Good Friday Birding

Since it was a holiday today, I was out birding--what else.  It was quite foggy (always something!) to start the day at Rondeau.  One could hear, but not see several waterfowl species out on the lake, including Long-tailed Ducks.  The ample ice on the lake kept things cool, but it is slowly disappearing.

Eventually, the air quickly cleared though.

It turned out to be warm and sunny (at least for a while).  With yesterday's warm SW wind, many birds had come in including several Brown Thrashers, Easter(n) Phoebes, Easter(n) Towhees, flickers, etc. Some Easter(n) Bluebirds also made an appearance along Lakeshore Road.
It was not a day for much photography though.  The photos I did take just did not turn out well!

Bonaparte's Gulls are building in numbers and it is certainly time to watch for Little Gulls.  I had a couple Little Gulls on this date last year.

Tree Swallows showed up later Wednesday and many were along the St. Clair River yesterday.  I found only two at Rondeau today (along the east beach near the traffic circle) and another at Blenheim Lagoons.

A few more Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers were in, but remained camera shy.

Golden-crowned Kinglets were numerous and I managed to pick out one Ruby-crowned in a large flock on south point trail.  Our wintering ones perished, I assume, by mid winter, so it was nice to see this new arrival.  No photo if it though!

No warblers made an appearance today.  Usually we have seen Pine by now and perhaps a Louisiana Waterthrush, but things are late this year needless to say. Steve Charbonneau found a drab Yellow-rumped at the visitor centre yesterday. Obviously it migrated in from somewhere since none wintered in the area.

Blenheim Lagoons have mostly opened up, but some ice still remains.  More waterfowl has arrived and a few Cackling Geese were present.  Pond 3 was mostly frozen and these geese were just standing around looking bored.

Birding On Fool's Day

No fooling, it was downright warm today!  Although cooler along Lake Erie at Point Pelee this morning, on the way home this afternoon some spots reached 18 Celsius. With the strong southerly wind, I figured today was a good day to take off and check out Pelee.

I started at the Tip shortly after 8 a.m.  Already it was obvious many kinglets and creepers were working the woods, and gulls (especially Bonaparte's) and ducks were on the move out on the lake.

This American Coot was all alone adjacent to the very tip as I arrived.

Bonaparte's Gulls were steadily moving southwards, especially on the west side.  It was evident that many songbirds were in reverse migration.  Perhaps they know something is in the works with regards to the weather!  Quite a few Eastern Phoebes went by as Alan Wormington and I watched.

Several Eastern Meadowlarks were moving around as well.  A few Eastern Bluebirds went south also.

Waterfowl and other waterbirds included Green-winged Teal, all three scoters (I saw at least 2 Black), Pink-footed Goose (2), Common Loon (1 only), Glaucous Gull (2), and Double-crested Cormorants.  It took a while for the cormorants to kick in!  Of course there were the usual scaup, Bufflehead, mergansers.

White-winged Scoters

I saw a total of 5 Tree Swallows "bailing" the province.

I checked out Sparrow Field but not much was there except a Savannah Sparrow beside the road with Song Sparrows.  Some meadowlarks were around too.

Next walk was at De Laurier and Ander's Footpath. More phoebes and sparrows including a Vesper.  I finally saw for the year, Chipping Sparrows in the parking lot.

I did check the wet spots in the fields and Hillman, but there seemed to be little around today!

Just in the last two days, lots of ice and snow has disappeared.  It was a good day to recharge one's batteries!

Sunny Sunday

Today was actually very nice.  All week the forecast predicted rain and thunderstorms for today.  As usual, the weather forecast was totally wrong, as the sun was out all day and much warmer than anticipated.  I had plans to go to Point Pelee, but I would have gone anyway!

It was a bit foggy at the Tip, but many birds were around.  Most were Golden-crowned Kinglets (all over today!).  I met up with several folks, so a good time was had.

Nothing noteworthy at the Tip, but nice to be out.

Nice to bee out!

Afterwards I walked a bit of Anders at De Laurier and then Woodland Trail.  Through Redbud Trail I encountered a Hermit Thrush, Fox Sparrow, Eastern Phoebe and Yellow-rumped Warbler.  The Hermit was actually a first for 2012 if you can believe that.  Not many wintered.

Woodland had at least 2 Winter Wrens. I heard some Tree Swallows overhead, which was something I wanted to get today (FOY!).

I then decided to walk half of West Beach Trail.  It was quite warm and I saw several Eastern Commas.  I was hoping for something else, but it is early (!) and no flowers are out.

Garter Snake all balled up

On the way out, I walked all along NW Beach parking lot.  Several Sparrows, but nothing noteworthy.  Tree Swallows were flying about the dead trees.

Here I saw my first dragonfly of the year--Green Darner.  I flushed it off the edge of the parking lot, but it took right off never to be seen again.  I also saw another at the end of Rd. E and Rd. 19.

Along Rd. 19 were some gulls.  One appeared to be a Great Black-backed X Herring Gull on Conc. C.

Nearer home, I saw one Snowy Owl near the SW corner of Marsh Line and Winter Line.  The usual spot.

I checked Angler Line (hoping for Yellowheaded Blackbird), but none were to be found.  I got a view of Curly Clark's wetland.  Some work has been done in the past year and it looks good.  A good variety of ducks was present plus a Pied-billed Grebe.

Rondeau/Erieau on Sunday

With the warm front moving in, I headed down to Rondeau this morning. A few more birds were in. It was a gloomy day (usual for a weekend!) and it eventually started raining. We desparately need rain, but not on the weekend! The sloughs are almost completely dry and water levels are extremely low.
Not much of a chance to use the camera today.

American Robins were in by the hundreds. All the way down Kent Bridge Road, you could find them.
I got a few new year birds today, including Eastern Towhee, Belted Kingfisher, Chipping Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Eastern Phoebe (yes!), Tree Swallow, and Winter Wren. A couple of Winter Wrens were on south point trail, being elusive as usual. They are incredibly difficult to photograph and do not respond well to pishing. I tried anyway.


A few Golden-crowned kinglets were throughout the park, but numbers will increase soon.
Sparrows are building up in numbers. I saw the first Chipping today in Rondeau, and Field Sparrows are around. Several Field were at Erieau along the marsh trail.
I did see a single Hermit Thrush on Tulip Tree Trail. Some were around in early winter though.
One can always hope for a Black Vulture, but the red-faced ones will have to do.


At Erieau, I walked a bit of the R/R Trail and came up with some sparrows. My first swamp of the year was in the reeds.
Just as I was finishing the trail, a single Tree Swallow was circling overhead. And over the bank on the lake side, I caught a glimpse of an Eastern Phoebe. Quite often early Phoebes show up along the dyke at McGeachy Pond.
Almost forgot to mention, a Belted Kingfisher was east of the park. Jim Burk saw four there, but I only caught sight of one.
The weather will be nice this week, so some things will come in for the holiday weekend.