding back in 1890.  It was the most complete skeleton found in Ontario.  It was well-travelled and eventually ended up in a museum in North Dakota!
http://blog.statemuseum.nd.gov/blog/how-move-mastodon

Closer to Wallaceburg, some bones were found on the Ferguson farm in 1939 (and later) near Tupperville.  I remember my grandfather talking about this, since the Fergusons were his cousins.  Apparently the specimens ended up at the ROM.
Some years ago, research was done about Mastadon findings in Ontario.  Locations were put on a map, which you can see here:
Mastadon Locations in Ontario
Interesting stuff!

As winter ends (soon I hope!), major projects have been completed at the workplace.

Winter has run its course, so hopefully spring-like conditions will arrive very soon.

Thamesville Area Birding: The Last CBC of 2016-17

Yesterday January 2, I was in the Thamesville to Florence area to check out my section of the Skunk's Misery CBC.  This is a relatively new CBC in an excellent area that started a couple of years ago.  My area was basically bounded by the Thames River, Zone Road 5, Lambton Line and Florence Road.
Starting at the old bridge south of Thamesville, I was joined by Janet Fraser and Patrick Cleeve.

I find this an interesting place to start as the old cemetery, cantilever truss bridge, and historical happenings dating back to the War of 1812 are here.
There has been a river crossing here dating back to the early 1800's with a ferry, then a wooden covered bridge, an iron bridge (1874), then the current bridge built in 1936.

This is also the spot we look for the rare Smokey Rubyspots in late August and into September.

We found a number of birds here along the river bank attracted to the old Sycamore, Common Hackberry and Black Walnut trees that commonly grow along the Thames.

Included was a Belted Kingfisher, American Robin and 'dickie' birds such as Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper and Golden-crowned Kinglets.

We then moved on to another historic spot east of the village where one can visit the Tecumseh memorial and learn from interpretive signs about the War Of 1812.

Just before arriving there, we spotted some raptors including a rather dark Red-tailed Hawk.  As far as I thought initially, it was an adult light morph of the calurus subspecies.  On occasion, this type is sometimes found during winter in southern Ontario.  However, there is so much variation in Red-tailed Hawks and different subspecies, it gets to be a nightmare!  UPDATE:  After much research, I decided this was the abieticola type which we often see in winter.

Photo courtesy of Patrick Cleeve

Once again, a good variety of birds was found at the Tecumseh memorial site which is along the river bank.  We found that most "landbirds" were along the river as farther afield there were not many.  It seemed to be the trend this year, as the last couple of years landbirds were numerous along the sideroads.

Thames River

We checked out all the sideroads, heading back to Florence Road, noting especially many Red-tailed Hawks.  We did have one Rough-legged, then at Florence just as we got back into the car, a buteo was soaring overhead.  I got back out and discovered that it was an adult Red-shouldered Hawk!

Sydenham River at Florence

The above photo shows an area where ode fans look for uncommon dragonflies in early summer.

Our last stop in early afternoon was on the west side of Thamesville at a nice property owned by a friend of Janet's.  They have feeders and are along the riverbank as well.  There were quite a few birds here including our only Red-breasted Nuthatch of the day.

With all roads covered, I decided to call it a day and tally up our findings.  We ended up with 30 species.

Pelee Birding (November 26)

Today I was scheduled to go down to Point Pelee, so off I went!  It was not an ideal day for a Tip watch, but it is a good place to start and you never know what will show up this time of year.
I was joined by Kit McCann, Steve Pike, Marianne Reid, Jeremy Hatt and Richard Carr.

Quite a few gulls were around first thing including 2 Lesser Black-backed on the Tip.

Only about a half dozen Common Loons were seen and a couple of Horned Grebes.

Several White-winged Scoters went by a various times and lots of scaup were around.

Early on, a white dove circled the Tip and headed back in.  I have seen these type several times here.  Also I saw another four somewhere west of Wheatley on my way home!

As we walked back from the Tip, a nice Red-shouldered Hawk flew over, but I got on it a bit late.

The Cactus Trail was next on the agenda which was a good choice as there were lots of birds including a couple dozen Eastern Bluebirds.

Some Yellow-rumped Warblers were also mixed in as were Hermit Thrushes and American Robins.  A couple of Northern Flickers were also in the area.

Cactus Trail

After a meeting at the visitor centre, I stopped by De Laurier for a walk in mid-afternoon.  The trail actually had quite a few birds at the back.  Highlight was a White-eyed Vireo which I could not get on with the camera.  Nice to find as they are scarce at any time anymore.
Lots of White-throated Sparrows and a couple of Fox Sparrows were also in the mix.

Moving on, I found another group of birds near the useless viewing stand.  Included was a Gray Catbird.

Meanwhile, I had sent a text to Jeremy Hatt to alert the others about the vireo.  I was not sure if we could refind it, but we did, albeit more distant.

On the way home, I saw 3 Turkey Vultures NW of Wheatley.
About a 100 Tundra Swans were NW of Pain Court south of Maple Line.

Tomorrow looks like a decent day with some sun.  We had a brief bout of sun this morning, but for the most part it was dreary.