Rondeau and Point Pelee and more "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped Warblers

With nice weather finally upon us, I was anxious to get out and about this weekend.  No doubt many birds are sailing right on through with the clear nights and suitable weather.  Perhaps that was the case at Rondeau on Saturday as I did not see a single warbler in six hours!
There were other birds to look at as sparrows are building in numbers, and Ruby-crowned Kinglets are more evident.
I walked with Steve Charbonneau the first few hours.

Barn Swallow at marsh tower

Horny Grebe

Hermit Thrushes are becoming plentiful and other thrushes will soon arrive.

The warm weather has drawn out butterflies.  I saw my first Spring Azure yesterday behind Rondeau's maintenance compound.  It was not too co-operative though!

Wildflowers are starting to pop up and this Bloodroot was near the Azure.

More sparrows were in.

chippie

One of 5 Savannah Sparrows

I headed home after six hours and arrived to see this photo on my email.

photo by Sharon Nethercott

Sharon and Deryl Nethercott found an "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped at Sarnia along Front Street opposite the Bay area!
Interestingly, a similar bird was found at Point Pelee as well.

Saturday evening was the Lambton Wildlife annual dinner at Camlachie, so I headed up that way.  I stopped at Wawanosh Wetlands to get my Yellow-rumped fix for the day.  I found four right away!
Guest speaker at the LWI dinner was Jean Iron.  She talked about the Arctic and Iceland and Greenland.

Sunday I planned to go to Point Pelee.  Things got a bit mixed up as a running event was held from the VC to the Tip.  Not to knock the worthwhile cause, but this is at least the fourth time my plans have been altered!  There is a small window of opportunity of times that I can get to Point Pelee, so it can be frustrating.

However, I met up with Jeremy Hatt and Marianne Reid and we checked out Woodland Trail, walked up West beach trail, into Tilden's Woods, up to Black Willow and down to White Pine.  A large number of Ruby-crowned Kinglets were around, but not as many as the previous day.

We saw several Yellow-rumped Warblers, but none with a yellow throat.  Along the way, we got word that Steve Pike refound the "Audubon's" at the Tip.

Lots of ducks were off the west side towards the Tip, including all three scoters.

I went off on my own after Jeremy and Marianne left, and decided to check out the Sanctuary area while much of the crowd dispersed.  More kinglets and Hermit Thrushes.  As I got close to the north end of Sanctuary, I caught site of a Northern Parula (male of course).  It was obvious in the brief sighting, but it flew into the sun and south and I lost sight of it.  I did not relocate it, but while looking I did hear it sing once.
Certainly a neat sighting at this date considering that Yellow-rumped and Pine are just arriving.  My earliest sighting of a parula is 18 April 2010 at Rondeau's spicebush trail.  I was with Jim Burk at the time.

I got word from Dwayne Murphy that he was looking at the "Audubon's" Yellow-rumped, so I thought I would head down.   The road was not yet open so I walked down west beach trail.  I actually met Dwayne as he was walking back.  I arrived at the specified location, and could hear the call note repeatedly.  The note is distinct from the "Myrtle" Yellow-rumped.  It took some time to locate the bird, but there it was.

It was a bit high and lighting was harsh, but I got some half-decent diagnostic photos.

A Pine Warbler was also accompanying the bird.

A stop a Hillman Marsh shorebird cell revealed 10 early Black-bellied Plovers.  Lots of Dunlin were present and 3 Greater Yellowlegs.

Two of Them

I am tired!  lol.

Several of these Today

Good Friday Birding

Things are picking up, albeit slowly.  I headed down to Rondeau first thing this morning to check out what birds might be around.  I met up with Steve and we did quite a bit of walking.  Unfortunately very few birds had come in, but at least it was nice to be out to try for some.
Warblers were difficult to come by as we came up with only about a dozen Yellow-rumped and three Pine.

The sparrows that came in last week had departed, not to be replaced by a new batch.  A few more White-throated were in and dribs and drabs of other species.

By lunch time I had covered the park quite well, so there was no way that I was going home yet.  I headed over to Point Pelee to try my luck at recently-reported species.  The sun was out by now and we never got a drop of rain that was forecast all week for last night and this morning.  Par for the course again!

First stop was De Laurier.  I totally lucked out and found the Henslow's Sparrow.  I did not know it was still around and one could very easily walk by it.  Typical to its nature, it was working beneath the grasses.  I caught sight of some movement, then saw nothing at first.  I was just about to walk away thinking it was a mouse, but then I saw it.

It was there all the time but seldom seen as it crawled beneath the grass.  At one point it finally got up for a fine view as I got Dwayne Murphy and Sarah Renaud on the bird.

I next walked Tilden's Woods hoping for a Louisiana Waterthrush, but there was little to see.  Woodland Trail was the next bet and by the time I got most of the way around, I found a waterthrush beside the slough.  It came out for some pretty good photos.

I saw four species of butterflies today, including some Spring Azures on Woodland Trail.

Red Admirals were numerous.  I saw my first one last Sunday at Pelee.

The next couple of days should be good for birds coming in!

Rondeau to Reid: Birds, Butterflies, Plants

I went down to Rondeau again to be greeted by cold and fog yet again.  Weather is so much nicer inland!
Outside the park I heard a Virginia Rail in the marsh along the causeway.  Several Green-winged Teal were there too. (Always check for Eurasian!).
At south point trail, a Brown Thrasher was singing.  Several were in the park today, and they were not seen yesterday.

poor photo:  weather to blame

With Steve and Jim I walked South Point Trail.  We came across another Pine Warbler (in Pines, no less!).  We consider it a different bird than yesterday as these were several km apart.  The only other bird of note was FOY Ruby-crowned Kinglet.
Lots of Juncos, kinglets, creepers, sparrows were around as usual.  More chippies in today.

The pond at corner of Bisnett and Erieau Roads had 2 Greater Yellowlegs and a Lesser Yellowlegs today.  Keith Burk had a snipe earlier.  This is an excellent spot that should be checked regularly.  I predict a good bird will be found there this spring!  This is next to the spot a Cattle Egret has been seen on a couple of occasions.

Blenheim Lagoons had lots of ducks and gulls plus a Horned Grebe.  I saw the hybrid again.

I went home at noon to find beautiful weather.  I decided to check McKeough and Reid CA's.  I walked through the woods in areas I have not been in a long time.  I used to go there quite regularly and even more during the Breeding Bird Atlas years since it was one of my squares.
I checked an area at McKeough that we planted some uncommon native trees back in the early 1990's (cannot remember year!).  Some are still living and several have long since died.  We put up signs and many of those are still there.

The standard Eastern Phoebe was singing profusely at Duthill Bridge.

Many wildflowers are coming out in bloom now.  Certainly way ahead of normal.  Some photos here.  Common stuff:

White Trilliums are coming out too.  My photo turned out blurry.

I had lots of fun walking through the woods this afternoon.  And, not surprisingly, I came across several Spring Azures.  By far the earliest I have seen them.  The previous earliest I know of for me (but at Point Pelee) was April 2 two years ago which was a day after the record early there.

I saw azure at McKeough, then perhaps 5 at Reid.  At one point there were three fighting each other!
Very small butterflies difficult to photograph.....

At Reid, I saw a Mourning Cloak and several Eastern Comma.  One comma was freshly emerged as it was still glistening.

Also had a couple of Green Darners at Reid.
I guess the most interesting sighting of the day at Reid was a Paul Carter.  LOL.

Southward Bound!

I birded Point Pelee today, hoping that something rather early would show. There were thousands of birds, but they were heading south! It was the phenomena of "reverse migration" when birds that had already migrated in, decide to head south again off the Tip. I was with Alan Wormington and Brandon Holden at the Tip for the "watch".
There were thousands of blackbirds, but most notable were Flickers and Robins. In a couple of hours, we saw about 150 flickers head out over the lake. Several other types of birds included Bluebirds, Starlings, sparrows, Crows, Mourning Doves, etc.

Backside of Golden-crowned Kinglet!

Lots of sparrows were in the park--most being Field and Chipping. I did see 3 Fox Sparrows as well along with Song and Tree Sparrows. A Swamp Sparrow was added to the mix at the Tip.
Eastern Phoebes were numerous as were Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. The first Ruby-crowned Kinglet was at the Tip.

Eastern Phoebe (best I could do for photo!)

There were lots of ducks out on the water with most being scaup. A few White-winged and Surf Scoters were around. Several Horned Grebes and one Common Loon were near the Tip.

Field Sparrow on West Beach Trail S.

Junco and Chipping Sparrow at De Laurier

When it warmed up, I found some butterflies along West Beach Trail. There were several Eastern Commas, a couple of Mourning Cloaks and an early Spring Azure.

While along Anders Footpath, I heard some Sandhill Cranes in the distance.

Herbert C. Jackson in Pelee Passage

On the way home I took a peak at Hillman Marsh. The only shorebirds I saw were a few Greater Yellowlegs near the entrance.

At Tilbury S. L. an early Great Egret was in.

Great Egret at Tilbury