Weekend Wanderings Around Chatham-Kent

With the change in weather, birding has been fairly good.  Friday I went down to Rondeau Park and joined Steve Charbonneau to look around.  It got a bit rainy for a while, as we watched the lake.  The lake was extremely active with thousands of gulls.  But, try and find a rare one!  Things were not overly close, which did not help.
Later on, I walked south point trail myself and found quite a good selection of birds.  One always looks for flycatcathers this time of year, but just the usuals were evident.

Saturday we met up again and found lots of birds on south point trail.  Highlight, was a late Purple Martin.

The lake was fairly active again, but nothing of note.  Several Bald Eagles joined the birds on the lake, stirring things up.

At one point, I saw some Closed Gentian at a known location.

Recently, an explosion of Bronze Coppers has been seen at McGeachy Pond, Erieau.  I went to check it out late morning.  They are attracted to the New England Asters and other flowers along the trail in the middle section.

I counted as many as 60, which is certainly more than I have ever seen in a single year.

Common Painted-Lady is quite plentiful this year as well all over southern Ontario.

I did find a single Fiery Skipper, but no hairstreaks.

This Sunday morning I did not go far and went to St. Clair NWA.  It was a nice morning with clear skies and no wind.  Several Sandhill Cranes were around.

I saw several small groups of Sandhills.

Most numerous land bird was Swamp Sparrow, as they kept popping up everywhere.

I tried hard to find a Nelson's Sparrow but that did not work.  No doubt there are some around.

A Peregrine Falcon flew over the tower at one point--the only raptor I saw.

I also checked out the south shore trail at Mitchell's Bay.  There were several birds to sort through, with the highlight being a late Yellow-bellied Flycatcher.

Blenheim Blunders to River Rubyspots

It was another fine day as I headed down to Blenheim early this morning.  There was still a good selection of shorebirds, but nothing spectacular that I could find.  A nice-looking Baird's Sandpiper was near the start, but a bit out of range for the camera.

the one behind the yellowlegs!

One must examine the shorebirds carefully, as last Sunday there was a Western Sandpiper present.  On my way out, I photographed a shorebird in the one corner which suspiciously looked like a Western.  I thought no more of it, and even posted the photo on my blog last Sunday in case anyone noticed.  I sort of expected a comment on it!


Garry Sadler got a nice photo of the bird, as shown on his eBird list of August 20.





More ducks had come in, including a large number of Blue-winged Teal.  The crazy Ring-necked Duck was still in the same spot.

I had not been down to Erieau all summer, so I first stopped at the rail trail.  A decent array of warblers was working the trees along the trail.  However, they were not easy to photograph.

Northern Waterthrush

Blackburnian Warbler

And some flycatcher...

Great-crested Flycatcher

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

I also walked McGeachy Pond dike where a few more warblers were seen.  There was also a Yellow-throated Vireo that eluded the lens. A chestnut-sided Warbler was co-operative though.

The tip of Rondeau at Erieau had lots of birds, but no Laughing or Franklin's that I could find! In due time.
A quick stop at Ridgetown revealed an odd-looking goose.

I wanted to check on the rubyspots at Thamesville again, so that was my last stop.  There were not as many American Rubyspots as last week, but more Smokey Rubyspots were along the steep riverbank of the Thames.

American Rubyspot

There was a unique-looking clubtail patrolling the edge, but of course never landed.  I wonder what it was....one can only speculate.

Birding at Pointe aux Pins May 12-13

The last two days of my time off were once again spent at Rondeau, once known as Pointe aux Pins.  I just enjoy being there as I know the park so well and can avoid the throngs of people at times.  Rondeau does not turn up a lot of rarities, but it is not for lack of trying.
Monday started out cool, then a bit of rain.  Eventually the sun came out, but late in the day yet another heavy storm blew in.  (high winds again!).
There were not a lot of migrants in the park on Monday.  One could walk long distances and find mostly resident birds.  However, there were some warblers and other birds to look for.  Oddly, Yellow-rumped Warblers were more abundant than other warbler species.

Best spot for birds seemed to be in the middle of the park around group campground.  This spot off Harrison Trail can often make for some good birding.  Late in the afternoon I came across a pocket of 14 species of warblers there.  Earlier Hooded and Mourning were seen at that location.

Lots of these lately!

Just before the storm rolled in early evening, there was a feeding frenzy of gulls and Red-breasted Mergansers off the NE part of the park.  Unfortunately, the lake was foggy and the skies dark with rain, so I could not get a decent look.  I estimated about 800 mergansers and over 200 Bonaparte's.  Who knows what else was with them!

It cleared a bit at dusk, and I listened for nightjars at the VC.  I heard 3 Whip-poor-wills. I was hoping for a Chuck, but maybe one will show soon.  Woodcocks were displaying, and I managed to get a photo in the dark

timberdoodle

Today, Tuesday, was a fabulous day.  Best weather day we have had.  It was actually very warm--something we have not been used to.  Steve Charbonneau and I spent the morning looking around and noted that a good number of birds had dropped in overnight.  Warblers, vireos (especially Red-eyed), thrushes and some flycatchers (eg. Yellow-bellied) were present unlike the previous day.

We checked Tulip Tree Trail first, and were entertained by a singing Prothonotary.  Little did we know that as we were leaving the area, a female Prothonotary Warbler  was on the front deck of the VC!  It had apparently hit a window, but was later deemed OK.

We decided to make a big loop walking from Bennett and Rondeau Roads, down Harrison, across Gardiner and back up to Bennett.  Birding was steady all the way.  Lots of tanagers, including a female Summer.  This bird was obviously different than the one Josh Vandermeulen photographed a couple days earlier farther north.
Although the number of migrants was not high, we got all the regular vireos, about 20 species of warblers, and other types of birds.

Great-crested Flycatcher

My last walk (before I was too tired!) was down Harrison Trail south the VC.  I saw at least three more Yellow-bellied Flycatchers.

Stopping along Rondeau Road is a common practice.  Pockets of birds on that long stretch of road make birders curious.

Rondeau Road birders

Early this evening I took a quick trip out the Brander Park, Port Lambton and was delighted to find quite a few migrants.  I saw 14 species of warblers plus some vireos, thrushes and a Scarlet Tanager.  The first thing I heard was a male Cerulean singing atop a tree!  Only the second time I have had one at that location.
Black Terns have finally come back in number and about 80 were flying around, mostly over the sewage lagoons.

Spotted Sandpiper

Looking forward to the holiday weekend when more flycatchers should be in, as well as some later warblers.

Birding Philly Style

Clear, crisp skies and a full moon greeted us early this morning.

With many migrants still pouring through, I went down to good 'ole Rondeau this morning.  I met up with Steve Charbonneau again, starting at south point trail.  It was evident a good number of warblers, flycatchers, and vireos were around.  We found up to 17 species of warblers, most of the flycatchers (except Olive-sided) and all of the vireos except White-eyed (where did they go....again?).

We then started seeing "bunches" of Philadelphia Vireos.  There were in groups of two to eight at a time it seemed.  Frankly we have never seen so many on one walk.  We saw about 35 on south point trail alone!  But that was where most of the birds were, as we only added about five more elsewhere.  One must wonder how many in total were in the park today.  I enjoyed it as the philly is my favourite vireo.

Yellow-bellied Flycatchers were numerous as one would expect at this date.  One was even way out the south beach.

A goodly number of warblers were around especially Blackburnian, Black-throated Green and Wilson's.  A couple of Northern Parula were nice to see as well.

Parula in the morning shadows

We ended up walking way out the south beach.  Found Least Bittern in the usual spot.  A few shorebirds were around including these.

(did not realize a Robin was going through!)

It was a big day for Black-bellied Plover as at least 200 were at Erieau on the rocks, and several hundred more elsewhere including the sand islands off the marsh.  Lots of Ruddy Turnstones were about too, and I counted at least 30 at Erieau.

Thrushes have moved out for the most part but I spotted a late Hermit Thrush on tulip tree trail.  Only a couple of Swainson's Thrushes and a Gray-cheeked were seen today.
The Acadian Flycatcher was working its territory on spicebush trail, but little else was there.
It seemed most of the birds were on south point trail today.  Although it was very cold first thing this morning, it warmed up nicely by afternoon.

Lots of maggies today!

Blenheim Lagoons had nothing new, only more Semipalmated Sandpipers and lots of swallows (all usual species).