Our FOY CBC: Kettle Point

(scene near Rock Glen a few years ago)

Today, many of us "locals" participated in the Kettle Point CBC.  I arrived Friday evening at Hungry Hollow in very fine weather.  In fact, it was very clear and calm.  We took advantage and did some late evening owling in our area.
It was a good work-out as Eastern Screech-owls are not really plentiful there, but we came up with nine.  As well, we had two Great-Horned Owls.

Ha!

Also, we tried for Northern Saw-whet and Barred Owls.  A Saw-whet was across from Pete's place a couple of days ago, and the nearby Barred Owl was seen yesterday morning.  No luck with those though.
Turns out there were no more owls, including today.
This morning was crisp and somewhat clear, so it was rather pleasant.  Just out the door, Steve and I got the female White-winged Crossbill and a White-throated Sparrow at the feeder area. A good start.

(several of these today)

Sparrows are rather scarce this time of year in the Arkona area and it turns out the White-throat was our only one of that species.  Sparrows are quite scarce in general this winter.  The only other sparrow-type (besides a few American Tree Sparrows) was a Song near the Bingo gravel pit.  Juncos were here and there of course, and no Oregon this year.  Usually we manage to get one on this count.  It seems many birds left with the big wind storm at the end of October.

Our first stop was a pond area SW of Arkona.  Here we had four Common Mergs, the only duck of the day!  Many Canada Geese, but no Snow Goose seen the previous day.
We also had a couple of Common Redpolls fly over, and Steve had a definite Red Crossbill.  About the same time I had a finch type flyover, but could not get a handle on it.
Heading north, we caught sight of a Northern Shrike on a hydro wire--always nice to see on a count.  A short while later we came across a small flock of Common Redpolls.

Up by the Sylvan bridge, Pete and I got two Yellow-rumped Warblers at a usual spot.  Decent was a pair of Tufted Titmouse nearby.

At Rock Glen, we had a good number of "dickie" birds including two more titmice.
A blackbird of any type on this count is a big deal.  None today, but later in the afternoon I spotted a flock of European Starlings and said that there must be a Brown-headed Cowbird amongst them. Sure enough we found five cowbirds.
Weather deteriorated throughout the day, and by 3:30 it was raining.
Hawks were incredibly scarce, with only about 3 Red-tailed, and 1 Northern Harrier first spotted by Laurie Clancy who was with us today.

We ended up with 39 species in our area alone, lower than usual, but simply put, birds are scarce this year!
(No camera today as I often do not carry one on a count--probably will not tomorrow either as it will likely be raining and I have to carry a scope as well!).

(I wish!--near Pete's house a few years ago)

The Weekend

I did get out this weekend of course, but just like clockwork the weather was crappy.  Yesterday I went up to Arkona and Grand Bend area for a change and spent some time looking around with Pete Chapman.  Next Saturday is the Kettle Point Count, so got an idea what is not around!  Since it was pouring rain first thing in the morning, I knew it was Saturday.  We drove around a bit until it let up (never really did stop!) and saw a young Northern Shrike on a wire for a highlight. Later we took a walk into Joany's Woods which is a nice spot. Last week, Pete had a Barred Owl there, unprecedented for this area.  We did not find it and in fact had no owls for the day.  Highlight was a Merlin.  Light was too crappy for photos.
Pete showed me the field where the Variegated Fritillaries set up shop last summer.  They had about 40 on the count in June!  More than a month later, Pete had some fresh ones, so they must have bred there.
We headed up to Grand Bend area and checked out the ducks in the lagoons.  A few Northern Shovelers were present among others.  American Tree Sparrows working the weeds.

Farther north, we went to the spot where Maris Apse reported the Bohemian Waxwings.  None to be found, but we saw a Red Cedar "festooned" with berries!
Checked out Pinery too, but it was dead.  The usual feeder birds were at the VC.  While there we heard a Northern Flicker.

As we headed back to Pete's along various roads, little was seen. We saw a couple of American Kestrels, so we had two falcon species for the day.  Strangely, not a single hawk was seen!
As I was about to leave, a female White-winged Crossbill flew in.  A nice bird for ending the tour!

As I headed home, I saw a small flock of Snow Buntings near Watford, the only ones for the day.  With time left in the day, I decided to go straight to Ridgetown to see the Ross's Geese.  The three were still mixed in with the Canada's.

The Blue-winged Teal was still present, and apparently it was today (Sunday) as well.

Not a Ross's Goose! This bird has been present since summer

Today (Sunday) I birded the Rondeau area.  The park campground had the usual birds, chickadees, nuthatches, creepers and lots of Golden-crowned Kinglets (they are fairly abundant this winter). No warblers, but I know there are Yellow-rumped around. Hopefully a sapsucker will show for the count next Sunday!

Off the Rondeau dock, a good number of Hooded Mergansers was visible (~300), ~70 American Coots, and lots of Wigeon and Gadwall.
I walked Marsh Trail to the tower.  Several Swamp Sparrows were in the reeds.

At Erieau, a few bonies were in the marina.

A nice male Long-tailed Duck has been around, and it co-operated nicely in the dull light today.

A few Double-crested Cormorants were hanging on as well.

The R/R track trail had lots of birds at the start as it was out of the wind.  Five species of sparrow plus Carolina Wren, etc.  No sign of a warbler!  The Chestnut-sided Warbler that Steve found on Friday is quite remarkable.  Ontario's first winter record!

(not at Erieau)

By this time I met up with Steve and Jim and we headed to Craford and Sleepy Hollow.  Along the way, we looked at the juv Red-headed Woodpecker north of Erieau. It has been working hydro poles for a while!
A single Cedar Waxwing and a Hermit Thrush were highlights at Sleepy Hollow.  There is a huge crop of bittersweet around the old McKeough estate grounds.  Frankly, I have never seen so much!  Good for berry-eating birds.
Lots of sparrows present including Fox and White-throated.

More Pine Siskins and Snow in Wallaceburg!

We certainly got more snow than predicted. At least 25 cm came down in about 12 hours since noon yesterday. I did not go anywhere today because of all the snow around.

At the feeders, more Pine Siskins showed up. I expect in the neighbourhood of 30 were here at the peak of times. I only saw 3 Common Redpolls today, and they were here early in the day only. I took a few photos of the siskin. They are quite approachable. I remember one time I managed to feed them out of my hand!

Early this morning I saw a flock of about 10 White-winged Crossbills fly over. Not soon after, a group of 3 stopped for a few seconds. I managed to get a poor photo of a female.

female White-winged Crossbill