The last few days I have been taking advantage of the waterfowl show along the St. Clair River. There is not much else to do anyway! As mentioned before, waterfowl has congregated on the St. Clair River like it used to be in the "old days".
Redhead is the most common of course, but this year we have had more Canvasback than usual.
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| at Fawn Island |
A young Bald Eagle stirred things up at one point beside Fawn Island.
Despite much effort, we have not found any real rarities! Although, there are a number of hybrids hiding among the various rafts. There has been Redhead X Canvasback, Ring-necked X Redhead, Redhead X Lesser Scaup and Ring-necked X Lesser Scaup. Who knows what else, since there are so many ducks out there of late. I guess some ducks get desperate and mate with whatever comes along!
There are hardly any gulls on the main part of the river, strangely, but lots are at Sarnia. I had to go to Sarnia later on Wednesday, so I checked out that area. The Lambton Wildlife meeting was in the evening, with a member's showcase night. I presented show on Odonate highlights of 2024. Since 2024 was an excellent year for odonates, it was a no-brainer! I had incredible luck with odonates this past summer.
There was upwards of 1000 gulls around Sarnia, but most were Herring. Oddly, there have been no rarities, yet!
I only carried the point and shoot camera this trip.
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| Manitoulin in winter layup |
The Manitoulin just arrived from Buffalo where it was stuck in the ice for a couple of days.
I did see a likely American Herring X Glaucous Gull on the Bay. At least six Glaucous Gulls (one would think there would be more by now!)
I recall some winters where we have had thousands of gulls on the river. One day I counted 60+ Glaucous Gulls from Port Lambton to south of Sarnia 3 February 2013!
That morning, I was on the lower part of the river looking for things. Just the "usuals' were seen.
The Coast Guard ice breaker Mackinac was escorting the Iver Bright downbound at Fawn Island.
Thursday, I was out but only went to Cathcart Park. There was one casualty there.
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| Common Goldeneye |
Possibly an eagle dropped it. I once saw a Bald Eagle take a Common Goldeneye, but it dropped the creature still alive.
Friday was a horrible weather day with rain, then snow and high winds. I stayed in most of the day, but took a short visit to Port Lambton in mid afternoon. Lots of Canvasback were there.
Half a dozen Ring-necked Ducks were in the mix here. There are quite a few of this species on the river this winter.
Today, I went all the way up to Guthrie Park, Corunna. It was ducks galore all along. No way to look at all of the ducks. There were not as many Canvasback today though.
I did not take much in the way of photos today. At Cundick Park, a number of ducks were close. I picked out what I think was a Ring-necked X Lesser Scaup hybrid. We saw this type of hybrid on the river many years ago.
Lots of Common Goldeneye, among others species were at Stag Island. Still could not pick out a Barrow's Goldeneye though! Still lots of time....
There are a number of Trumpeter Swans on the river this winter, but they still come up rare on eBird. It is probably time to get this off the "rare" list, since they are not so in Chatham-Kent or Essex anymore.
This swan I thought was a Trumpeter at Guthrie Park. I am on the fence with this one though, as the head shape seems more like a Tundra.
A small Cooper's Hawk visited the yard this afternoon.
