Barred Owl and more early January adventures

 A Barred Owl has taken up residence in Shrewsbury, across Rondeau Bay from the park, at least for a few days. I first heard about it the day after it had been originally seen, but couldn't make it out due to other commitments. Then it disappeared for a few days, only to be re-discovered by Steve C, who put the word out. I had been at Rondeau at the time I received his text, looking for loons and other waterbirds flying by the east beach, but abandoned that activity to go over to see the owl.

It was still there, and remained relatively unconcerned for the next little while.

 At first it was advised to remain in the vehicle so as to not cause the bird to flush, since it was not too far off the street, so I and others did just that. However after awhile, a service truck came along and backed into the driveway immediately across from the owl, and the workers got out and started to do their thing. The owl moved its head a bit, but that was about it. Then some other birder/photographers came along, started walking up and down the street, talking fairly normally, and still the bird didn't seem to mind. At that point I, and another birder/photographer, decided to get out of our vehicles and get into a slightly better position to minimize the small branches and such, that were making focusing difficult. The bird continued to roost quietly, moving its head from time to time but otherwise seemed nonplussed.

It kept an eye on people, but nothing more. The background for the photo was a bright, but bland sky which made getting a good shot of a relatively dark bird, a bit of a challenge. Fortunately a bit of processing can make a big difference!

Barred Owls are definitely uncommon in this part of Ontario. I have only seen or heard two others in Chatham-Kent, and the most recent record was one that I found, along with my birding partner Josh, on the Dec 16, 2018 Christmas Bird Count at Rondeau. That caused quite a stir amongst many of the other CBC counters that day, and it was fortunate that we found it relatively late in the day, as many birders 'finished up their territories early' so as to scoot over to the park and join in this discovery. That bird remained in the vicinity of the north end of Rondeau for at least a couple of months, as I last saw and photographed it in late February of 2019.

A couple of days prior to seeing this bird, I participated on the Skunk's Misery CBC. It was not a very good day weather wise the day started off misty/foggy and by mid-day had started to rain. The woods were almost eerily quiet, although once in awhile one would come across a mixed flock of birds. Near the entrance of one trail, I came across this:

 

It was a reasonably fresh death, as there were some fresh truck tire tracks backing up to where the carcass was dumped. I didn't examine it for a cause of death. It was possibly a road kill, and the carcass was just hauled off and dumped here. Presumably the local coyote population will make short work of it. A bit earlier in the season and there might have been some Turkey Vultures arriving for a bite.

Photography wasn't all that great that day due to the weather, and the lack of birds. I did manage to get this photo of an adult Bald Eagle as it was perched in this tree along a small creek. The photo was taken at about 18X and then greatly cropped to at least 45X.

I have been playing around with my recently acquired mirrorless camera lately, just to see what it is capable of doing. It is a big adjustment in some ways, at least to me, compared to the DSLRs that I have been using extensively for the last 15 years, but I can see some of the advantages. The Barred Owl shots above were all taken with my mirrorless camera body, in combination with my non-mirrorless telephoto lenses. I am considering expanding my mirrorless camera equipment to include a highly regarded crop sensor model.

I was out near St. Clair NWA the other day to try the camera on some other subjects. Both were taken from quite a distance under cloudy conditions, and the second one featuring Snow Geese was taken from a distance of about half a kilometre, and greatly cropped.

Back in the Rondeau area a day or so ago, I returned to the east beach hoping for some less common waterbirds flying by, which I had abandoned previously to see the owl. I managed to see both Common and Red-throated Loons, but too far out to attempt a photo. Red-throats are becoming more reliable in late autumn and early winter. At one point not too many years ago, they were quite a novelty. I'm not sure why their migration patterns have shifted, but it is nice to see them more regularly. Here is a photo I got from a couple of years ago, from a distance.

Elsewhere in the park, not far off from a large group of geese on the bay was a family group of Trumpeter Swans. They are becoming more regular these days, as they continue to expand their Ontario range. At first I was a bit skeptical of this identification, but a closer look showing the large, all black bill, the wide black area at just in front of they eye, less of a curvature at the gape and the young bird showing quite a bit of gray/brown at this time of year, along with its more extensive black on the bill, all suggested Trumpeter.

It was fairly mild, and this Eastern Chipmunk was out scrounging around. You don't often see them out in January!

Along some of the other trails I walked along turned up more blown over trees exposing upturned tree roots, and the accompanying pit.

Some of the pits, especially if they are in a bit lower location than others, will quickly fill in with water, and be an important feature for frogs and salamanders before long. What is detrimental for one species can provide huge benefits for others!

I also went out to the south end of the park, and while most of the lake was now free of ice, there were some rather large ice mounds right along the shoreline. It was a windy day, with brisk winds coming out of the southwest, resulting in some interesting splashes from the waves as they pounded against the immovable ice.

After leaving the park, I headed over to Erieau. This next photo shows what the south beach looks like from there, with lots of dirty mounds of ice piled up along the shore, and the waves hitting it. It would not have been a good day for a bird count out here!

And another view from the Erieau channel, looking past the harbour entrance lighthouse to the open lake, completely free of ice now.

Winter is often noted for its widely varying weather, and this year is continuing that trend. What will the next few weeks bring?

If you would like to subscribe, or unsubscribe, to Nature Nuggets, send an email to: prairietramper@gmail.com

Highlights of the 43rd St. Clair NWA Christmas Bird Count

 The 43rd SCNWA Christmas Bird Count was held again, on New Years Day. A January date has been the norm almost since it started, back in 1981, since much of the best areas to cover were privately owned wetlands, and at the beginning, waterfowl hunting continued up until the end of December. To have a better chance of accessing those wetlands, it was decided that a January date was best for all concerned. However since that time, some waterfowl hunting has been allowed into January, so some wetlands are often inaccessible. I have been on every count except for one, and have been the organizer/compiler since 1988.

This time around, we were fortunate to have almost all of the best wetland areas accessible. The unfortunate part was that the weather wasn't the best! Of course the cold, wintry blast of the previous weekend, caused much of the wetlands to become frozen, and at least some of the waterbirds decided it was time to move on. By the time of this count, the warmer weather had caused a lot of the ice to disappear, but the misty/foggy conditions made 'scoping for waterbirds difficult. And by mid-day, the rain arrived. Every year is different.

There were still some dirty snowbanks present, a reminder that the many tilled fields along with the high winds of a few days ago, moved a lot of topsoil around.

 Nonetheless, seventeen of us carried on, covering our allotted territory. And overall, the results were quite satisfactory. Collectively we tallied 76 species, a bit lower than our average for the past two decades of 82 species, but all things considered, not bad. It will likely end up in the top ten of all counts in Ontario.

There were some highlights, as usual. Since the weather was anything but good for photography, most of the photos featuring some of those highlights that follow are largely from other times.

Bald Eagles aren't quite the novelty that they used to be, but still are a highlight to see. We only had 16 this year, quite a bit lower than the average of 45 over the last few years.

Raptors in general were not all that abundant. There were a few Red-tails, of course, and Cooper's Hawks...

...but this is the first time since 1998, and only the fourth time overall that no Rough-legged Hawks were observed. They have been pretty scarce everywhere this winter, so not all that surprising.

In the waterfowl group, we ended up with 19 species, a bit lower than our usual ~25 species that we often get, and a lot lower than the cumulative 32 species we have on the list. Of course the most abundant species was Mallard....

A highlight was to tally 4 Trumpeter Swans, our previous high being a single bird in 2021.

Long-tailed Ducks are quite rare on this count, but a single bird was reported.

Fourteen Sandhill Cranes were counted, a species we have only had 5 times during the previous 42 years.

 

We get Fox Sparrow on occasion, but typically only one or two. Just one this year.

There was a new high for Wild Turkey, with 54 reported. The previous high was 31, and has only been tallied in 14 of the previous 42 years. However it is a species that was essentially gone from Ontario until major re-introduction efforts were undertaken beginning in the 1980s, and the species has done well. It was not recorded on this count until 2004.

Eastern Bluebirds are always a highlight. We have only had them on two previous counts, with a maximum of two birds. On this day, a total of 7 was seen.

Near a couple of the feeder areas, was this feral cat, doing what cats are programmed to do, which probably explains why no small birds were seen in the vicinity.

Belted Kingfisher is something we get about half the time, but usually only 1-3 birds on any count. There was only one bird reported on this count, so it is always nice to get that one added to the list.

And with that, I also want to mention that the American Birding Association has declared Belted Kingfisher to be its Bird Of The Year for 2023. It is always nice to find, although they tend to be shy and flighty when a camera is aimed at them.

If you want to subscribe, or unsubscribe, to Nature Nuggets, send an email to: prairietramper@gmail.com

After the storm and before the count

 There is no question that the winter storm of last weekend was not great for traveling, or much of anything else other than sitting tight. Our quiet street was essentially closed for most of three days, but at least the power was only off for a few hours.

Some folks did venture out, and a private snow plow company tried to make it a little easier for locals. That was easier said than done, however, as even the snow plow got stranded!

The snow plow was stuck for the better part of an hour, until he called someone who had better traction to pull him out.

Once the roads were cleared enough for safer travel, I headed out to see what the rest of the local world looked like. Erieau was first on my list. Readers may recall this next photo, showing what it was like on the Christmas Bird Count on Dec 18. No ice visible, and the lake and bay were quite open, although the lake was fairly rough. And for an update on this count, we ended up with 112 species plus 6 other species during the count week (3 days before count day, and 3 days after count day) so quite satisfactory.

This is the south beach looking from Erieau: solid ice and no open water to be seen..

...other than waaay out in the lake. It would have been a completely different bird count, with no shorebirds to be seen I am certain!

I next headed over to Rondeau, where I heard there was some storm damage. The east beach looked fairly calm, although the ice had been building along the shoreline.

Even though the east side did not get the full brunt of the very strong westerly winds during the storm, there were some significant impacts. There were quite a few trees down, or in some cases just major limbs. All of the next few photos were taken from various locations right along Lakeshore Road.

East South Point Trail entrance

Since the ground hadn't been frozen, and tall pine trees catch a lot of wind, there were more pines down than any other species. The park staff had been busy for quite awhile trying to clear away the worst of it and making the roads accessible. Most of the park had been without power for three days, and some for about 4 days.

With the relatively fresh snow still around at this point, tracks were numerous. Wild Turkeys are fairly widespread, although not often seen. Their tracks, however, give evidence of their presence.

I am unsure what caused these tracks in this next photo, but I suspect it was something like a Blue Jay or Northern Cardinal hopping through the snow.

The St. Clair NWA Christmas Bird Count is just a couple of days away. I have been out through the former Dover Twp on occasion to assess the conditions, so as to pass them along to birders coming on this count.

Waterbirds often make up a big part of the species diversity, sometimes with upwards of 75000 or more individuals of 27 or more species. With much of the wetlands frozen over, I am not expecting anywhere near those numbers, but there is still a good variety of things to be seen. Today I was near the NWA and photographed lots of Canada Geese and a few Tundra Swans, but the highlight was to see about 27 Snow Geese, including at least 6 blue phase snows. There was quite a large group of Canada Geese that flew into the NWA, after having been out on surrounding fields earlier.

Almost immediately after they arrived, several small groups of Snow Geese flew in....

...and landing in with the other geese.

A small number of Tundra Swans were in the area.

A few days earlier, I photographed this Cooper's Hawk that was reluctant to leave its perch.

And this Snowy Owl was taking refuge in a natural gas pipeline enclosure, not a typically expected resting place, but it seemed to be satisfied with it on that day. This is the only Snowy I have seen so far this year, a far cry from a year ago when we tallied a record 23 Snowies!

Hopefully there will be some highlights of this bird count to feature in a future post. Stay tuned!

If you would like to subscribe, or unsubscribe, to Nature Nuggets, send an email to: prairietramper@gmail.com