Rondeau to Hillman, 25 February

Early this morning I headed down to Rondeau Park.  I met up with Jim Burk and we checked out south point trail and the campground.  There was not much to be seen on south point, but some waterfowl was on the move.
Of note, a Surf Scoter was seen and up to 18 White-winged Scoters.  It continues to be a decent winter for scoters in the area.
The campground had a decent flock of birds at the south end, but it was fast-moving and we never got a look at all of the birds.  At one point I heard a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, so that one has made it through the winter!
A couple of Purple Finches, scarce this winter, were also on the move.
At the north end, I caught sight of the Yellow-rumped Warbler.  There were two at one point in the winter.
On the Bay, a number of Canvasback were at the north end.

After leaving the park, I decided to keep going all the way to Hillman Marsh.  The last few days there has been a good number of waterfowl at the shorebird cell.  Today was no exception!

Three Ross's and five Snow geese were among the Canada Geese.  (three Ross's were present yesterday as well).

I checked the gulls for a Mew.  It is a good time for one!  The last one was at this time of year in 2002.
There was an exceptional number of Gadwall in the cell.  I estimated at least 250.

A good number of American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, and Green-winged Teal were also around.

Even the 50 Ring-necked Ducks was a good number for the cell.
A Pied-billed Grebe was the only member of that family present.

It was very windy and cold there, so after well over an hour there, I headed out.
On the way home I drove by St. Clair NWA.  This croaker was on the road!

As I headed up Heron Line, I came aross a large flock of gulls.  Among the Herring was a Glaucous, Lesser Black-backed and 8 Great Black-backed.

Towards Mitchell's Bay, in the Mallard/Marsh/Winter Lines area, I counted 7 Snowy Owls.  So, many are still around!

The wind picked up and the temperature dropped as the day worn on, so I guess we are back to more seasonal weather!

Sunset Tour

I headed upriver after work today.  The air was clear and crisp...I guess winter has returned!
With a brisk westerly wind, ice has built up along the Ontario shoreline of the St. Clair River, so many of the gulls and waterfowl were not close (unless they were on the ice).

However, there was a good concentration of gulls at the OC outflow north of Sombra.

Lighting was not good, as usual for the time of day, but I did not find anything of note.
The outflow area is often good in winter.  This is where the Ivory Gull hung out in December 1995.

I drove back through the countryside on the way back home.  It seemed like there would be potential for an owl or two, but there was virtually nothing to be seen.
About 30 Tundra Swans were along Holt Line between highway 40 and the river.

I stopped by McKeough CA and dam. Sometimes you can hear owls at dusk, but I only saw a lone American Tree Sparrow (!).

There was a nice scenery at sunset.

Ducks in the Fog and Spring Migration

Sunday was the day I picked to check out the St. Clair River for waterfowl and any other notable avian creature.  It was a mistake!  With the very strange (mild) weather the last few days, we have experienced dense fog in the mornings and evenings.  Late Friday was quite bad as I drove up to Sombra after work.  It was clear enough though, that one could see lots of ducks on the river and some large rafts.
This time of year is peak time to observe waterfowl on the St Clair River and I spend quite a bit of time on weekends looking around.
Saturday night was quite clear, but by morning the fog had rolled in.  I went out anyway thinking that after some time the fog would lift enough to look for waterfowl. It often does.

Some rafts of ducks were close enough to the shoreline that one could make them out. I ended up going all the way to Sarnia, but the fog intensified.  It was even worse on the way back!

Recently, it was obvious that there were more scaup and Ring-necked Ducks on the river.  They make things interesting as one sorts through the rafts.

I had visions of finding a Tufted Duck (lol!).  The last one spent part of the winter at Sombra 1994 and was easily picked out in the rafts of ducks.

As I left the river, the fog was almost non-existent inland! Looking for "landbirds" recently has been boring!

With the exceptionally mild weather, more waterfowl has appeared locally.  Species such as Tundra Swans, puddles ducks such as Northern Pintail and geese such as Greater White-fronted and Ross's have been reported in the last few days in numbers unusual for this time of year.

Some may call this an early spring migration in response to the mild weather.  Back around New Year's 2009, there was an influx of puddle ducks and geese that Alan Wormington termed "spring migration".  Perhaps this has happened in the past, but in 2009 it was quite noteworthy.
At the time, I was writing the winter report for North American Birds (NAB) and this phenomena was worthy of special attention (SA) in the report.
The 2009 influx included Northern Pintail and Greater White-fronted Geese, but also Snow Goose, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal and Ring-necked Duck.

Yesterday, January 22, Ross's Geese were reported at Sarnia and St. Clair NWA.  A significant number of Snow Geese were near St. Clair NWA as well.  Other ducks appeared at Erieau, where they had not been previously.

Our winters sure have changed since I was young.  I have spent a lot time along the St. Clair River all of my life.  Rarely do we see a "real" winter anymore!

Shrewsbury Show

The waterfowl show at Shrewsbury in south Chatham-Kent has continued into this week.  Late afternoon seems to be the time to count Snow/Ross's Geese in the fields east of Shrewsbury or Raglan.  I am never there at that time of day, so cannot experience the show!  A large number of swans have still been on the Bay as well.

The numbers always fluctuate due to various reasons, but yesterday up to 175 Snow Geese were present according to Allen Woodliffe's observation.  As well, up to 6 Ross's Geese were picked out.
There was no doubt some Ross's Geese were present, but getting good looks was essential.
In recent years we have been seeing more of these geese, and more hybrids are becoming apparent. There are some hybrids among this flock, undoubtedly.
It is certainly an unprecedented number of Snow Geese for this part of the province.

Snow Geese Mid-day Saturday

The finding of apparent "Bewick's" Swans has been another highlight.  It was a strange event on Saturday which I will not get into detail here.  I had picked out a leucistic swan which otherwise struck me as a "Bewick's".  On the way home, I saw Reuven Martin's post about finding a "Bewick's" Swan.  I wondered what was going on!
In the end, there turned out to be two swans, both of which were still being seen on Tuesday.

As we know, "Bewick's" is the Eurasian version of the Tundra Swan, sometimes seen in North America.  Just last year, one was seen at Point Pelee in the Onion Fields area.
The yellow blob on the bill is variable and has been seen in several forms.  They are given names according to shape.
Here is  a link to a website/blog that Alan Wormington provided:
https://ousewasheslps.wordpress.com/tag/swans/

I copied one of the photos here for detail where you can see the different types.

Unique bill patterns of Bewick’s swans. Information panel at WWT Welney. Photograph: Cambridgeshire ACRE.

The Point Pelee bird, first seen by Richard P. Carr, was of the Pennyface type.  Maybe the "P" stands for pennyface!  lol. Kudos to Richard for picking out the swan, as I had just been at the spot 15 minutes earlier and then saw Richard just after, as I was heading towards Wheatley!

I am not sure if anyone got a good look at bill pattern of the Shrewsbury swans, but it would be interesting to know what type they are.

With rather cold weather upon us, Rondeau Bay will be refreezing and many of these waterfowl will depart after an early "spring" migration.

Waterfowl Insanity on Rondeau Bay

With all the reports of crazy numbers of Snow Geese around Shrewsbury this week, I was anxious to get down to Rondeau Bay today.  I arrived at Shrewsbury at first light.

Jim and I could only pick out 9 Snow Geese at that time among the thousands of other birds.  Most ducks were Canvasback with some Redhead, scaup and only a few Mallard, Gadwall and a pair of Northern Pintail.

The Snow Geese constantly move around.  Late in the day they head to fields east of Raglan.  Late yesterday Allen Woodliffe estimated 160!!  Certainly a modern-day record for Rondeau.

The number of swans and geese is crazy for this time of year.  If it was mid-March it would be more normal.  Lots of Canvasback on the Bay.  Virtually none on the St. Clair River this winter!

The bulk of the Snow Geese were somewhere else first thing, so we moved on.
Ridgetown Lagoons was a good stop early in the day, and we found the 12 Greater White-fronted Geese in the southerly pond.  Lighting was not good for photos.  As luck would have it, they flew to the pond near the treatment building after we left for good close views.

Photo by Sharon and Deryl Nethercott

Four Snow Geese were in the north pond among a few Canada Geese.

We checked out Rondeau Park--mainly the campground where we finally found a Yellow-rumped Warbler (certainly not an "Audubon's"!) at the north end with some Golden-crowned Kinglets.  A Fox Sparrow was also further south in the campground.
Some waxwings were around, but they were Cedars.  The cinnamon butts remain absent....

The rest of the park was somewhat quiet.
Rondeau Bay is almost completely open, highly unusual for this time of year.  No ducks on the Rondeau side.

Late morning I went back to Shrewsbury.  Right timing!  About 120+ Snow Geese were circling to the easterly side of the dock, and finally landed.

I tried counting, but an accurate count was impossible and I could not get the whole flock in one photo.

I did notice a couple of smallish ones, but too distant to tell if they were Ross's.
Once the flock land on the ice with the swans, it was even worse to try and count.

A lone American Coot was off the dock end.  They are not rare in C-K anymore for winter.

On the other side of the dock, I watched swans for some time.  Strangely enough, Bewick's Swan was on my mind.  Suddenly I found this bird....

(highly cropped)

Very weird.  The yellow on the bill's base matches "Bewick's", but the rest of the bill was pinkish-orange.  Later, Jim Burk found the bird and said the legs were yellowish.  Could this be a leucistic swan?  Even rarer, a leucistic "Bewick's"?  Opinions are welcome.

To knock your socks off, later, Reuven Martin and Pilar Manorome apparently found a real "Bewick's" Swan to the easterly side of the dock! I got that email while I was in Chatham.


I also briefly checked Erieau since late yesterday a photo of a Harlequin Duck was posted on Facebook.  We found the bird today in Rondeau Bay, viewed from the government dock.  It was quite distant when I saw it though.  It is a young male and likely the same bird from a couple of weeks ago.

Lol

What to do tomorrow?  St. Clair River looks boring.

Weekend Outings-Nothing New

I did get out to some places this weekend despite the typical weekend weather.  Just like clockwork, the weather went for a crap after some nice weekdays.  I bet you my life savings the sun is back out Monday!  Same old, same old.....

Saturday morning I just had over two hours to do some birding, so I went out to Mitchell's Bay and St. Clair NWA.  Despite some ice that formed this week, lots of waterfowl is still around.  Normally we would not see much out that way this time of year, but it is just the opposite.  Of course, not much is on the St. Clair River, when usually there are thousands of ducks, etc. there.

Ducks!

I saw a few Snowy Owls along the way, and upon arrival at St. Clair, there was lots to see.  A large flock of blackbirds was at the entrance and along Balmoral Line.

There certainly were not around during the CBC just over a week ago.  It was a good mixed flock, with the majority of birds being Red-winged Blackbirds.
The marsh was mostly frozen, but still lots of waterfowl was about.

I walked the dike to the viewing tower as I could hear and see lots of ducks.  99% were Mallards and I did pick out a few Northern Shovelers.  I did not have a scope, so there could have been other species mixed in.

Along the way, a Marsh Wren was making some noise. There are usually some around attempting to winter.

Just before I left, a Peregrine Falcon came in along the driveway.  Thoughts of Gyrfalcon were quickly dashed.  It would be a good place for one though.

Today, Sunday, the weather was horrible, but what is new?  I did the St. Clair River and the first notable duck was the hermaphrodite Mallard at Port Lambton.  I had not seen it for some time, but obviously it survived another hunting season.  Quality of photos is due to the ridiculous weather.

At Sombra ferry dock, I spotted a Northern Shoveler.  These are rare in Lambton, but not in C-K!

The Harlequin went flippers up a week ago and was found emaciated on the shore.  Pretending to be a Mallard did not help its situation.

Sombra Bay had a good group of over 50 Tundra Swans.

At the north end of Guthrie Park and the south end of the Shell Dock, were over 20 Hooded Mergansers.  They commonly winter here at the dock.

Algomarine coming in for fuel

A single American Coot was there as well.

At Sarnia Bay and Marina, there were quite a few ducks, mostly Redhead.  It was blowing and snowing like there was no tomorrow, so who knows what all was there.  A Double-crested Cormorant has been around, and was probably still there.

At the lakewatch spot, some gulls were circling around, including an adult Iceland Gull.

The afternoon was spent watching feeders at home, but nothing new showed except a flyover Pine Siskin.