Recent Rambles and a Soggy Solitaire

 Prior to today, we had a couple of nice, but cool days.  Tuesday afternoon I went for a walk at Reid CA.  

With the cool weather lately, things are a bit behind.  However, some spring plants are attempting to pop up.

Cut-leaved Toothwort is a common forest floor plant, but there is not a lot at Reid.

Cut-leaved Toothwort

Mayapple

Some hardy insects were out, including this Greater Bee Fly.

Some birds included those that cling to sides of trees!

Hairy Woodpecker

Brown Creeper

Wednesday, was a clear but cool day, and I wanted to go for a long walk.  I opted for Rondeau's marsh trail and went all the way out to Long Pond.  Yes, it is a "long" walk to that pond! (11 km return).

I expected more bird life, but some areas still had a crust of ice from overnight.

One of the local Bald Eagles

Greater Yellowlegs

This Belted Kingfisher was too impatient to be photographed properly.

After the long walk, it was time to go home.  Should have stayed in the area because in early afternoon, a Crested Caracara was found SE of Blenheim!  I had things to do, so did not go for it much to my dismay.

Today was a rather soggy day with light rain or drizzle all day.  I headed down Rondeau way, as another good bird was in the area.  The day before, a birder looking for the caracara found a Townsend's Solitaire along New Scotland Line.

It was still present today in drizzly weather.

my first spotting today

It eventually moved a little closer.

A decent bird indeed, for this time of year!  Been a few years since one was in the Rondeau area.

The other thing of interest today, was a large flock of Lapland Longspur along Bisnett Line.  There were was well over 200 in my estimation.  Weather was dismal at the time, and they were constantly moving, so I did not get a good chance to look the flock over for oddities.

In the history department, the canaller Troisdoc was a frequent visitor to Wallaceburg.

Troisdoc in Wallaceburg (1977)

After its usefulness was up, it was sold off-lakes and was last working in the Gulf of MEXICO. On this day in 1989, it sank.

Some Good Birding For Early January

 Last Friday I ventured down to Point Pelee.  It was was yet another very dark and gloomy day.

The long-staying Townsend's Solitaire was still at De Laurier, but not close enough for good views or photos.  It seemed a bit restless!

On Saturday, it was seen at the north end of west beach parking lot, so it is moving around quite a bit.  It may have worn out the De Laurier spot!

Ducks were not close off the Tip, but several hundred White-winged Scoters were far out.  Difficult to say how many, but I estimated I could see around 400.  The last few years, large numbers have hung around Point Pelee and area.

The Tip was very long.  Certainly the longest I have seen it in many years.

With no ice, many puddle ducks are hanging around.  More than two dozen Northern Shovelers were in Sanctuary Pond.

Trumpeter swans are a regular sight here.

I stopped by Hillman Marsh as well where a young Northern Shrike has been wintering.  It is usually around the boardwalk area, but I found it at the pumphouse beside the shorebird cell.

The gloomy weather continued through Sunday.  I joined the OFO field trip at Windsor, starting at Lakeview Marina Park.  Usually it is an excellent spot to view waterfowl in winter as there is always some open water here.  With no ice, there was no concentration of waterfowl, but we did get a nice variety of birds.  The fog and light snow did not help matters.

It is also a good spot to photograph waterfowl up close in the marina.

Four Wild Turkeys on the island's beach were nice to see there.

This OFO trip also takes in Little River Corridor park nearby.  The adjacent canal and pollution control plant usually attracts birds to the open water.  Wood Duck is almost a guarantee in area.  Not much was there though.

We found a large number of American Robins in the park.  Downy Woodpeckers were numerous as well.

On the last leg of the outing, we walked along the little creek which has extensive tangles.  A number of birds were here, and this is where I spotted a Northern Waterthrush!  It certainly picked a good spot to try and winter during this mild weather.

We lost it to sight for a bit, but then I spotted it again directly in front of me.  I managed some record photos, while most of the group got on it.

It was certainly an unexpected and pleasant find.  As well, it is apparently the first January record for Essex County, at least on eBird.

Northern Waterthrush has often been found late in the province.  My latest was one that Jim Burk and I found at Erieau on December 13, 2009.  I could not get a decent photo of that one though.

That bird stayed another week to be counted on the CBC.

On the way home yesterday, I stopped by St. Clair NWA and drove along Balmoral Line.  There was a plethora of waterfowl, especially geese.  Besides Canada, I saw Cackling, Snow and Greater White-fronted.  I probably missed Ross's!

Speaking of St. Clair NWA, the recent CBC ended up with 88 species.  Very good.  My contributions included the only American Wigeon (3) and Common Yellowthroat.

In other news, the Limpkin was re-found yesterday and is alive and well.  It has found a good supply of snails in a creek at the entrance of Wheatley Provincial Park.  The Limpkin specializes on snails, so perhaps it will do well.

Recent Birding and Some CBC Trivia

 Christmas Bird Counts (CBC's) are fast approaching!  From December 14 through January 3, counters will be out in various locales conducting the annual census.

Birds Canada has some good information on their website as to where the various counts are in Canada, and how to contact compilers if one is interested in participating in a certain count.  See:

https://www.birdscanada.org/bird-science/christmas-bird-count

Also, there is some data or interesting information about past counts, such as high counts for all of Canada.  Locally, the Wallaceburg, Blenheim, and St. Clair NWA counts have made the board!  Here are a few selected highlights I have extracted, although I did not include the particular year.

Blenheim/Rondeau:

Ross's Goose (4), Gadwall (6879), American Coot (8202), Forster's Tern (2), Horned Lark (6012)

St. Clair National Wildlife Area:

Tundra Swan (10, 870), Canvasback (25, 800), American Crow (159, 860)

Wallaceburg:

Black-necked Stilt (1), Vermilion Flycatcher (1), Tufted Titmouse (70), Common Grackle (4400)

There are other things to look at on the website as well.

A couple of days ago I ended up at Point Pelee again.  The Townsend's Solitaire was still quite happily eating berries at De Laurier.  It may make the CBC next week!  Although, they have recorded this species before.

Yesterday, I needed a long walk, so went to Rondeau.  It was much too windy to do the marsh trail, so I did something different and walked the west side of south point trail.  It never seems as birdy, especially this time of year, but it was a good change and a chance to see what was along there for the upcoming CBC.

Most birds were towards the very end, where several Swamp Sparrows were in the sloughs as usual.  A flock of about 30 Cedar Waxwings  was at the end as well.

The shoreline has retreated extensively in this area since I first started coming to the park.  It is amazing how Lake Erie consumes forest and land!  I took a couple of photos where the trail breaks off.  Looking one way, there used to be a parking lot here (now you can park a boat!).

The other way, the trail (once a drivable road) used to head out, and a washroom structure was here.

As usual, I spotted some mussels along the beach!  Besides Fatmucket, which is fairly common, I did find a Wabash Pigtoe and Eastern Pondmussel which are both threatened species.  As usual, they are quite worn due to the lake action.

Wabash Pigtoe (vulnerable)

Eastern Pondmussel (critically imperiled)

Before leaving the park, I scoped the east side at the north end of the park.  At least 3000 Ruddy Ducks were out there!

Also I saw four Snow Geese coming in high from way out over the lake.

Interestingly, these same geese were observed a short time later flying over Shrewsbury, then Erie Beach by different birders!

After leaving the park, I stopped by Keith McLean C. L. for a quick check.  Lots of mud now!  Four Killdeer and a single Dunlin rounded out the shorebirds.

Locally, Bald Eagles have already started building a nest structure.

This was last week, but today I noticed even more sticks.

A Mouse-Gray Coloured Bird at Pelee and a New Book

 The last few days have been uneventful with dismal weather and very few birds to see.  (looks like a quiet winter!).  Today, Sunday, was the most dismal with fog and later rain.  But I did get a highlight at Point Pelee to brighten things up.

Point Pelee National Park was closed all this past week for deer herd management, but opened back up on Saturday.  Paul Pratt's group managed to spot a Townsend's Solitaire at De Laurier yesterday.  Obviously it was the continuing bird that was found back on November 20 at that location.

With nothing else to do today, I made my way through the fog to Point Pelee and first stopped at De Laurier.  I lurked around the parking lot and homestead area for some time, and even walked the trail without detecting the subject thrush.

After walking the trail, I stood just into the start of the trail at the north end.  I heard a high-pitched whistle which I instantly recognized as the call of a Townsend's Solitaire.  I changed my position and found the bird atop at tree along the driveway.  Lighting was poor and I did not get satisfactory photos, but mission accomplished!

I moved on and checked out the Tip and Sparrow Field area.  It was too foggy to see any distance, and birds were scarce.

Horned Grebe in fog

I then walked the cemetery and cactus field area before moving on.

I thought one more try for the solitaire was in order.  Upon arrival, the said thrush was right at the parking lot!  It was eating hackberries and cedar berries, but came down right in front of me at one point.

This time, I got decent photos!

Point Pelee has had several records of Townsend's Solitaire, mainly in the cold months.  Several are in the De Laurier area, which is quite ideally suited with berry trees and the open area.  There are at least eight other records in the park, and this was my third for the park.  (First was in the middle of May, 2002).

Later, I stopped by Hillman Marsh for a short walk, but did not see much.  The dense fog did not help matters!

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Recently, a new book was published on North American Flycatchers.  This volume was the second in the series covering Empidonax (or "empids") and Peewees.  With the recent event at Rondeau, I had to order one!  It came Friday evening.

The book looks very simple, but is actually packed full of information on each species; everything you want to know.  Each species is shown, with descriptions, range maps and sonograms.  As well, comparisons are made to similar-looking species.

This has come in handy with the recent Western Flycatcher at Rondeau.  The Rondeau bird fits Western to a 'T' when one checks out the features covered in this book.  There is no doubt we had a Western Flycatcher at Rondeau in my opinion!

Solitaire Stories

It was up to north Lambton on the holiday Monday.  Things seemed slow down Lake Erie way, so a change in scenery was in order.

I stopped by Forest lagoons at first light and spent about two hours there.  I was looking for sparrows!  We have had LeConte's there in the past and Nelson's has also been seen.  However, I had not yet seen a Nelson's in Lambton, believe it or not.  I tried, but no Nelson's Sparrow popped up!

A little bit of mud on the far side of the deep water cell revealed some shorebirds.

This Northern Harrier was hanging around, and posed for a photo for a moment, showing its owl-like face.

I really had no intentions of finding anything else since things were slow, but headed up to Ipperwash anyways.

It was a stellar morning with clear skies and no wind.  I walked around the "MNR" parking lot area for a while and bumped in to Matt Parsons.  We parted ways, but met again at the parking lot, about to leave.

I mentioned that a Blue-headed Vireo was singing, but did not pay much attention to it.  I should have, because on second thought, it was a Townsend's Solitaire singing a partial song!

Just as I was to get in the car, Matt called out that there was a curious bird sitting on a snag in the distance.  Not sure, he wondered what it could be.  I mentioned that it looked like a Townsend's Solitaire, with size, shape and colour and posture.

Upon closer look, we concluded that it was a solitaire!  Unfortunately before we could get  closer and get photos, it flew.

It disappeared for quite some time, and local birder , James Holdsworth arrived.  A bit later, it flew out and perched on a snag!

This species seems quite regular in the area with ample Red Cedar to satisfy its appetite.  There was one last year on Army Camp Road, and the previous year, possibly two at Ipperwash.

2021

2020

Pinery has had a few records (at least three), but I think there are a couple of undocumented records as I recall.  I even found one (along with Lance Allin), 9 November 2003 in Pinery.

The Townsend's Solitaire is a regular vagrant to Ontario, with multiple records every year. 

I have seen several over the years, including two at Point Pelee, one at Rondeau, and one that Pete Chapman found on Fossil Road at Hungry Hollow just into Middlesex County.

Point Pelee bird

Hungry Hollow bird

Rondeau bird

The solitaire is always a fun bird to see at any time!

A Varied Thrush is next on the list.....maybe this weekend?