River Rambles, Warbler Wanderings, and Showstopper Shorebirds

 As autumn approaches, I have been making my usual rounds as much as possible.  Friday, it was down to Rondeau first thing.  The weekend was a bit too warm, so birds were less active.  South point trail was sparse for warblers, but I found the south end of Harrison Trail, as well as the north end of it rather active for warblers.

Black-and-White Warbler

I later stopped by Blenheim lagoons and saw the pair of American Avocets. They were quite obliging, and always showstoppers!

Based on the curvature of their bills, these were male and female.

The Red Knot and phalaropes had finally departed for greener pastures (err, lagoons), as they were nowhere to be found.

What to do next?  I got the notion to head to the Thames River east of Thamesville.  The Tecumseh Monument stop is a good place to get down to the riverbank.  I found a few Smoky Rubyspots, but they were far out or on the other side!  A few American Rubyspots were dancing about as well.

I looked at mussels also, but nothing new.  An Elktoe was the only notable.

Saturday, I had no particular place to go, so went back to Rondeau.  A moderate wind was blowing so I went to dog beach for a lakewatch.  As usual, nothing of note showed.  We need to get rid of this hot and muggy weather!

I checked out south point trail, and it was totally dead!  I have seen more birds in the winter there!

The maintenance area was very good for birds though.  The usual warblers were flitting about.

I knew Blenheim lagoon was not productive, so I headed east to Clear Creek.  One can only keep trying to see more Marine Blues!  Not to be, but many Common Buckeye were on the site.

Not much in the way of odes this time of year.

Black Saddlebags

A solitary bird was along the quarry pond.  A Solitary Sandpiper!

Heading home, the bridge over the Thames south of Thamesville was on the way, so I stopped there.  There were lots of Smoky Rubyspots, as well as a few American Rubyspots.  Nothing else really in the way of odes except a couple of Blue-fronted Dancers.  I had hoped for Elusive Clubtail, which I have seen there before, but no such luck.

I had never looked for mussels there, but I found a few, including Fragile Papershell, and this Mucket.

There have been several bridges at this location since early settlement.  To the right of the old abutment from the 1880's, once can see remains of even a previous wooden structure just above the water.

The day was not complete without a walk at Reid CA in the afternoon.  I found one of my friends hanging around.

Royal River Cruiser

Today, it down to Point Pelee for lack of any other place to go.  A decent south wind was blowing, but as my luck would have it, nothing much was moving.  An early White-winged Scoter flew by us at one point.

There were lots of warblers throughout the park.  The best spot was just south of west beach parking lot, where I found dozens of them.  De Laurier was half decent as well.

Locally, some warblers have been hanging around the yard, including several Bay-breasted.  Over at Peers Wetland, a decent flock (finally!) was at the woodlot.

Common Checkered-skippers have been visiting the yard.

A couple of Philadelphia Vireos were nice to see.  My favourite vireo.

This Blackpoll Warbler posed for a few seconds in the evening sun.

After next weekend, something rare will show up, since I am on my usual trip north.  Never fails!

One Last CBC-Weather Skunked Us Again!

 Yesterday, January 3 was the Skunk's Misery Christmas Bird Count.  It is usually the last one that birders in this area participate.  It was the fourth one I did this year.

As usual the weather was terrible! The long-range called for sun, but it was quite the opposite.  But that is the way it has been the last month or so--usually opposite to what is forecast.  We got a good covering of snow overnight, drizzle and fog in the afternoon.

I covered some of my usual area around Thamesville, starting at the bridge on Victoria Road.

There were few birds as I walked the old cemetery.

After a bit of driving I stopped by the Tecumseh Monument park east of the village.    It was the wrong time of year to look for Smoky Rubyspots along the river's edge so I did not venture down!

Again few birds, but the highlight was a Pileated Woodpecker across the river.  I had never recorded one on this count before. View was obscured though.

A few chickadees were working the grounds.

Kinglets and a creeper were also in the group.

I gave up quite a bit of my area this year, and drove the rest.  I guess the highlight was a huge flock (~100) of redpolls, but unfortunately they were overhead and moving. 

Very few birds, so I moved on and roamed the circle instead.

I came across a huge flock of Snow Buntings at one point.  Always neat to see as they swirl about.

Golden Eagles regularly winter in the north part of the circle. I only came across one in the distance in my travels, but the horrid weather did not help.

Numbers have yet to be finalized.

The St. Clair NWA count on Friday ended up at 89 species, an excellent total.  It relies heavily on waterfowl, and this year was no exception.  New for the count history was the Trumpeter Swan that I spotted within the wildlife area!

Another CBC: Skunk's

Saturday December 21 we participated in another Christmas Bird Count--Skunk's Misery.  This relatively new count has some great areas (Moraviantown, Skunk's Misery complex, Thames River etc.).

My area encompasses the SW corner of the circle including the metropolis of Thamesville.  I was accompanied by Janet Fraser this year.
We started under overcast skies, but eventually the sun came out for one of the nicest days we have had recently.  Was it really the weekend?
As expected, birds were scarce compared to previous years.  We started our day in the park at the east side of the village, then moved along the river to the Tecumseh Monument park.

That area was the quietest I have ever seen it.  Usually we find a number of birds at the monument.

Thames River

We then started zig-zagging up and down the "Zone" roads.  Birds were here and there.  Dark-eyed Juncos were fairly plentiful, but they always are on this count.  Other areas recorded good numbers.

At one point, I spotted two Eastern Bluebirds, which were nice to see.  We regularly get them on this count.

On Zone Road 2, we spotted an 'eagle' in the distance as we were looking into the bright sun.  It quickly disappeared into a woodlot, but I got a good enough look to know it was a Golden Eagle.  It was a first for my area!
Golden Eagles are regularly found on this count as they 'winter' in the Skunk's Misery area and to the north.
Less than a half hour later on Zone Road 1, we had another Golden Eagle sighting.  Better looks were obtained this time to see it was a young bird.  I assumed it was the same bird (but you never know) as it was the same latitude, only one road west.  I  only had my small camera on hand this day, but I did attempt a (useless) photo.

Our area goes up to the south edge of the village of Florence.  We stopped by the bridge and walked down to the river.  As many of you blog readers may recall, this spot is good early in the summer for odonates, especially the rare Dusky Dancer.  It was  bit cold today for them though!

Sydenham River

A couple kilometres south of the village, we encountered our only Northern Shrike.

A bit later we stopped by the bridge on the Thames south of Thamesville.  This area has changed drastically over the last while.  A new bridge has been built in the past year, and the old cantilever-truss bridge is totally gone!  Too bad, as it was one of the only ones of its type left.

This is actually a historic place, as several bridges have been on this site since the early 1800's.

They have done a nice job of cleaning up the site and planting trees.  One can still get to the riverbank to see the rare Smokey Rubyspots, along with American Rubyspots and others later in the summer... if one so desires.

Site of previous bridge

'Tother side

An old cemetery is here as well, and we walked to the back of it.  Not many birds again, though.
Lots of big trees here, including many Hackberry, Black Walnut, Sycamore, etc.

Hackberry

Our last walk was just west of the village at one of Janet's friends.  They have feeders (and cats!), but we did add a few birds here--not as many as usual.


We parted ways from here.  We added very little after this, but it was indeed a nice day to be out and about.

I do not have results of the count at the time of this writing, but I thought I would write about my day.  More on the results later.

Another CBC-Skunk's Misery December 30

Today was the Skunk's Misery CBC.  The cool day dawned overcast, but eventually the sun came out later in the morning for a nice day.  We received more snow than expected overnight, but that may have helped with regards to finding birds.
I did my usual area around Thamesville and north, with some friends.  We started at a park in the village, but it was somewhat quiet.
Moving east, we stopped by the Tecumseh Monument park which turned out to be one of the better spots.

We had a good variety and number of birds along the river bank.  Probably the best bird was a Carolina Wren.

Dark-eyed Juncos were numerous here, as well as many other spots in our sector.  I find this count does well (at least in my area) for juncos.

We then split up checking other areas by driving around. I found quite a number of Horned Larks for the first time this winter.  They had been almost absent earlier.  I find that a snow fall such as we had overnight brings up the numbers.  Snow Buntings were here and there as well.

Later, we met at the water treatment plant by the bridge south of the village.  It was rather quiet here unlike previous years, but the construction of the new bridge did not help matters.

Right off the start, we had a small flock of Common Redpolls fluttering around.

A walk through the adjacent cemetery was rather 'dead'.

New Bridge

Lots of Hackberry in this area

and Sycamore

We then checked some private property west of the village and along the riverbank, where we added some more birds.

Spitting up again, I headed towards Florence to finish the count where I added some Cedar Waxwings to the mix.
Janet, Pat and Tiffany finished the day around Thamesville, adding a few birds.
The total species count will be somewhere in the mid sixties.

One more CBC to go, and its all over for another year!  The hangover St. Clair NWA CBC is January 1.