Some Early January Birding

 I have been out to see what around as the dismal weather continues.  Monday it was off to Point Pelee once more before it closes for the deer reduction program tomorrow.

I first checked the west side for the ongoing redpolls.  Two Hoary Redpolls have found a place to stay for some time recently.  Although I eventually found them, I was unable to get decent photos.  Some Common Redpolls were around as well, always scarce within Point Pelee.

Next stop was the Tip where there was an impressive showing of ducks.  All were flybys, but there were hundreds of mergansers, mostly Commons.  White-winged Scoters were around in good number as well.

I checked the Cactus Field and found quite a few birds including Yellow-rumped Warblers and Eastern Bluebirds among others.

On the way out of the park, I stopped at Sanctuary Pond, where there was still some open water.  Northern Shovelers and Gadwall, uncommon this time of year, were present.  As well, some of the usual Mallards and Black Ducks and a few Hooded Mergansers.

I headed home via Gracey Sideroad and veered over to Lighthouse Cove after a failed attempt to find the blackbird flock.  

It can be interesting this time of year, especially when there is ice.  However, as the mild winter continues, there was none!  Often we get lingering birds such as Great Blue Herons and Double-crested Cormorants here in winter.  The Cove was almost devoid of birds, so I went over Jeannette's Creek where one can go to the boat launch at the river. 

Cormorants on a Log

Here, I found one of the target birds, a Great Egret!  On January 2, Ken Burrell reported two at Lighthouse Cove which were probably around the day before on the CBC.  They were on the C-K side of the river though for him.

I saw the one on the marina property which is actually in Essex.  The borders get dicey around here, but it was indeed in Essex, albeit a distance.

Nearer home, I spotted at least five Snowy Owls in the usual area south of Mitchell's Bay.  They were far out in the field, as they often are.

Tuesday the usual weather continued.  It would be nice to see this end as it has been around about two months!

I went along the St. Clair River, seeing very little. It is probably the "quietest" I have ever seen the river for this time of year.  Climate change sure has made a difference!

It was too early in the day to see many gulls at Guthrie Park.  Later in the afternoon is better, but it would be even better if we had ice.  A couple of Glaucous Gulls were evident.

The rest of the day was a bit of a write-off as there was not much out there.

Today I decided Rondeau needed a visit.  As usual the weather forecast was wrong yet again....still no sun!  There was even a bit of fog and light wet snow which was not on the radar either.

I did my usual route starting at south point trail.  The lake was dead calm and virtually no birds on it.  I did see one Red-throated Loon.  Obviously a couple of days ago was better when about 200 were on the lake!  

There has been even more severe erosion along south point.  Soon the shoreline will be at the trail which used to be well inland.  As the shoreline recedes, structures from the past are revealed.

At the "washout" which was even more washed out, the bird of the day was hopping around.  An American Pipit!  Not often they are seen in January around here.

It was dragging its right wing, but was still able to fly.

I checked the campground before leaving.  Most birds were at the north end, but seemed to fly in while I was there.  Many juncos were on the move, and I caught sight of one Chipping Sparrow.  Could have been other things, but they were moving quickly.

I also found the standard Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.

It was on its favourite tree, which we call the "sapsucker tree".

A couple of Yellow-rumped Warblers were roaming the campground as well.

Photos were not good today, but with the gloomy weather that is the way it will be.

I had enough of the damp weather after the campground walk, so headed home.

This afternoon I made a quick run out to Stewart Wetland.  Timing was just right, as the 100+ Sandhills Cranes were heading back to Michigan for the night!

Weekend Loons, Geese, Ducks and Gulls

Saturday I paid a visit to Rondeau Park for the first time this calendar year.  The day was dead calm for a change, so one could hear for a long distance.
Not much has changed birdwise, but the highlight was the presence of many Red-throated Loons.  At first I did not see any, but then two or three popped up which I thought was nice.

After walking the trail on south point, I decided to walk back the beach.  Red-throated Loons kept popping up everywhere!

I counted at least 35, then Steve came along with a scope and came up with 37.  Certainly a significant number for this time of year.

With last week's wind, there has been more significant erosion along south point. 

Past the "washout" it has cut right back in and one cannot walk through there anymore!  Rondeau is shrinking!

We stopped by to see the wintering Red-headed Woodpecker as well.

The campground was rather quiet this day.

On the way home, I swung around to Ridgetown Lagoons.  With the open water, there were lots of geese and swans.
Four Snow Geese stood out, and one stuck out like a sore thumb.  It was almost black!  Certainly the darkest snow goose I have ever seen.

Sunday, I decided to head to Sarnia to view the continuing Harlequin Ducks.  They are still attracted to the fast water at the start (not mouth) of the St. Clair River.  Still in US waters though.

The St. Clair River still remains almost devoid of ducks, but the gulls continue at Corunna.

Gadwall

Things are always changed there, but still nothing different.  This morning there were over 2000 Herrring Gulls present. I did pick out one Glaucous, one Iceland, one Lesser Black-backed and two Ring-billed.
They were quite spread out today and farther out on the river.  The sun was bright (weather forecast wrong yet again) so lighting was harsh.

While, there, M.B. picked out the hybrid Glaucous X Great Black-backed Gull.  It is difficult to pick out unless you see it fly.  Never got a photo though.

Another weekend is about to close, as time flies on.

Rondeau Birding Area CBC

Sunday December 15 was the annual Blenheim/Rondeau Christmas Bird Count (CBC).  It is always something to look forward to and the camraderie at the compilation is always fun.  I have been doing this count since 1989 if I recall correctly (memory starting to fade after all that time!).
I used to help in the area at Blenheim and north of Blenheim, but eventually took over the area south of the visitor centre, including south point trail.  It is a lot of walking, but I enjoy being on foot for hours!

This year, I was once again joined by Quinten Wiegersma, starting with a lakewatch at 'dog beach'.  It is a good way to start the day as many species can be seen on the lake from there.  The weather was less than ideal to start the day and it was certainly a far cry from the lakewatch on Friday.
We managed to scrape up four Red-throated Loons, a bit short of the 174 from Friday!  Not many ducks were moving either.

After getting chilled to the bone, we continued our usual routine of moving to the south point trail.  Needless to say, birds were scarce.  Probably the best bird was a lonely Ruby-crowned Kinglet farther down the trail.  I did not take the big camera this day, so no photos of birds!  Only scenery shots.

The lake was a bit rough with the brisk westerly winds.

After a break, we started walking up Lakeshore Road.  It started fairly good with an Eastern Towhee calling in the underbrush, and a lone Common Grackle flying over.  From there to the VC, and back down Harrison was practically birdless!

After getting back in the car, we headed north to take advantage of the warmth of the VC and have our lunch.  A lone Tufted Titmouse (among other birds) at the feeders turned out to be a decent bird for the count.

From there, we headed up to the campground to see if we could find anything the morning crew missed.  We did find an American Robin (or at least hear one) which was not seen earlier.  There were not many birds there, unlike previous years.

From there we parted ways and I headed back to south point trail as usual.  Along the way, I saw the wintering Turkey Vulture soaring overhead.

The sun was out by this time, and it was enjoyable along the trail.  I find it quite nice this time of day, and it was a good walk as I added about six species we did not encounter earlier in the day.

I started by walking along the forest edge on the lakeside.  Another Eastern Towhee and a Winter Wren were among the birds seen. 

At one point I decided to jaunt out to the beach.  A lone Horned Grebe was swimming right there.  What are the chances of me picking that spot for a quick look at the beach?
There were actually more birds than earlier in my walk.

I encountered a couple of Virginia Opossums on my walk.

Later, I decided to walk back the old Dillon Trail (a road that was once drivable until the early 1970's).  In past counts, I often walked this back to the 'big' slough and even further to the other side of south point trail.  However, I could only get so far where I encountered deep water.  It sometimes is surprising the number of birds back there.

It was quite pleasant along the old Dillon.  I added a couple of Swamp Sparrows and another Winter Wren.

After checking out that area, I stopped by dog beach and sat on the bench for a while.  Another Red-throated Loon was swimming offshore, and several Canada Geese were swimming nearby.

All told, 42 species were tallied in my area, not bad for a winter without a lot of birds.

We had a good time at the dinner/compilation.  Total species for the count was 102 which I think is quite respectable for a "slow" winter.  Among the more notable birds, a couple of Eastern Phoebes were tallied and in the warbler section, only a couple of Yellow-rumped.  Belted Kingfishers were quite plentiful on this year's count.

My next count will be Skunk's Misery on December 21.

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.

Some Erie Shore Birding

The past couple of days I have headed down to Rondeau and Pelee areas.  Friday morning started with a very cold lakewatch!  Once again the wind was not ideal, but one has little choice and must try.  And, yet again, nothing of note showed!
We did see up to six American Woodcocks migrate in off the lake.  It is always neat to them come in and dive into the woods!

A pipit or two briefly landed on the beach.

To warm up a bit, we walked south point trail.  Not a single warbler was seen and rather few passerines.  A few Eastern Bluebirds were around though, always nice to see.

Some Eastern Phoebes were busily looking for food.

Later, a highlight was a Red-headed Woodpecker behind a cottage along Lakeshore Road.

A Baltimore Oriole was also here, but did not show while we were present.

A walk through the campground revealed a good number of Chipping Sparrows among others. 
Here we found several Yellow-rumped Warblers as well.  An Orange-crowned Warbler was also added to the warbler list, but I was unable to get on it with the camera.

Steve and I then met up at the Blenheim Lagoons were a good number of ducks and some shorebirds were present.
Shorebirds included over 30 Dunlin, 4 Greater Yellowlegs, a number of Wilson's Snipe, Killdeer, a late Least Sandpiper and a one-legged White-rumped Sandpiper called 'stumpy'.

The previous day, Steve had a record-late Stilt Sandpiper, but of course we could not find it this day.

Today, Saturday, I thought it would be a better day for a lakewatch at Rondeau.  Nope, the park was close for a deer cull.  News to us!  Usually we have some sort of notice when this will happen.  Also, they usually do not do it on a weekend to accomodate visitors, but obviously there was no consideration to that.
FYI, dates include the mornings of November 9,12,13,14,19,20,21,30 and all day December 7.  Note there are a couple of Saturdays, unfortunately.

Instead, Steve and I set up scopes on the beach just inside Bate's Subdivision.  There was a lot to look at but once again, nothing of note!  Where are the rarities around here?

Tundra Swans

There was over 7000 Red-breasted Mergansers, and various other ducks.  Ring-billed Gulls were too numerous to get an accurate count.  Yet again, nothing of note among them!

After that, I decided to head west for lack of anything else to do. I had a feeling some Tree Swallows would be around today.  At the corner of Stevenson and Talbot Trail, I saw the first few.

I went straight to Point Pelee first stopping at Sanctuary lookout.  A Tree Swallow went by during my brief stop there.
I ended up walking Shuster Trail and De Laurier. 

Beach at end of Shuster Trail

There was not too much to see, but a few sparrows, phoebes, Hermit Thrushes and Yellow-rumped Warblers were around.

Several flocks of Chipping Sparrows are still around.

I stopped by Sanctuary Pond lookout on the way out and I ended up spending over an hour there as there was lots to see.  Some birds were moving along the edge out of the wind, which had me interested.  The highlight was a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.  For the longest time, it was some distance away, but eventually it came much closer.  I was able to get full-frame photos.

Next stop was Wheatley Harbour were there were countless gulls, most of which were Ring-billed as expected.  Yet again, nothing of note!  One would think with several thousand gulls, one would stand out.

The only stand-out was an adult Glaucous Gull on the rocks.

One could have taken a seat to study the gulls, but it was a bit too cold.

While here, I noted some Tree Swallows moving west, totalling at least 18.

Nearer home, about 2500 Tundra Swans were in a field between Heron Line and Belle Rose Line.