Ravenous Friday

 Not much to report this time around as the horrid weekend weather continues.  Friday was not too bad for birding in the Rondeau area.  I did Rondeau Park, Shrewsbury and Erieau.

There were not a lot of birds, but I did get a couple first-of-year.  Finally saw an Eastern Phoebe this year!

I walked the campground with Steve.  Highlight was a Common Raven!  While this species is expanding its range south, there are not too many records in the Rondeau Birding area.  All park records are in the fall, plus a few winter/spring records outside the park.

I have seen three previous in the park (17 Nov 2012, 13 Oct 2013, 1 Oct 2016).  This was my first spring record.  We heard, then saw it flying out of the park.  Unknown to us at the time, Craig Anderson had seen it a short time before flying into the park!

The Shrewsbury Eurasian Collard-Dove has been more evident recently.  It seemed to have disappeared for a while, but was probably around though.  I finally caught up with it on Friday.

It was here last year until December, then took winter vacation somewhere, perhaps not far away.  I am sure it hopes to find a girlfriend soon!

There are only two other documented records for the Rondeau area, both in the park.  The very first was found by Alan Wormington in May 2003.  I only heard that one!  The other was found by the Burk's in September 2017.

After seeing the dove, I went into Erieau and walked the rail trail.  Lots of ducks were on the Bay, but I did not have a scope on the walk.  Some yellowlegs, as FOY birds, were in front of the viewing platform.

This Horned Grebe was at the start of the trail.

I scoped the ducks from the firehall, but did not find the Eurasian Wigeon.  It was there somewhere though!  Many thousands of ducks had to be sorted through.  These views from the rail trail.

Just after I got home, I was pleased to see and hear a Sandhill Crane fly over the  house.  It was a first for here!  Long overdue.

Saturday was horrible weather, so nothing noteworthy to report.  

Sunday was not great either!  I went to Rondeau anyway.  Robins were concentrated in the campground, wondering what the deal was with this winter weather!

Nothing new at the home feeder yet.

More birds will be showing up, and perhaps we will have our first Louisiana Waterthrush by next weekend!

Recent Rondeau Rambles-March 17, 19

 On Thursday, I went to Rondeau Park to take advantage of the nicest weather we had yet this year.  We rarely get weather like that on weekends, so I had to go!  This weekend was no exception.  There was nothing of note in the way of birds, but I enjoyed some long walks.

Most interesting was sorting through all the ducks on Rondeau Bay.  Lots were moving on the lake as well.

Seems we cannot find an Eurasian Wigeon this spring!  Normally there would be one out there, but despite valiant efforts, not one has been seen yet.

I even stopped by Sinclair's Bush on the way home, but it was quiet exdept for a chattering Winter Wren.

Today, the weather was weekend-like with fog, drizzle and rain.  I went to Rondeau anyway, but luckily the weather forecast was wrong again and it did not rain all morning.  It even almost cleared up at one point!  I got a good walk in.

It was foggy at first, but then cleared up, so I got a good look at the ducks on the Bay.  They were more distant than Thursday.

More Bonaparte's Gulls were in, and I managed to spot a first cycle Little Gull in the distance. A FOY.  Too distant for any type of photo.

Probably a leftover wintering bird, this Brown Thrasher was along Lakeshore Road.

The park is shrinking along south point trail.  Since I have been coming to the park, much of it has disappeared into the lake!  This concrete structure is exposed more than it ever has been despite lower water levels this year.

It was apparently associated with the old campground which was along south point east back in the day.

I even walked a bit out marsh trail.  The "birdhouse" is about to crumble, a change from my walk out there a couple of weeks ago.

Wind-blown ice can be quite powerful!  Still lots of ice near the start of marsh trail.

Not much else to report, but new birds are slowly trickling in, so stay tuned!

Historical note for Boatnerds.  On this day back in 1932, the original Lakeshell tanker was launched.  It Late in life it was renamed Alfred Cytacki.  A business venture that my grandfather was involved with, including the tug Chris M never materialized.  Here is a photo I took at Erieau harbour back in the summer of 1974!

Waterfowl Wanderings on the St. Clair River

 Now that "spring has sprung" we are seeing a change with expected arrivals.  Waterfowl watching on the St. Clair River has been interesting of late and I checked that out.

However, Friday morning I decided to head up to Pinery since I had not been up there at all this winter.  There were no spring migrants there, and the snow was still quite deep.  Walking was limited due to the snow depth.  It was a nice day at least.  No finches evident except a single redpoll flyover.

Tufted Titmouse is found in abundance here and they were quite numerous on my visit.

Some White-breasted Nuthatches were co-operative.

Working my way back towards home, I veered out to the St. Clair River and started at Guthrie Park.  I walked a bit along the riverbank and found a pair of Ruddy Ducks.

While there, I thought I was hearing a Killdeer, and sure enough one flew over as the first migrant of the year.  Certainly expected by this date!  I just caught the tail end of it.

Farther down river, some American Wigeon were evident in the distance, as well as more Ruddy Ducks.

The Sombra area is currently a hotbed of activity for ducks, especially Redhead and kin.

Gull activity has subsided a bit on the river.

I found one of the hybrid Redhead X Ring-necked Ducks south of Sombra.  There has been more than one.

Today, I decided to head back out to see what I could find.  Once again, thousands of ducks were in the Sombra area, especially "Sombra Bay".

I managed to pick out two of the hybrids together in the Bay.  

M.B. was also out duck hunting with a camera and saw the hybrids as well.  There was also an apparent Redhead X Greater Scaup amongst the mass of ducks.

South of Sombra, there were two other Redhead X Ring-necked ducks, so there are at least four out there!

Some White-winged Scoters were evident at Sombra.

More wigeon and gadwall were also noted today.  

I was hoping to find Greater White-fronted Geese, but perhaps we will see some soon out there.

We are finally off to the races of spring birding!

Lambton Birding February 8

With colder temps the last couple of days, we finally have some ice in the St. Clair River, albeit slush ice.  It helps to concentrate gulls and ducks, which birders like.  It is good for looking at gulls, as they are lazy creatures that like to ride the floes!

I did a river run early this morning, then went to the east end of Lambton County through the countryside.  There appeared to be more birds today than I have been seeing of late.  Lots of hawks, Snow Buntings and Horned Larks were along the roads.

Back to the river, there were lots of gulls all along the river, but nothing new.

More ducks were at Stag Island, namely Common Goldeneye and Long-tailed.  Seems more Long-tailed have moved in there and off Sarnia on Lake Huron.

While heading upriver, I got word that four Harlequin Ducks were close to shore near the Bluewater Bridges.  I was going to check there anyway, so upon arrival, I found the four ducks were right there!

There was a brief bout of sun when I arrived, so lighting was not the best overall.  But, one has to remember it is the weekend afterall.  Nice to have them in close though!

Smile!

These were found today by Darrell Parsons.  Earlier in the week, Matt Parsons had four fly be Kettle Point.  No doubt these are the very same ducks!

I next headed down to the harbour area and Sarnia Bay.  There was lots to look at!  The ice certainly helps. 
In the harbour, a beauty of an adult Greater Black-backed X Glaucous Gull was swimming.  I spotted it at the last moment while looking through a fence, so no good photo.

Just south of the marina, I spotted the Greater White-fronted Goose on the ice hidden among Canada Geese.  It must have had a hard day yesterday as it slept the whole time.  Find it in this photo!

While there, five Cackling Geese flew in nearby.

Lots of gulls to look at, including one distant Lesser Black-backed.

As I was heading to the south end of downtown Sarnia, I got word that there was lots to look at off Canatara Park, including Black Scoters and Horned Grebes.  So, I did an about-face and headed to that location.

I spent a good hour at the beach coming up with one Black Scoter (FOY), one Horned Grebe (FOY), four White-winged Scoters, and hundreds of Long-tailed Ducks and Redhead among a few incidentals.

Next mission was to go through the countryside. On my way, I spotted a Common Raven along #79.  They are indeed becoming more regular in Lambton.

I ended up at the Middlesex border.  I had hoped to see a Golden Eagle, but my bad luck persisted and I did not find one despite a very thorough search.  Everyone else finds them right away, but not me!  Baffling to say the least.

Consolation prize was a Red-shouldered Hawk, always nice to see in winter.

I did come across a shrike from the north, but the weekend lighting was not good where it was perched.

I saw lots of hawks, including a couple of Rough-legged, which I had not seen all winter believe it or not.

Several harriers were out and about, including one male on the ground that I saw out of the corner of my eye.  I had to turn around to take another look as I had visions of a Gyrfalcon!  I guess I would not be that lucky since I cannot even find a Golden Eagle.

One more day on the weekend.  Who knows what the weather will be....the forecasts continously change.