Some Autumn Birding and an Asian Visitor Stirs Thing Up

 This past Friday I went down to Rondeau Park early to check things out.  I figured there should be lots of birds.  And there was!  It was a cool and crisp morning, just the way I like it.

I mainly walked south point trail (east) and ended up spending quite a bit of time since there were so many birds.  Mind you, most were Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Between SPT and the north end of Harrison trail, I ended up with over 300 butterbutts!

Other warblers included Blackpoll which tripped the filter early on.  I ended up with 12.  

There was also Tennessee, Nashville, Magnolia and Black-throated Blue.  Five Northern Parula was also a good number.

Lots of sparrows too, but I could not turn up anything out of the ordinary in that department.

A lot of birds were streaming west along the lakeshore, and noticeably at the washout area.

A quick look at Keith McLean C. L. did not turn up anything of note.  A couple of Fiery Skippers were along the trail.

Saturday was quite boring and I did not go far.  Some meadowlarks along Meadowvale Line caught my attention for a bit.  Seemed appropriate with the "meadow" name!

Eastern Comma along the way

Sunday I needed a change in scenery and went to Point Pelee.  It was not too interesting!

Purple Finches seemed to have come in at various locations in the last few days.

I stopped by Hillman marsh for a walk around the shorebird cell, looking for butterflies.  Part of the conservation area is closed to activities, as an aggressive non-native water plant was found recently.

Common checkered-skippers were the butterfly of the day.  I counted over 40 around the cell.

Some Fiery Skippers were flitting around as well and did not really want to be photographed.

Needless to say, some Common Buckeyes were around.

And, a Common Painted-Lady.

As well as, Bronze Copper which was very fresh.

There are not many flowers this time of year, but some goldenrod is still blooming which attracts a few insects.

Oblique Streaktail

Bramble Mason Wasp

The non-native Common Drone Fly was quite abundant.

Another non-native insect was this Chinese Mantid.

Today, for lack of any other ideas (birding has been slow for the most part recently!), I went up to Forest lagoons.  There were not as many birds as the last visit.  I was hoping to turn up a LeConte's Sparrow, but that was not to be.  We have had them there in the past.

Quite a bit of waterfowl, including three early Tundra Swans.

I headed back towards home, and stopped by Marthaville Habitat as per usual.  While there, I got word that a Black-tailed Gull was at Port Glasgow on Lake Erie.  Good grief, here we go again!  I always go in the opposite direction when something of note decides show up.  I was not going to miss this one, so I zig-zagged my way down to Port Glasgow.

Luckily, the bird was still in position when I arrived.  Not real close, but enough to get details.

This bird was present a couple of days earlier, but mis-identified at the time.  Luckily, someone noticed the photo and a correction was made.

The Black-tailed Gull is a resident of eastern Asia, especially Japan.  There is one other record for Ontario, and ironically it was just up the shoreline at Port Burwell a number of years ago.  I tried to see that one the next day after it was reported, but it never showed (of course).

As always, these rarities draw many birders and familiar faces.  The social atmosphere is always nice!

Very pleasant weather today, so it was nice to be out and about.

Lambton Wanderings to Pelee Wanderings

The last couple of days I have been checking out various haunts.  With Rondeau Park being closed the last couple of days, unfortunately for me, it allowed me to visit some other places not too far away.
Friday I went to north Lambton.  Since I always like doing a lakewatch this time of year at least once a week, I went to my favourite spot at Ipperwash Beach.  It turned out to be a good loon day (just the two usual species).
Here is my list for there:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S61838769

After getting chilled to the bone, I went on up to Ausable River Cut CA.  It was disappointing with respect to birds!
Going back, I stopped by Ipperwash Forested Dunes and Swales for a short walk.  I knew it would be quiet, but I did find quite a few Black-capped Chickadees.
One spot had quite a few shrubs of winterberry holly.

I continued on with a drive around Kettle Point which did not produce anything.  It sure looks different than many years ago since the water level is so high.  There used to be a "point" that we could walk way out.  There is absolutely no sign of it anymore!
Here is an old photo taken from way out on the "point" looking towards land.

A stop by Forest Sewage Treatment Ponds proved fruitful.  Right at the the entrance, a Snowy Owl greeted me.

(taken through windshield)

A variety of ducks was present. The oddity was a Long-tailed Duck, not often seen in a small sewage lagoon.
While standing near the platform, I heard the soft chips of a Common Yellowthroat.  It saw it well, but it did not co-operate for a decent photo.

The Snowy Owl did not move the whole time despite traffic on the laneway directly below.

I did stop by Perch Creek Habitat, but it was very quiet.

One last stop was at Moore WMA on Bickford Line.  Right at the parking lot, a number of birds were flitting about, including three Yellow-rumped Warblers.  They have always wintered here in various numbers. I have been going to this place since the early 1990's.

Today, I headed in the opposite direction, to Point Pelee.  There was a stiff east wind, not the greatest for a Tip Watch, but it was actually quite busy with ducks.

Very few bonies...the trend this fall.

Duck-of-the-day was White-winged Scoter where I counted well over 400.
Thousands of scaup were rafting offshore on both sides, but I did not pick out anything of note.

Eastern Scaup

Western Scaup

A few Common Loons and Horned Grebes were around, but none of the rarer cousins.

A few birds were out of the wind on the west side as Kory Renaud and I walked up to the famed serengeti tree.  We did see a late Turkey Vulture way in the distance to the north.
Along the trail was some sort of shrew, deceased.

I checked some other areas including west beach parking lot.  A couple of Chipping Sparrows were in the grass, among other species.

The only Yellow-rumped Warbler I encountered was at Pioneer.  While I was at Dunes, I got word from Kory that a Northern Saw-whet Owl was at Sparrow Field. Might as well go see it....although I had no idea where to look.
Turns out I found it instantly!  I could only get this photo without disturbing it.

These tiny owls are difficult to find in Essex County, so it is a treat to see them.  This one is at least the fourth I have seen in Point Pelee over the years.
Still in the Pelee circle, but in C-K, I recall one in Wheatley Provincial Park while birding with the 'afternoon shift'.  It was deceased, but strangley, it was still clinging to a branch, upside down!  I wish I had taken a photo of it.

My list for Pelee today:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S61869988

A stop by Hillman Marsh, produced little, except a late Great Egret.  Not the latest I have seen in Essex though.

The shorebird cell was devoid of birds again, except for a single Mallard.

Not sure what will happen tomorrow, but weather looks horrible.  Every time one looks at the forecast, it changes for the worse.  You never know what will happen since there seems to be little accuracy to weather forecasts anymore! It is the weekend though!

More Geese and a Pelee Visit

A change in scenery was in order today as I headed down to Essex County.  The weather was unusually nice for a weekend--calm, sunny and clear.
My first stop was Wheatley Harbour where I found some geese! (they were over by Hillman yesterday).  Some white geese stood out in the form of two Snow, two Ross's and one hybrid of the two species.

I noticed that one was different from the start, but I wanted to get a good look at photos at home before I put it down as a hybrid Ross's X Snow.

It seems that the hybrids are becoming more common recently.  Sometimes they can look much like Ross's, but subtle differences can be seen such as the size and shape of the bill.  Today's bird was rather obvious as it was in between the size of the two species, and looked uglier!

I was sort of expecting Greater White-fronted at Wheatley as well.  Upon further examination of my photos, I did have the three that Ken Burrell reported a couple hours later!  Sometimes it pays to take a series of photos even though they were very distant.
Although not very identifiable in the photo below, blowing it up here at home reveals the 3 Greater White-fronted.  My bad!

I moved on to Point Pelee for a walk out Shuster Trail, Tilden's Woods up to Cactus Trail and back to the VC parking lot.
There were lots of distant ducks off the east side. I did notice one White-winged Scoter flying around.

At the north end of Tilden's, I encountered a nice flock of birds that included several dozen American Robins, about 20 Yellow-rumped Warblers, a Northern Flicker, Purple Finch, White-breasted Nuthatch, etc.

I walked a bit at Hillman Marsh but did not see much except for a large flock of blackbirds near the Hillman church.  It was mostly Brown-headed Cowbirds, but Common Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds and European Starling were mixed in.  I did not notice anything else. I was hoping to see a yellow head!

On the way home there was not much of note except a Red-shouldered Hawk at Jeannette's Creek.

Here we are at the end of another weekend.....

Dawn, Friday, Port Lambton

Rondeau Produces Again

I have been sticking with Rondeau for the most part each weekend as it seems to be the place to go (without going far!).  It seems to produce each time with some decent birds.
I started the usual routine at Dog Beach along with Steve Charbonneau.  A variety of ducks went by, including all three scoter types.  Horned Grebes outnumbered loons 4:1.

At one point, I got on a darker grebe swimming in the distance to the north.  It sure looked like an Eared Grebe with the colour and shape of head.  It was an Eared!  Eventually it swam right out in front of us (at a distance) and joined a couple of Horned Grebes for comparison.  I just raised the camera, and they took off!

A couple of sparrow types came in off the lake, including a White-throated Sparrow that landed right near us.  It looked quite tired.  It is always interesting to see these small birds come off the lake and try to guess what species.





After an hour, it was time to warm up on south point trail.  It was rather quiet at first, but farther down we encountered some birds.  There were several Ruby-crowned Kinglets and only a couple of Yellow-rumped Warblers among other birds.

White-crowned Sparrow

At one point we heard Common Redpoll fly over, which was the first I heard this fall.

Later, after looking at quite a few Cedar Waxwings and some American Robins along Lakeshore Road, we headed to the campground.  Quite a few birds were at the north end into the cottage area.  A good number of Fox Sparrows was here.

Craig's List Birds

We also encountered a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker which will likely winter here.  We always get one if not three in the area each winter.
At the north washroom there was a good flock of birds including 5 Yellow-rumped Warblers and another Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

After the campground experience, Steve left the park and I thought it would be worthwhile to check out south point trail again since the sun was out.

There were more birds than first thing in the morning!  I found a couple more Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Yellow-rumped Warblers.  While looking at them, a yellowish warbler popped up in front of me--a Wilson's!  I guess I looked at it too long and never got a photo before it disappeared.  I tried to refind it, but could not.  There were quite a few birds in this general area.
It was not the only Wilson's Warbler found in the province today. Reuven Martin had one at the famous Arkendo Park along Lake Ontario in Oakville!
I am sure the Rondeau bird is record late, but I do not have the date handy.  My previous late date is 20 October 2002.

Rusty Blackbird

After a late lunch in Blenheim, I headed down to Erieau.  I passed the flock of gulls on Erie Shore Road (Dike Road) and there were several Franklin's Gulls.  Earlier, Mike Bouman counted 35 (same number as yesterday!).  They are constantly changing, so no doubt there are more than the 35.
**Just in:  At least 55 were in that field late today.  Not surprising!

I walked the Marsh Trail (R/R). Not too many birds there.  The usual Marsh Wren at the platform and on the way back I heard a familiar sound.  The Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was still present!

I took a look at the pier area where Sean Jenniskens was waiting for a Cave Swallow.  Mike and Josh Bouman were also checking out the area.  Allen Woodliffe also came along and soon I decided to leave after a long day.

Unidentified heron type