St. Clair River birding and an Aythya curiosity

My territory for the recent Wallaceburg Christmas Bird Count, held on the 27th this year, includes several kilometres of the St. Clair River. Some years it is full of ducks, but this year it was not. There was a reasonably diversity, however.

Long-tailed Ducks used to be quite a rarity here, but now it is a rare to not see several dozen, at least, especially the farther north on the river you go. They are often well out in the middle of the river, so not always easy to photograph.

With the ice quickly building up in the river, the protected area by the Sombra ferry dock is a good place to check out the waterfowl. A female Hooded Merganser was hanging around......

 ....and there were a few Common Mergansers.

Both Greater and Lesser Scaup were near the ferry dock, but I only got photos of Greater. Greaters are easily identified by the round head and, when they are at rest, a slight flatness to the head.

There was a duck that at first glance was an easy call as a Ring-necked Duck. I got a few photos, but when I started looking more closely at them on the computer, I had some questions.

Ring-neck (l), Redhead (r)

Certainly the bill pattern the dark back, the brownish sides all fit Ring-neck nicely. But what about that head shape? A 'good' Ring-neck shows a slightly different shape, sometimes being bluntly crested even to the point of being broadly triangular in some respects. This bird shows a round head, especially obvious in the first and third photos. It is more like a Greater Scaup, and the slightly greenish tinge is more indicative of Greater. A Ring-neck head is usually a brownish purple. Does it have some Greater Scaup genes in its background? Both of these species are members of the Aythya genus, and they are close enough that hybrids in this genus are more common than most other duck genera. So it is possible that at some point in this bird's lineage some Greater Scaup genes crept in. I'm certainly not an expert in waterfowl genetics, so if anyone has an opinion, please share it!

There were other birds to find, including this adult Bald Eagle that swooped over some gulls, looking for something to scavenge, I expect.

 While I was watching the gulls and this eagle, I looked across the river at the St. Clair Power Plant. I had seen Peregrine Falcons there in the past, and this is what I was hoping to find on this trip. I got a brief look at this bird through the binoculars, and then reached for the camera. This next photo was taken with a full frame Canon DSLR, a 500mm telephoto and a 1.4X converter. After taking a couple of photos, I reached for the scope, and then the bird was gone. The bird was perched at least one kilometre away, so it was at a difficult distance, and with the bright sun and atmospheric haze, it isn't as sharp as I would like it to get a positive ID. Cropping the photo by about 80% doesn't help either. It looks a little big and chunky for a typical Peregrine. Perhaps it was just fluffed up due to the cold? Or is it possibly something else? Another birder had a very large falcon go by him not too far from here....could it be the same bird? Could it be a Gyrfalcon? One can't tell for sure based on this photo....perhaps it is just a female Peregrine, which are larger than males.

Canada Geese were not very abundant early in the day,  but there were a few around.

 As the afternoon wore on, it was apparent that a late day movement of geese was occurring. Several flocks ranging in size from about 60 to 150 streamed by, quite high and heading straight south. I expect the colder weather much farther north put them to flight.

I spent a bit of time inland, checking out a different part of my territory. There were a few raptors, including at least 3 Northern Harrier.

As they swept low over a field, they would scare up small groups of birds such as Horned Lark, which were widely scattered.

 All in all, it was a great day in spite of the cold. No doubt with the continued cold, bringing lots of ice from Lake Huron, waterfowl will become much more numerous, and will warrant another visit.

Another Rondeau/Blenheim CBC now in the books

The Blenheim/Rondeau Christmas Bird Count has been going ever since 1939, making it one of the oldest continuing counts in Ontario. The most recent one, held yesterday, marks the 79th one.  Over the years we have tallied 190 species. An average count results in around 100 species, with high counts of 115 species achieved on several occasions. Weather, whether it be that of the day or the of the previous week or two, will be deciding factors. In 2017, both were factors, as in spite of the lingering autumn weather, the snow and cold of the last week caused several species of waterfowl, for example, to leave the area. On the day of the count itself, the brisk to strong east winds caused some birds to take cover and it made it difficult to hear the birds chipping in the undergrowth. So we missed some that were likely around, but overall the results were not too bad. We came up just shy of the 100 mark, but we did add a new species. The Townsend's Warbler that was first discovered in the area on Nov 11 remained to be counted marking the first time this western species has been recorded on a Christmas Bird Count in Ontario.

A November shot

The area that I normally cover is at the very south end of the park, including the south beach. This year Josh Pickering came along with me. It is often wild and windy there, with lots of wave action. The brisk easterly winds resulted in waves which not only made hearing birds difficult, it also made the shoreline difficult to walk along, so we had to walk inland a bit, in some cases thrashing our way through Phragmites, shrubbery and even fallen trees.

Josh's much better hearing enabled us to pin point some 'chip' notes from the tangles, which we could then search and come up with an identification of.

By far the most common bird we saw was Red-breasted Merganser.

Out on the ice of the bay and marsh we counted 5 Snowy Owls. It was tempting to go out on the ice to get a closer look at an open spot at the south end of the bay, where geese, swans and gulls were resting, but in spite of the cold weather, the ice was only a few centimetres thick. The snow on the ice kept it from getting thicker, and we broke through readily, nixing that option.

After our south beach trek of about 8 km round trip, we stopped at the Visitor Centre for a rest, a snack and to watch the feeder. An Eastern Towhee put in an appearance, feeding on seeds below the feeders....

 ...or hanging out more photogenically in the shrubbery nearby.

 A Common Grackle was in the vicinity.

 At least one Tufted Titmouse was around. They have definitely become more numerous in the last few years.....

 ....as have Red-bellied Woodpeckers.

 Tis the Christmas season, so sharing is good.

Unfortunately the Brown Thrasher which was seen in the feeder area the day before, was not noticed on count day.

Fox Sparrows were noted along the roadsides.

Although we didn't see any Pileated Woodpeckers in our area, other people did in theirs. Some years the spot on the tally sheet for this species is blank, so it is nice to have this resident species accounted for.

The Wilson's Snipe is not always a guarantee to be seen, even when we know it is around. Fortunately one group stopped by the appointed location and saw it.

All in all, it was a good day in spite of the weather. Every year is different. At least it wasn't raining, or snowing so hard that visibility was quite limited, both conditions which have been experienced on previous counts.

Scouting for the CBC

This weekend will be full swing for Christmas Bird Counts. The Rondeau/Blenheim count is on the 17th and I have been out scouting around a bit over the last couple of days. The onset of winter in the last few days, earlier than we would like, has caused a lot of water birds to depart as much of the open and still water is now quite still.....frozen solid. However the cold and snow it will concentrate the remaining birds, especially around feeders.

It wasn't all that long ago that the roads and trails of Rondeau looked like this:

But now, of course, they look like this:

Something tells me that we will not break any records for species observed on this count! Just as I was taking the first of these snowy trail scenes, I heard some Sandhill Cranes approaching from behind me. Normally they are vocal enough that you can hear them from quite a distance but this time, when I turned around and starting looking for them, they were almost right overhead, and only about 2-3 times the height of the trees around me. I had the wrong camera/lens combination for bird photos (full frame and wide angle) so I counted them, and came up with 42. I noted on ebird that Steve had this same group flying west over Erieau about 15 minutes later, so likely this group won't be around for the count.

The birds that are still around are making do, with some like this Fox Sparrow finding a bit to eat along the plow-scraped roadside. I found 7 Fox Sparrows today along the road sides.

Not far away, this Mourning Dove was soaking up a bit of sunshine while resting out of the wind, on the ground.

 Feeders are a welcome spot for some birds, such as this White-throated Sparrow. There aren't many of this species around these days.

 White-breasted Nuthatches are year-round residents, and don't seem to have a problem finding food whether it be at a feeder or in the deeper parts of the forest.

Red-bellied Woodpeckers are also permanent residents, and can be found at feeders or elsewhere.

Common Grackles were quite abundant a few weeks ago. Nowadays they are not 'common' at all but this one was hanging around the Visitor Centre feeder......

 .....as was this American Tree Sparrow, usually a fairly abundant winter species, but not so abundant at the present time.

Needless to say, there weren't too many people lining up for picnics.

The lake is still open, although a bit of ice is building along the shoreline. But a couple thousand Canada Geese seem reluctant to leave the area, and can be seen flying about.

There is a nice wide creek along Stefina Line, a bit southeast of Blenheim, where there is lots of soft mud, and it seldom freezes over. There must be a spring of some sort feeding it. There is a profusion of low vegetation and tufts of grass, and it seems every year a Wilson's Snipe can be found. There is no guarantee, however, as yesterday it wasn't seen but today it was in its usual spot.

 At the end of the day yesterday, I stopped beside an old pasture that has been partially planted in prairie vegetation. It was a wonderful place to find Dickcissels most of last summer. I was hoping to find a Northern Shrike perched on a hawthorn shrub, or a Short-eared Owl flying about at dusk. I didn't see either of them, but this Northern Harrier was quite active. Unfortunately for photography, it wasn't the best of conditions, as the sun had set and holding a 500mm lens while taking a picture at 1/40th of a second even at a fairly high ISO wasn't what I had hoped it would be.

Showy Snowies and other interesting birds

It is clear that this winter is shaping up to be another 'invasion year' of Snowy Owls. It wasn't that long ago that they were relatively scarce, and some years it was hard to find any or at least not with any regularity. These last few years, however, there have been up to a couple of dozen just in Chatham-Kent alone. In the Rondeau-Erieau area, up to 10 were noted on one day, and in the former Dover Township, at least 5 are around, and likely more if one did a thorough search.

If you check the species maps of ebird, it is clear that this autumn they have been seen in southern Essex, in various parts of Lambton, in the greater Long Point area and towards the western end of Lake Ontario. Occasional single birds are scattered elsewhere across southern Ontario. Of course some of the ones on ebird are likely duplicates.

Often they are not very close, at least not as close as the average photographer would like them to be, so good light conditions with a long telephoto lens is required.

Last weekend I was at Erieau, scouting around for the Harlequin Duck that had been seen on occasion. It was not visible, but a Snowy Owl was noted perched at the top of a harbour entrance sign. There were people standing right below, and the bird did not seem to be concerned. This is a photo from below. I would have liked to have been able to get a photo from farther away from the base of the tower, but that would have required me to be treading water in the middle of the channel! As it was, if I had taken one step back, I would have been in the water.

The bird was hardly visible from the lake side of the marker, but after a few minutes it hopped/flew the short distance to the left hand side of the marker.

I moved to the park side of the tower and was able to get much more satisfactory photos, with the brilliant blue sky background.

After leaving this spot, I checked the southern part of Rondeau Bay, visible from behind the village's library/fire hall. A Eurasian Wigeon had been reported there from time to time, including earlier on this day. Fortunately when I got there, the large raft of waterbirds comprised mostly of American Coot, American Wigeon and Gadwall, with a few others in the mix, was fairly close and the water was relatively calm.

 Almost immediately I was able to pick out the male Eurasian Wigeon, and managed to get a few acceptable photos.

A day or so later, I wandered through the former Dover Township, looking for Snowy Owls. I found five altogether, widely scattered and not nearly as close to the road as I was hoping.

This next one was perched on the end of a grain auger behind some farm buildings.

There were other raptors around, including several Northern Harriers. This species is usually very wary of vehicles stopping, and I got this one photo before it took flight.

 Red-tailed Hawks are reliably scattered around the area.

Red-tailed Hawk

I also saw a nice looking Rough-legged Hawk, not very common in the area yet this season. It did not cooperate for the camera.

I often check out the north Mitchell's Bay Lakeshore Trail. Last year a little bit earlier in the season, I had a Nelson's Sparrow, but small birds were almost non-existent on this visit. A Great Blue Heron flew by at a bit of distance, but there were very few ducks out in the bay. Being a hunting day probably had something to do with that.

The most notable sighting at this location was a Trumpeter Swan. I saw this one in close proximity to a Mute Swan, an aggressive non-native species.

Mute Swan (l), Trumpeter Swan (r)

There were at least 40 Mutes a bit north of this, at the southern end of Walpole Island, and there were no Tundra Swans nearby. I immediately thought this bird required a closer look, and I was able to get some photos which were helpful.

Many readers of this blog will quickly pick up on the characteristics of this bird that provide evidence for it being a Trumpeter. But for anyone less familiar with the differences, here is my analysis:
-its large size, similar to that of the Mute is indicative, as Tundras are noticeably smaller;
-it has a long, slender neck, typically longer and more slender than that of a Tundra;
-the back of the Trumpeter is more evenly rounded, less humped than a Tundra, although that isn't always apparent;
-the Trumpeter has, by comparison, a very large, almost massive, all black bill, with the upper edge slope being almost straight. Also the black area immediately in front of the eye is wider, with a less 'pinched' look compared to a Tundra. The bill of a Tundra usually has at least some yellow in it, it is smaller, and the upper edge slope is not straight. Also the feathering at the base of the bill is a bit more curved on a Tundra, especially at the bottom area.

Here is a typical Tundra Swan for comparison.

Behaviour is also a good character to consider. Mute Swans are very aggressive towards most native waterfowl, and their large size makes it easy for them to chase other birds such as Tundra Swans and Canada Geese away. This Trumpeter Swan did not seem to be concerned with the presence of the Mute Swan, and on occasion could actually be seen to be aggressive towards the Mute, behaviour one would hardly ever see a Tundra Swan exhibit.

Trumpeter Swans used to be present in low numbers throughout the southwest a century or more ago, but were wiped out. It was only in the past few decades, when a re-introduction effort of them into central Ontario took place, that the species regained a foothold in southern Ontario. Although they are still much more concentrated in central Ontario, they are gradually spreading out. Even a decade ago, a sighting of a Trumpeter in Chatham-Kent was exceedingly rare, but in the last few years there are several sightings annually. Let's hope they become firmly established, as they will potentially out compete the invasive and aggressive Mute Swan!