Winter Walks and Wanderings

 A couple of days ago I took a drive along the St. Clair River up to Willow Park.  Slush ice has almost filled the river due to the recent cold weather.  We did not see much of this last year!

Port Lambton

Some ships are still working including the Algoma Compass.  One of the nicer-looking ones.

Near the brine barge at Seager Park, I noticed an odd duck swimming about.  Turned out to be a Surf Scoter.  Not the most classic-looking one, but apparently it has been around for some time.  Of all the times I have been out to the river, this was the first time I encountered the creature.

We rarely seen a Surf Scoter in the St. Clair River!

Afterwards, I went for a  walk at Reid CA.  Hardly any birds as usual, but I enjoyed the fresh air and exercise, and always enjoy walking through the woods.

View from my favourite spot

Saturday, I joined the annual OFO field trip along the Detroit River.  I always enjoy this one since I rarely get down that way.

This year, we had more seasonal weather for a change!  There was a good concentration of birds around Peche Island, including about 36 Great Blue Herons on the edge of the ice.  They looked like sentinels! 

Lots of Hooded Mergansers were here.

A Trumpeter Swan, not all that unusual for here, was also seen.  A pair was Wood Ducks was a decent sighting.

There was a good concentration of waterfowl along the shoreline of Peche Island, the majority of which were Canada Geese and Mallards.  There were about 800 geese, but we could not pick out a single other species!

Here is a link to the eBird list for this location:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S208884570

Of course, I noticed the Bob-Lo boat Ste. Claire slowly taking shape downriver.  Although it does not look much different than a year ago.

Summer Memories!

The tanker Iver Bright flushed a couple of hundred Common Mergansers a bit downriver.

Our next stop, per tradition, was the Little River Corridor Park and the pollution control plant area.  There is always a concentration of ducks in the canal.  Among the hundreds of Mallards, were four more Wood Ducks.

Other birds included the expected Belted Kingfisher and a couple of American Robins.  As well, Jeremy Hatt spotted a junco which appeared to be an Oregon.

Here is a link to our bird list for this location:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S208919641

We then moved to the park.  At the parking lot, I spotted a Sharp-shinned Hawk which all in the group were pleased to see.

There were lots of juncos and other birds in the park.  The highlight was probably the Hermit Thrush we saw.  Lots of Northern Cardinals as well.  One perched motionless right beside the trail.

There was no surprise like last year, when we found the Northern Waterthrush.  Things were quite frozen, unlike last year, so obviously any bird like that would be foolhardy to stick around.

Here is a link to the eBird list for this location:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S208901950

After this walk, I headed back home, as there was not much else that interested me further downriver.

I drove a few backroads on the way home.  There were hundred of Snow Buntings and Horned Larks as one would expect.

Today, I aimed my car towards Rondeau.  I first went towards Stefina Line.  Along Mull Road, I encountered a couple of Eastern Meadowlarks.  A couple have been seen further along Stefina, so not sure if these are the same ones.  There are bound to be more out there!  Unfortunately, I could not obtain proper photos.

It is always nice to see these in winter.  We have seen them along Stefina before in the past.

The Harris's Sparrow was still present as expected.

I had been itching to get out Rondeau's marsh trail for a long walk for quite some time.  The cold north winds of late were too unbearable to do this walk, but the winds switched to the south for a change.  It was actually quite pleasant as I walked out to the half way point.

View at the half-way boardwalk

The Ruby-crowned Kinglet was still in the cottage area tirelessly looking for morsels of food.  Lots of Swamp Sparrows were encountered.  Nothing special seen during my walk, but it was just nice to get out there.

I decided to head homeward after this walk.  I thought of going to Erieau since there are now three Harlequin Ducks (!), but I bypassed that.

Cornucopia of Birds at Rondeau

Surf Scoters at dawn

Rondeau was certainly the destination today, as I met up with Steve Charbonneau to check out the abundance of birds.  We did a lake watch at Dog Beach for over an hour first thing.  The lake was fairly active with many Common Loons and a few Horned Grebes among ducks and gulls.






Shorebirds included 4 Black-bellied Plover and 2 Dunlin that sat on the edge of the beach the entire time.  Lighting was bad first thing.

At the parking lot, a large Sharp-shinned Hawk sat for some time and eventually songbirds ignored it and fed in the same tree.

Eastern Phoebe in background

At the start of south point trail, it was evident there was a lot of birds to sort through.  Of course Yellow-rumped Warblers dominated the scene, but 7 other warbler species were found.  We had at least 6 Tennessee, 3 Nashville, about 8 Blackpoll and a Cape May. At one point we may have had a female Cerulean, but we did not get a perfect look.

Just before the washout, I spotted an ammodramus sparrow.  Hoping for a Le Conte's, a good look revealed a Grasshopper Sparrow.  Certainly the latest I have seen one.  This is a location we often get them in the spring migration too.

There are lots of records in the province for this time of year and even some in November.

After south point, I stayed a little longer to check out cuckoo alley.  Nothing new as far as I could see there.  I was in the park for 5.5h and only covered a small portion.

Hawks and Turkey Vultures were on the move today, so I checked out Morpeth for a few minutes.

Next stop was Blenheim Lagoons.  Our Tundra Swan had a few friends today.  Not many shorebirds (of course there were some White-rumped Sandpipers) and no Willet was in sight.  Dwayne Murphy had the Willet yesterday, so it will be interesting to see if it shows up again.

I was not done, so headed down to Erieau's marsh trail.  There, I noted a huge number of Turkey Vultures migrating, but nothing with them!  I had at least 250 in 50 minutes.

Along the trail I heard a Sora and a Marsh Wren.  Often, Marsh Wren is recorded on the CBC there.
Quite a few Tree Swallows were along the Bay, but nothing different with them.  It would have been a good spot to scope the Bay for ducks, but just as well since there was a cold wind and a bit of....wet snow!

Weather looks similar tomorrow, so I will head back to try and find something different.

????

A Cloudless Morning

A brisk SW wind was forecast for this morning, so I headed to Point Pelee Tip!  I was there early and lots of gulls were loafing on the Tip and many flying about.  A Lesser Black-backed Gull stood out right away and I noticed at least one first cycle LLB, errr, LBB towards the end.

I was soon joined by some of the 'regulars' and we stood watch for a few hours.  It did not pan out like we had hoped though.  A Red-necked Phalarope came in and swam for a while on the west side.  It eventually disappeared, but it or another came in later on and swam on the east side.  It is time for Red Phalaropes to appear, but this was not the case today.  However, Kevin McLaughlin saw a Red on the west side opposite the VC yesterday.

Quite a few Sanderlings were around today.  Before others arrived, three Semiplovers were working the sand.  Here is one:

A Baird's Sandpiper stayed the whole time.  Apparently it has been around a couple of days.  Always an attractive shorebird!

At one point we saw an early Surf Scoter heading west!  Not sure the earliest date, but we do not usually see them till the first of October.  Earliest for me anyway!

A number of warblers and others birds were along the road as I walked to the Tip this morning.  I did not look too much for them as I hoped to see some butterflies today.

After the Tip Watch while waiting at the tram loop, Richard, Alan and myself had a look at a Cloudless Sulphur!  Alan spotted it coming along the road from the west side and flew past us down the trail.  This species is always on the go and often impossible to photograph.  Just the other day, Alan, Mike Nelson and Kevin saw one at the Tip.  Here is a link to Alan's photo on Ontario Butterflies:
Cloudless Sulphur
It is a rather large bright sulphur that is unmistakable!  They usually appear in September through October and in the spring late May into June at Pelee.  Quite rare in Ontario actually!

Later I met up with Steve Pike along west beach trail.  A few butterflies and dragonflies were around, but not as many as we had hoped.  We later checked out De Laurier homestead and found some warblers to look at.
After lunch I headed out of the park checking a few spots along the way.  I stopped at Tilbury lagoons in hopes of seeing the Snowy Egret.  I could not find it, but 8 Great Egrets were present.  The Snowy was present late yesterday, so could still be in the area.
I even stopped at Lighthouse Cove and saw more Great Egrets.

This evening I took my supper out to Stewart Wetland.  Not much there, but a Solitary Sandpiper was working the mud.  I saw two Sandhill Cranes along the way, then out at Port Lambton, seven flew over the river and past Algonac State Park.  First time I have seen some at the St. Clair River!  Did not quite have my camera ready....

This ship was upbound while I was at Port Lambton.  Saw it in Pelee Passage early this morning!!

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East Side Hiker

Sunrise At Rondeau

I arrived at Rondeau just before sunrise today and caught some photos of the sun rising off south point trail.

The wind was very strong out of the SW, but not the 60 km/h as predicted. As well, it was sunny most of the time, contrary to the forecast. By the way, I just checked tomorrow's forecast, and it has completely changed again. What's new?

Anyway, the birds were hunkered down. Most interesting was a flock of about 30 Eastern Bluebirds sitting in the trees beside the trail. This is certainly one of the larger flocks that I have seen here. We always hope for a Mountain Bluebird, as one has never been recorded in the Rondeau birding area. In fact, one has not been in Ontario for some time. Maybe this winter!

More Juncos have moved in with some more White-throated Sparrows. The Fox Sparrows remain scarce, as I only saw one today.

Merlin with breakfast

On the lake south of Morpeth were a large number of Surf Scoters with a few Black among the scaup. The scoters outnumbered the scaup 2:1. I did not see a White-winged Scoter, strange enough. A few Ruddy Ducks were mixed in as well. Lots of gulls moving, but once again no kittiwake or anything uncommon.

I then went to Erieau and scoped ducks on the Bay. There are thousands. Canvasback seemed to be prevalent, with a few thousand of them.

At Blenheim Lagoons, the imm. Black-crowned Night-Heron (been there a few weeks) was still present in the back corner of pond 3. In pond 5, shorebirds included 120 Dunlin, 3 Least Sandpipers, 4 Semipalmated Sandpipers, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs, 10 Greater Yellowlegs and a Killdeer. There were lots of ducks including Ring-necked.

Bonies at Blenheim

These strong winds will not doubt bring in some interesting birds, so you retired or non-working birders get out there this week!