I have always really liked the Brooks Falls photo that has been on my header for a few weeks now. However I thought that with the Great Kiskadee continuing to fascinate birders far and wide with its presence at Rondeau since at least going back to September 7, it deserved being highlighted again.
While it is not yet winter officially, at least by the calendar, the weather is certainly typical of early winter. For bird listing purposes, the beginning of the winter period is December 1. Hence it is a great time to get some lingering migrants or whatever happens to be sticking around. And it is worthwhile checking out things as much as possible in preparation for the upcoming Rondeau/Blenheim Christmas Bird Count.
A couple of early morning visits to Rondeau from about daybreak, have been cold, but rewarding. Of course the presence of Great Kiskadee, the first for Canada, is very much a target species for the bird count. There have been people out every morning watching and waiting, with varying degrees of success. Sometimes it is heard and seen within a few minutes of leaving its roost; other times one needs watchers to spread out and check the places it may be at. On one occasion this past week when it left the roost quickly and moved off, it took at least a couple of hours for anyone to find it again. And even then, views were challenging due to distance and poor light. This first photo is the view at the equivalent of about 10 power binoculars. Not exactly ideal.
Cropped to the equivalent of about 60 power, it looks better.
Yesterday the bird left its roost quickly, heard by one person only. It was only after about two hours when Jim and Blake found it while they were checking out the campground. It was a nice bright sunny day, but quite cold as the overnight temperature had been to about -7C. I'm sure the kiskadee was wondering what the cold was all about, but at least on this day it was able to soak up some sunshine. It was content to bask at this location for about 20 minutes or so before flying south towards the maintenance yard.
White-tailed Deer are usually returning from the more open eastern side of the park as daylight arrives. I guess they can read traffic signs....
....but when they realize people are close by, decide to move to more sheltered areas.
The cold caused various birds to spend a bit of time warming up in the sun, allowing them to be approached more closely than usual.
Cedar Waxwings are moving about in small groups, feasting on berries such as these rosebush berries.
This Red-tailed Hawk was surprisingly tolerant of birders right close by.
A White-eyed Vireo has been present for awhile in the vicinity of the maintenance yard, roosting and feeding in the white cedars lining the fenced area. Normally the species is not common in Ontario at all, although it has nested at Rondeau before, but all of that species should be a long way south at this time of year. If it sticks around and is counted next week, it will be the first record for this bird count, and one of the few bird count records for the province. I had one on the Pelee Island bird count back in the early 1990s. Often this bird is in the shadows of the cedars, flitting about quickly, making photography difficult. Yesterday it was quite cooperative for a time, and at one point it was in the bright sunshine and as close as about 5 feet, which was too close to focus on! I backed off a bit, and the next time it came out in the open sunshine, I had much more success.
It was finding something to eat, but we couldn't tell what it was.
Another species that is not often found at this time of year, although a small number is typically recorded for the bird count, is this next one: Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Its relative the Golden-crowned Kinglet is more abundant as the season goes on. There were several Ruby-crowns in the north end of the park yesterday.
At the north end of the campground is a feeding station at a cottage, which has had a few birds using it in the last couple of weeks, including a female Baltimore Oriole. A few of us have had brief glimpses of the bird, but it does not stay out in the open for long. Here, a birder is heading around the street to check on nearby conifer trees which the oriole seems to prefer hanging out in.
Two or more Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers have been in or near the campground lately. This next photo shows a young bird working away on some holes it has drilled. If it is waiting for some insects to be attracted to it, it might be a long wait. But if it is going to suck the sap, it will be okay.
White-throated Sparrows are still around in small numbers.
The local resident population of Pileated Woodpeckers can be notoriously difficult to find on count day. Most years we get one or two, but not always.
There is a new conservation area just northeast of the intersection of Talbot Trail (Hwy 3) and Chatham-Kent Road 15. It isn't large but has a nice mix of planted hardwoods, pines and some open grassy areas. It was planted under a woodlot improvement agreement with MNR back in the early 1990s. The owners, Sally and Jack Foster, recently donated it to the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Area, and it is known as the Bannerstone Conservation Lands.
Yesterday just before leaving the park I got a text from Jim and Steve indicating they had found a Long-eared Owl in the pine plantation, and provided very detailed directions on how to find it. Apparently it was being scolded by chickadees and kinglets, always helpful in finding roosting owls. I got there a few minutes later just after Jim and Steve left, and followed the directions. I couldn't find any owl. After 20 minutes or so Keith came by, also looking for the owl. We scoured the area carefully, and even after Keith phoned them to make sure we were in the right area, there was still no Long-eared Owl to be seen. We broadened our search and came across an owl, but not a Long-ear. It was a Northern Saw-whet Owl!
As is often the case, branches etc are often in the way, but I was able to get reasonable focus. Interestingly Jim came back a little later and couldn't find either owl, and when Keith returned an hour later, the only raptor he found was a Sharp-shinned Hawk. A classic case of birds on the move, so there is never a guarantee of finding them, even in their roost.
Keith had told me of some Turkey Vultures feeding on something at the back end of the Blenheim Golf Course, so that was my next stop. Sure enough, from Harwich Road I could see two vultures feeding on a Raccoon carcass.
The Raccoon population has been fairly high recently, and canine distemper is running rampant. If you see a Raccoon wandering around erratically in the daytime, chances are it might have distemper, and when it gets to that stage, it apparently cannot be treated successfully. Virtually all affected animals will die sooner or later. Fortunately the disease is not transmitted to humans.
My last intended stop of the day was at the Stefina Line pasture. I have seen Northern Shrikes there in the past, as well as Short-eared Owls, among other things. With the pasture being grazed up until recently, the grass height it isn't ideal for the owls, and it seems there are very few small songbirds that might interest a shrike. I had seen the Sadler brothers checking out where the creek comes up and under the road, but they didn't stay long. We chatted briefly as we were going in opposite directions, and they went on their way. In a matter of minutes I was at the creek and didn't see anything either, so decided to 'pish' to see if any small birds might pop up. Almost immediately I saw a bird heading straight for me from a distance and at first thought it was a Mourning Dove, but as it approached I quickly realized it was a medium-sized shorebird. It plopped itself down in the wet grassy section of the creek bed and there was a Wilson's Snipe, a mere 20 metres or so away. This spot has attracted a snipe on a regular basis in the winter, and it is often the only one we get on the Christmas Bird Count. There's no reason to not expect it to stick around, but actually seeing it on the count day isn't a guarantee.
If the Baltimore Oriole, White-eyed Vireo and Great Kiskadee remain and are seen in the count week or on the count day, we will add three new species to our overall list, which considering we already have about 191 since this count began in 1939, will be amazing! Stay tuned!
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