Stefina Stuff and Just Ducky Along the St. Clair River

 We are in the dead of winter, but there are some birds out there to be found.  Friday I went down to Rondeau in the morning to look around.  It was rather quiet, but that was expected.  I wanted to check out Stefina Line near Blenheim on this day, so that was the next stop.

Some Eastern Meadowlarks were found along the road this week....a nice bird for mid-winter.  I found them right away, but was unable to get decent photos.

Seems there are quite a few around southwestern Ontario this winter.  Perhaps they stuck around with the very mild start to the winter.

The snipe was not visible in the creek....again, but this Great Blue Heron was feeding,

Several sparrow types were feeding along the roadside scrapes, including White-crowned.

I also saw a couple of Turkey Vultures before leaving the area.  They often winter in the Blenheim area.

I headed back home, but decided to head out to the St. Clair River.  Lots of ducks!

Stoke's Point had a good array of ducks.

There used to be a light here (Stoke's Point Light) and old foundation can still be seen.

Long-tailed Ducks were by the thousands at the north end of Mooretown.

I spent quite a bit of time at Guthrie Park, Corunna.  Nothing new in gulls, and white-winged gulls are difficult to find this winter.

On the way back, I found one of the hybrid Redhead X Ring-necked ducks at Cundick Park.  There was some snow most of the afternoon, so visibility was poor.

Today I decided to head back to the St. Clair River.  Seems to be more ducks, especially Canvasback.  They finally increased in numbers.

There is a good open spot at Fawn Island attracting waterfowl, including lots of Tundra and Mute Swans.  I was hoping for Trumpeter, but never saw one!

The hybrid was still at Cundick Park.

I spent most of the time at Guthrie Park.  Gulls were disappointing this morning, but ducks were numerous.

I headed back home via some back roads.  I had a nice walk at Moore WMA for a change.  Some Eastern Bluebirds were the highlight there.

Some of the usual dickie birds were present.

Farther east on Bickford Line, I encountered some more Eastern Bluebirds.  One of these days I will find a Mountain Bluebird!

I also walked McKellar Tract, but it has been very quiet this winter.

Fall Flings Around Rondeau

I did some birding in Rondeau Park and the surrounding area the last couple of days.  The weather was cool but nice.

As usual, I started with a lakewatch with Steve at dog beach on Friday morning.  There was a good variety of ducks and loons were on the move.  Both Common and Red were in good number.

Shy Semiplover!

After the lakewatch, we checked out south point trail.  Warblers were mostly Yellow-rumped as one would expect, but several Blackpoll were still around plus a Tennessee and Magnolia.

Here is the list for the day:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S74892970

I also spent some time at McLean Conservation Lands.  Here is the list for there:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S74893146

We came across an attractive, but common moth caterpillar.

Smeared Dagger

Today I once again started at Rondeau Park.  I always arrive early to start the day.

I opted out of the lakewatch and went directly to south point trail.  More Yellow-rumped Warblers appeared to be around, and other warblers included Black-throated Green and Nashville.  Only one Blackpoll today!  Here is today's list:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S74937114

Eastern Phoebe

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

I was going to stop by McLean's again, but as I was passing there, I received a message that Steve Charbonneau had found a Cattle Egret at Ridgetown sewage treatment ponds.  I went directly there, even though I had seen one of these little herons earlier in the fall.  It was a bit distant for a decent photo though.

After seeing the Cattle Egret, I thought it was time to pay a visit to Blenheim Lagoons.  It had been several weeks since I was there!  It was a good choice, as raptors were moving.  Often, the lagoon site is a good spot to view raptors when they are migrating a bit inland on a southerly wind.

Turkey Vultures were the bird of the day, as they kept coming!  Steve and I counted almost 2000 in just over three hours.

There were several other raptors including two Golden Eagles.

Red-shouldered Hawks were also in the mix.

It was an interesting watch at the lagoons!  Here is the list for there:

https://ebird.org/checklist/S74972845

Going Loony at Rondeau

I went down to Rondeau today to get an idea what is around (or not) for the upcoming Christmas Bird Count on Sunday.  It seemed to be a good day for a lakewatch first thing, so that is where I started.
I joined Steve Charbonneau at dog beach.
There was a good movement of Red-breasted Mergansers (over 6000 total), but soon it was evident that Red-throated Loons were on the loose.
They often came in bunches, and after more than 2.5h of standing in the cold, we counted an astounding 174!  Most were too distant for good photos though.

One wonders how many there really were in the Rondeau circle today.  We only had about three Common Loons today.  A Common may be the difficult one to find on Sunday!

A few years ago were happy to see one or two Red-throated a year.  Mind you, we have been looking more of late.  However, it is obvious that there has been a steady increase in Red-throated Loons the last few years in these parts.

Last year on the CBC, Quinten and I counted 43 Red-throated Loons which of course shattered any previous CBC record by about 41 or 42!  Hopefully there will be lots on this coming Sunday as well!

Steve and I checked various other spots in the park this morning, but of course it was rather quiet.  We knew this was coming.  For whatever reason, there are not many birds around this winter.  The counts will have low numbers.  It almost seems to get worse every year.  In fact, I will not hesitate to admit this is the slowest I have ever seen it.  Feeders hang birdless, swaying in the wind.  I used to put out feeders by mid November, but I only started them a week ago.  There is nothing!

There are lots of factors.  Loss of habitat has reduced bird numbers significantly.  Much has to do with weather right now.  Climate change is a serious issue now and patterns have changed.
Indeed, there are many fewer birds than when I started birding.  Young birders today have no idea what it was like 30+ years ago (all year long).  And before my time, it was different yet again.

Today, we did find a small flock of birds in the campground.  One Yellow-rumped Warbler was included.  I did find a single, lonely, Chipping Sparrow, but it took flight as I snapped the shutter (!).

One Mourning Dove is alone in the campground.

More singletons, included a Turkey Vulture perched on pony barn.

I have been doing the Blenheim/Rondeau CBC for 30 years and it is always fun or interesting.
There are always some surprises on the CBC, so hopefully that will continue.

Saturday looks like more typical weekend weather, so I am going to check out the St. Clair River towards Sarnia.  Normally I would be doing the Kettle Point CBC, but it will be too quiet for my liking.  Last year it was too quiet, and this year will be worse...I think.

March 3 Report

This morning I headed down to Rondeau Park for a bit of walking.  Thankfully the weather forecast was wrong yet again, as it was a calm and clear morning!

I went down to south point trail.  I had not been there since around New Year's.  There was not much in the way of birds of course, but some signs of spring included a number of Red-winged Blackbirds singing.

There was quite a bit of bird activity way out on the lake.  Some things I did pick out, was a flock of about 30 White-winged Scoters flying by.  There was a mix of other ducks and gulls too far out to get any detail.

I walked the campground as well. There was not too much bird activity.

Usually we have American Woodcocks and Killdeer by now, but I would expect it will be another week yet.  Things were more frozen than last week!

On the way out, I checked a bit of Rose Beach Line, where various sparrows were working the roadside scrapes.  Some Chipping and Field Sparrows wintered here, and I finally got a look at some today.

I worked my way over to Erieau, but there was little to see, so I went back up to Stefina Line.  Earlier I got word that a television T. V.  was beside the road.  It was taking advantage of a dead racoon in the pasture.  I had to take the photos looking through a wire fence.

Despite several attempts in the past, this was the first Turkey Vulture I had seen this calendar year.  Several have been wintering on the east side of Blenheim this year.  We have seen this a number of  times in the past as well.

The Wilson's Snipe was not visible in the never-frozen creek today.  It has been seen off and on all winter.  Every winter, as long as I can remember, there has been at least one snipe here!
Today, there was a lone American Tree Sparrow visible.

I was home by noon hour, so went out to Port Lambton to sit by the river.  Nothing new appeared, but one can only try!

Red-breasted Merganser

Common Merganser