CBC season is almost over, but not quite

Only a few more days until the Christmas Bird Count period is over for another season. In recent days, local counts I've been on included the Wallaceburg count on Dec 27th, the Skunk's Misery count on Dec 30 and tomorrow, Jan1, 2019 will be the St. Clair NWA count.

For my area, the Wallaceburg count includes a good chunk of the St. Clair River as well as a few inland areas. The diversity of waterfowl on the river makes a huge difference in the number of species I am able to tally for the day. This year the river was entirely open, and many ducks had left. There was an average diversity, although nothing in really large numbers.

Some years there are huge rafts of Canvasback....

 ....and Redhead.

This year there were a few Redheads around.

Redhead with Greater Scaup

.....and I only saw a single Canvasback.

A mixed group, including the single Canvasback

There was a small number of Greater Scaup.

Redhead and Greater Scaup

 ....and the ubiquitous Mallard, although even this species was not abundant in my area.

Landbirds were noticeable by their absence, but I caught this Great Blue Heron skulking along the wet edge of a woodlot.

In between counts, I spent a bit of time at Rondeau on one of the nicer days, always on the lookout for the Barred Owl that Josh and I had found on the Rondeau count. I wasn't able to come up with that owl on this visit. As I returned to the truck on one occasion, a male Northern Cardinal was checking out its reflection in the mirror.

I scanned the lake for the ongoing Red-throated Loons. Sure enough, I saw 9 scattered in small groups here and there.

I went to the Skunk's Misery CBC, but was only able to spend part of a day due to a family commitment.  (There are one or two stories behind the Skunk's Misery name, which I may expand on in a future post.) The day started off quite dull, and even being out in good habitat before 8 a.m. I thought I got going before the birds were up. At my first stop, a nice mix of grassy field, forest, a mature conifer plantation, a  ravine and along the Thames River, I could only rustle up three species of birds, including a couple of immature Bald Eagles. As the day unfolded, in other parts of my territory a few more things came along at forest edges, roadsides and in the large Mosa Twp forest. Horned Larks were more plentiful on this day than I had seen in the previous several weeks. A nice adult Red-shouldered Hawk gave me perched and flying views. An American Robin literally fell out of a large tree, landing briefly in the snow before recovering and perching on a small twig and eventually scooting off. I ended up with 23 species for my shortened day. I didn't have my camera with me while I was out on foot, so I have no photos of this count to post.

In preparation for the SCNWA CBC, I wandered about parts of the former Dover Twp, almost all of which is within the count circle. With all of the water completely open, there is lots of habitat for waterfowl. However with the cold spell in the late fall, some of the birds left the area. There is still a reasonable diversity around, but we won't know until the count results are in just how good, or poor, they are. In a good year we will get at least 20-25 species of waterfowl.

At the NWA itself, there are lots of geese and ducks. With hunting season still on, the safety of the NWA is definitely an attraction for them! I saw a mix of puddle ducks, including Northern Pintail and American Wigeon among others. I noted a number of small white geese, and was pleased to find about 65 Snow Geese. There were half a dozen blues mixed in with them.

 It wasn't until I got these photos on the computer that I realized that there were two Ross's Geese among them. They are on the far right of this next photo. Their small size compared to the nearby Snows, along with a shorter stubby bill, a straighter feather line at the base of the bill, the lack of a grin patch and a hint of a bluish colour at the base of the bill all point to Ross's Goose, a species that not that long ago was considered a real rarity but in more recent years, is found to be a bit more regular, albeit in very small numbers.

Since Lake St. Clair is entirely open, eagles in the area can be found perched in trees along the lake shore. Without searching too hard, I saw 16 of them, sometimes as many as 3 in a single tree.

I wanted to drive up to Wallaceburg, to see if the Northern Rough-winged Swallow which Blake found on that CBC a few days earlier was still around. Although the weather had cooled off considerably, I found the swallow without any trouble. It would fly down in the water treatment cells and then perch on a wire or ledge for a few minutes. Clearly it was an unusual bird for the time of year!

Here is a bit of trivia that was passed along to me a few days ago: the Northern Rough-winged Swallow, with 26 letters in its name, has the notoriety of having the longest name of any Ontario bird species!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

I haven't been out a lot lately, taking a break in between Christmas Bird Counts for one thing, and of course getting ready for Christmas!

I was at Walpole Island for part of a day recently, doing some field work for an endangered species, White Prairie Gentian (Gentiana alba).

On another occasion I was out at Rondeau, on the lookout for the Barred Owl featured at the top of this page. It has been seen intermittently, but not very predictably. While not being very successful in catching up to the owl, I have encountered other woodland birds, including Pileated Woodpecker, Eastern Screech Owl, Great Horned Owl, the resident Red-tailed Hawk.....

....and Cooper's Hawk. The Cooper's Hawk was reluctant to leave its perch since it was busily dining on an Eastern Grey Squirrel, whose remains can be seen in this next photo.

Northern Cardinals always seem to be a Christmas type bird.

I stopped in at St. Clair National Wildlife Area briefly one late afternoon, and captured a few waterfowl/sunset photos.

That's about it for this post, but I do want to leave you with one more thing. I hope you take time to think about the reason for this time of year. And with that, I want to connect you with one of my all time favourite Christmas songs. It isn't a Christmas carol in the normal sense, but the message and the music are perfect. It is called "How Shall A King Come". I had heard this one a number of times many years ago, and only recently came across a video someone had put together with the music incorporated with some scenes from a classic big screen movie some of you may recognize (Ben Hur). You can watch and listen to it here. While it has the video to go along with it, I actually like the vocals slightly better in this version.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

(Note: for some unknown reason although I can create a post, at the moment it will not let me reply to comments or put comments on other people's blogs, so my apologies for seeming to ignore the comments that others have made. It has done this before, but then eventually it will return to normal function.)

Rondeau/Blenheim Christmas Bird Count 2018: a terrific day

The Rondeau/Blenheim Christmas Bird Count is now history. And a bit of history was made. Although we didn't quite set a new record for species observed on the day of the count, at 114 species we missed by one. However we added a new species to the overall count: a Baltimore Oriole which had been seen sporadically prior to the count period, but stayed frustratingly absent until yesterday, which is still within the count week, so it is now added to the overall list of 192 species.

My day started out (not so bright and) early by arriving at Rondeau to try for owls in the pre-dawn. Although the wind was calm, suggesting great conditions for calling and hearing them, the residual wave action from brisk northeast winds the day before interfered quite a bit. I only heard two Eastern Screech Owls although there might have been more that heard me.

I met up with my two birding companions for the day, Josh and Jodi, at the Visitor Centre and off we went, driving the west side of the South Point Trail to the south beach. I was fortunate to have both Josh and Jodi with me for their camaraderie as well as their younger and superior eyes and ears

I always spend a bit of time first thing scanning the lake for waterbirds on the move. Sometimes there isn't much movement, but today was an exception. Aside from the usual mix of scaup and mergansers, we had White-winged Scoters and an amazing 18 Red-throated Loons. The loons were not exactly surprising, as up to a 100 had been seen off the east beach in previous weeks. But since there are only a couple of records of this species for the count (two I had seen back in 1981, and another two last year) it was noteworthy indeed.

From a previous day

Combined with those that others saw in their respective territories, our count total of about 70 red-throat individuals was a terrific start to the day.

The walk out along the south beach was certainly one of the best days in the 30+ years I have been doing this area. Some years it is inaccessible due to snow, ice, howling wind and strong wave action battering the fallen trees lining the lakeshore. Today it was amazingly pleasant being sunny with very light winds, and temperatures nicely above freezing. The south beach is a narrow strip of sand that (usually) separates the marsh and lake, at least when the high water levels haven't breached the sand spit causing a brisk and steady flow of water back and forth. There was very little wave action, making trekking along the beach on either the marsh or lake side very easy, which is always important as we cover the approximately 7-8 kilometer hike to Erieau and back.

Small birds were few and far between, although we did get things like Marsh Wren and Swamp Sparrow. One of the goals of this bit of territory is to see the diversity of waterbirds tucked in at the marsh/bay interface. We ended up with 21 species of waterfowl, including the only Northern Shoveler on the count. Other highlights included two Sandhill Cranes, two Belted Kingfishers, four American Coot, a single Great Blue Heron and a single Snow Bunting.

photo from a previous day

Our return to the start of the beach walk was highlighted by none other than a hatchling Northern Map Turtle, struggling against the waves.

photo courtesy of Josh Pickering

It is possible that some earlier wild wave action dislodged this little fellow from its winter hibernation site buried in the sand somewhere along the beach.

A brief stop at the Visitor Centre at mid-day turned up things like American Goldfinch and White-throated Sparrow.

Our next area to target was the Marsh Trail, and in particular the southern parts. As is sometimes the case, birds were noticeable by their absence, although we did see lots more waterfowl on the open water of the marsh.....

.... and get things like Bald Eagle. We ended up with five eagles for the day.

On the return to the trail entrance, we added a few Red-bellied Woodpeckers and a single Pileated Woodpecker, among other species.

Josh and Jodi tracking down birds

With the main part of our designated territory finished, and being now at the north end of the park, we decided to spend a bit of time searching for things like the White-eyed Vireo and Great Kiskadee. The former had already been seen briefly by others, but the latter species remained absent. Our walk along the southern side of the maintenance yard cedars was initially quiet, and I pointed out where I had seen and photographed the vireo just a few days earlier. And there it was again, in exactly the same spot.

A couple of other birders were nearby looking for it, so we got their attention and the white-eye kept us occupied for several minutes.

After a while, our group dispersed while Josh and I headed to the north side of the maintenance yard where the kiskadee had sometimes been seen in days gone by. A few minutes later we decided to head to the campground where the kiskadee had also been seen from time to time. On the way over, while Josh was facing me in conversation he stopped while looking over my shoulder exclaiming 'there is an owl'. I quickly turned and looked. It was probably only 50 metres away and low in a deciduous tree. It was a large owl, but clearly not a Great Horned. It only took a split second for both of us to conclude it was a Barred Owl! This was totally unexpected, as there are only 4 previous records for the park checklist area, and none since 1981. After getting a few photos, we quickly texted some other birders.

It was late enough in the afternoon that most had already finished their territories, so were able to arrive fairly quickly. The owl was on the move, however, and by the time the ten or so birders showed, it had moved into the campground. And there it was found again, at one point having picked off an Eastern Grey Squirrel which had undoubtedly never had any experience with Barred Owls (and would never have another!).

So although we didn't luck out with the kiskadee, the Barred Owl was certainly a bonus bird even though it was not a new species for this count, having been recorded on one previous occasion.

The Great Kiskadee continues to be absent, not having been seen or heard since December 9. It is interesting to know that one had shown up in recent days in Indiana, so perhaps it has made its move towards a more likely part of its range. Or maybe 'our' kiskadee will reappear somewhere in the Rondeau area, since it has a habit of disappearing for several weeks and then reappearing for a week or two. Time will tell, but for now, I have replaced my header photo of the kiskadee with the latest celebrity, the Barred Owl.

A final note: in addition to the Northern Map Turtle we saw, I heard that others saw Eastern Garter Snakes and Eastern Comma butterflies in at least a couple of different places on this warm and sunny day. Certainly not the kinds of things one expects to find on a Christmas Bird Count, but I guess here in the banana belt, we should expect the unexpected!

Rondeau/Blenheim Christmas Bird Count preview

The Rondeau/Blenheim Christmas Bird Count is tomorrow, December 16. This will be the 79th CBC here, making it one of the longest running counts in Ontario. Our cumulative list of birds is about 191 species, which is pretty phenomenal. Over the last couple of decades we have seldom recorded fewer than 100 species for the day, and on two occasions recorded 115 species. This count is regularly in the top three of Ontario.

This count has the potential to add four new species, all of which have been seen in the last week, and some just in the last day or so and are officially within the count week (three days before and three days after the actual count day). Those four species are Great Kiskadee, White-eyed Vireo, Baltimore Oriole and Trumpeter Swan. Only the vireo has been seen within the count week period so far, but the others are likely still around, so hopefully they will appear soon.

As usual, some effort is put in to the three days before the count day, to scout around and see if the rarities are still around. I have been out a couple of times. The kiskadee has not been seen, but there is a lot of area for it to move in to and it will be a challenge to find it. The vireo has been seen in its usual area.

 Some of us have been present at daybreak or before, hoping that the kiskadee, shown at the header of this blog, will stick to its usual routine, but this has not happened in the last few days. The sunrise, however, can be attractive while we patiently wait and watch.

 There are the usual species, although some are only present in low numbers such as the Northern Flicker.

 Raptors are not as abundant as some years. This Red-tailed Hawk has been hanging around the north end of the park,and doesn't seem to mind photographers.

 Ruby-crowned Kinglets are diminishing in numbers but there are still a few around.

 As the park quietens from the lack of humans present, the deer are out in the open a bit more.

One of the surprises of the last few weeks has been the abundance of loons, and specifically, the Red-throated Loon. We've only had Red-throats on one occasion on this count, back in 1981. If the ones that have been around are still around tomorrow, we will blow that number out of the water (pun intended). In the last week or so there have been as many as 100 Red-throated Loons seen off the east beach and along the lake shore just north of the park. They aren't real close to shore, but with binoculars one will usually see a few, and with a scope, a lot more.

Here's hoping.......

A visit to the Erieau area turned up a few expected species, none of which are a guarantee some years. We've had more than 8200 American Coots one time, but some years we don't get any. At the moment, there are two at Erieau.

 We get Belted Kingfisher about half the time. There could be as many as 5 in the area, possibly more. Four have been seen along the lake just north of the park, and this female has been hanging out at Erieau.

 Bald Eagles are pretty much a guarantee anymore. It wasn't that long ago when getting even one on the count was considered good. In the last decade and a half we have averaged about 10 birds.

Snowy Owls are around, although they are often well out in a field and too far to bother with the camera for. I saw two today in the fields between Lagoon Road and Fargo Road, but they were on a gas pipe a long way out.

Wild Turkeys were not seen until 2004, as a result of the re-introduction of the species in Ontario that began in the 1980s. Since 2004 we have recorded them annually, with as many as almost 350 reported one year.

Waterfowl can make up a significant part of this count's totals. Most years will see between 20-30 species of them. This year might not be a banner year due to the cold spell 2-3 weeks ago which encouraged a lot of them to depart farther south. However although the total number of waterfowl individuals and species might not be as high as some year, I'm sure we can get close to 20 species, maybe more, including a new species for the count: Trumpeter Swan, as two pairs of them have been sighted fairly regularly in various locations.

Tundra Swans and Mute Swans will be a guarantee, however.

In only a few hours we will have the results of the 2018 count, and a report on the highs and lows will be forthcoming. For those readers of this blog who are involved in bird counts in your areas over the next few weeks, have a great day with lots of birds!