More interesting mid-winter birds

An assortment of interesting birds continues in spite of the cold and snow and that we are now into the middle third of official winter. A short while ago I went up to northern Chatham-Kent to check out the open water along the Chenal Ecarte. This is the channel, also referred to as The Snye, between Walpole Island First Nation and the mainland. There is a good flow of water, and the bridge connecting Walpole with the mainland tends to block some of the ice, leaving some open patches downstream. It was there that I wanted to look, as less common water birds may be found. Last year I had a Horned Grebe. On this day, I had two Pied-billed Grebes.

There was the usual mix of Mute Swan, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck as well as Mallard, Canvasback, etc.

 I couldn't see the closest part of the channel due to the density of Phragmites. So I went to the Walpole side and there were two Pied-billed Grebes, a little distant for a good photo, but you take what you get.

 After a few moments both of them started drifting over to the side I was on and came right up close.

It is nice when birds cooperate!

I ventured southwards again, on the lookout for Snowy Owls among other things. Just west of Winter Line and between Mallard and Marsh Lines, I noted two Snowies but about half way between the two roads so binoculars were needed to even see them. As is often the case, they will sit on the ground beside a marker or tuft of grass. This photo is cropped to probably at least 35X.

At the Rivard Line pumping station there is open water. And as is sometimes the case, a Belted Kingfisher may be hanging around looking for a small fish to chow down on. They always seem to be skittish, and this one certainly fit the bill. I'm not sure if it is just by accident or design, or if it means anything at all, but in my experience it seems the kingfishers that attempt to linger in the winter are almost always females.

Yesterday I decided to go out to Rondeau since it was a nice day for a walk, if nothing else. There were a few birders hunting in the campground for the Barred Owl. Garry S arrived and we started out from the parking area. Almost immediately we came across a Hermit Thrush, my first of the year. It was actively skulking and then feeding, but we got a few shots of it nibbling on European Guelder Rose (sometimes referred to as Highbush Cranberry, but it is the European variety and not nearly as tasty to birds as the native variety) and bittersweet.

We continued on, checking for the owl in likely trees in the north part of the campground when another birder came along with news that he had been given details of where the bird was situated. It was supposedly at campsite 187, and he even had a rough diagram indicating what tree the bird was in. However something didn't seem quite right, as the diagram didn't seem to fit the situation as well as it should, and there certainly was no owl to be seen. The three of us kept spreading out trying to find the elusive owl. Eventually Garry and I wandered north of the campground, went along Centre Street and then Lakeshore Road but without success. Just as we returned to the campground, I got a text from Blake indicating the owl was at site 182. A few minutes later we were at site 182 and without too much trouble, located the owl right where it was supposed to be (and the diagram fit). Unfortunately for us photographers, it was partially hidden by branches of the red cedar tree it was in, but it was in partial sun and out of the wind, so the bird no doubt was looking out for its own interests rather than any photographers in the area. But we made the best of it.

With finding the owl accomplished, we went our separate ways, and I headed for the Visitor Centre to see what might be hanging around the feeders. The feeders themselves were not well stocked, but there were birds in the area. There was the usual mix of about a dozen species, but I didn't get many photos. I did have a cooperative male Northern Cardinal, that I have no problem trying to photograph when I get the chance.

But I concentrated on capturing photos of one or more of the pair of Pileated Woodpeckers that were working various pine and oak trees in the immediate vicinity.

I got a few shots before they both took off south of the Visitor Centre, and I decided to head off elsewhere. Outside the park, I wanted to check the Stefina Line area, where a Wilson's Snipe is often seen in a creek that never freezes up totally. I had one there in December but it has been really elusive in the last few weeks. It was seen on Friday, but earlier on Saturday several people, including myself, had stopped by in the morning without seeing it. Maybe mid-afternoon would be different. And it was. The light had softened but there was still a lot of contrast. The first shot was with the bird quite close to the road.

 After a few minutes it decided it needed some distance, and promptly headed southwards, ending up almost to the bend in the creek. This next photo is taken at about 14X

I meandered along various back roads hoping for a Northern Shrike, but without success. Since I was eventually in the Ridgetown area, I stopped by the sewage lagoons. The ones on the south side of the road were completely frozen. Those on north side of the road were almost completely frozen over except for a small open are where the water flows in from the treatment centre. A few days ago there was one Canada Goose and one Tundra Swan. On this day there was only the Tundra Swan, looking healthy enough but presumably weakened from illness or injury.

Birding in the lull between the storms

As one of our favourite bloggers would know well, the weather of the last weekend was kind of challenging for even getting out of the house, let alone birding. So the last couple of days was a relief, just before the next cold and snowy weather arrives.

The Thames River is quite iced over now, and that means it is time to check the warm water outlet of the water treatment plant, just downstream from the Keil Drive bridge at the west side of Chatham. Sure enough, there was an opening in the ice of about 10 metres by 50 metres, with lots of ducks on the ice around it, or in the water. When it is about the only open water anywhere along the river, occasionally other ducks will stop in, such as Wood Duck, any of the three mergansers, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck or Green-winged Teal. I've even had an immature Black-crowned Night-Heron there. But on this day, it was mostly Mallards, with a few Am Black Ducks, and a gaggle of geese. The only other species of waterfowl was a Northern Shoveler.

 The ducks must have been getting hungry. You don't often see Mallards going after fish, but I guess they will snack on whatever comes along. The challenge is to keep it once you catch it. This female Mallard caught it and got chased out of the water by another couple of Mallards. Once on the ice, there were several others waiting to pick up the chase. I lost track how many times this fish changed beaks before getting eaten.

 The shoveler was often partly obscured when it had the side profile I wanted.

Northern Shoveler, upper right

 Another waterbird was in the area. This female Belted Kingfisher was reluctant to leave the area of open water, not surprisingly, but never landed less than about 50 metres away from me, so this is a greatly cropped photo.

There are still a handful of ducks at Erieau, but with some construction going on where the fish tugs are, they were seldom very close.

Canvasback

All of the snow we've had lately means the plowing of roads, resulting in some nice scrapes in the grass right alongside the road. This is quite attractive to small birds. It was not unusual to see a dozen or more Dark-eyed Juncos mixed with Am Tree Sparrows and a few other species, including Song Sparrow, Fox Sparrow and quite a few Chipping Sparrows. Chippies are certainly not common winter inhabitants, and some winters it is difficult to find even a single one. The roadsides between Rondeau Prov Park and Morpeth were definitely the place to be looking for them in the last day or so. As many as 13 were seen on one occasion. I never saw any more than 6, but anytime a vehicle went by, and especially a snow plow, the birds scattered quickly and were sometimes slow to return to the road side.

Rough-legged Hawks have been few and far between for the winter so far. But this last storm has brought a few into the area. I was following one along the road for a little ways, hoping to get a good flight shot showing its telltale white banded tail and black wrist spots. I got a flight shot, but it was not worth keeping. The bird landed at the top of a White Pine, and I got this photo. It isn't all that different looking than any other large buteo type hawk in this situation and pose.

 Fortunately as it took flight, it showed the typical underwing pattern.

Not far off was this large flock of Wild Turkeys. Turkeys have been a little hard to pick out on the landscape these last few weeks, with no snow cover. This flock was about half a kilometre from the road, and without the snow, I might have missed them altogether. It totalled at least 35 birds, about half of them on one side of the wide hedgerow and half on the other, with an unknown number in the hedgerow itself.

A Ph. D. student from Trent University is using eBird data to assess the usefulness of eBird posts in determining the overall population size in Ontario. It is nice to be able to contribute a bit of data for the research.

As I was approaching Blenheim, I noticed first one, and then another, Turkey Vultures soaring. They weren't high up, but both were moving towards the southwest, probably heading to their over night roost. I got a couple of quick shots, of a black bird against a very bright grayish-white sky....certainly not the ideal conditions for photographing them.

Winter gulls are often worth looking through. There haven't been many along the lake these last few weeks, but landfills and the immediate vicinity often attracts them. The Blenheim Landfill is handy for this purpose, and a couple of days ago when I was driving by there was a good sized flock in a field nearby. They weren't all that close to the road, but I managed to scan through the myriad Herring Gulls and a surprising number of Great Black-backed Gulls to find a couple of less usual species. There was at least one Lesser Black-backed Gull, which I did not get a photo of, and at least one adult Glaucous Gull, which I was more successful at. Before I was able to check the flock more intensively something spooked the gulls and they all took to flight, landing in the same field but a lot farther back.

Glaucous Gull facing, just right of centre

Yesterday birders had several Glaucous Gulls here in the mid-day period. I swung by there about three hours later, but there was not a gull to be seen. That's the problem looking for things that have wings :-).

January Shorebirds: Purple and Dunlin!

I took a trip down to Erieau today, as I hadn't been there for a few weeks. No one had posted anything of significance on eBird lately, but I thought it would be worth checking out considering there was still lots of open water, and a big storm was arriving tomorrow. If things turn out the way the weather forecasters are saying, travelling anywhere might not be a good idea for the next couple of days.

Turns out it was a good idea!

I had wondered about a Harlequin Duck showing up, as one or more had done so in past winters. But there was just the usual mix of Greater Scaup, all three merganser species, Mallard and Am Black Ducks. There weren't even many gulls, but some were on the pier that sticks out farthest in the lake, so I swung around to the little parking area closest to the base of the pier.

The gulls didn't look particularly noteworthy, but at the base of the pier on the beach was a shorebird. That definitely required a closer look, and my first inclination was a Purple Sandpiper. There have been very few Purple Sandpipers reported this past fall in Ontario on eBird: two to be exact, and nothing since late November. When I headed towards the base of the pier, the bird disappeared beyond the little hump of gravel, closer to the shoreline. When I got closer and it re-appeared, it wasn't a Purple Sandpiper after all. It was a Dunlin. Still considering the time of year, any shorebird is a good bird. As I got closer to get a photo, up popped another shorebird. It was the Purple Sandpiper!

Both birds were busily feeding at the edge of the surf, as well as in the gravel beach just a couple of metres from the wave action. It was heavily overcast, and not the ideal conditions for photography, but you take what you get. And what follows are a few of what I got.

With the winter storm forecast, it remains to be seen as to whether these two remain for any length of time, or maybe they just stopped in for a quick feed before getting beyond the storm's reach.

Mild January is good for birds, ticks and dandelions

In less than a week, winter will be almost a third over, at least according to the calendar. But the weather has a mind of its own, as the first third of the season has been quite easy here in extreme southwestern Ontario. According to the weather prognosticators, that is likely to change in the next few days, and we will have to wait and see if it is true, and how long it lasts. So my approach is to get out and enjoy it while I can!

In one of the recent warmer periods, Marie noticed our first Dandelion in bloom in the yard.

On another occasion, a day when the temperatures approached 10C and we were hiking at Rondeau, she discovered a Black-legged Tick on her person after we got home. Fortunately she found it before it got too attached to her. It was definitely a reminder that especially when the temperatures are above freezing, ticks may emerge from their underground cold weather hangouts and be prowling about looking for a blood meal! Therefore even at this time of year under those conditions there is a risk of contracting Lyme Disease.

I was out doing a waterfowl survey along the southern limits of Lake St. Clair. On my way I noted an American Kestrel on a wire.

 Not being satisfied with this distant photo, I attempted to drive a bit closer, but as many raptors distrust humans when being approached, this one left the wire and landed on a corn stalk out in a field. Even knowing where it landed, it was not easy picking it out and one could easily miss it. This next photo is taken at an equivalent of about 16X. The camouflage in this kind of light and setting is quite effective.

 Cropping it to the equivalent of at least 35X and it stands out a bit better.

At the Jeannette's Creek boat launch, I stopped to see what waterfowl was around. While scanning for them, I was amazed at the number of Bald Eagles there were....42 at the minimum were visible from this location, and another 3 at the mouth of the river. This next image, complements of Google shows the river just as it enters Lake St. Clair. The X is the boat launch area, and the BE indicates where the bulk of the eagles were, at least what I could see. Who knows how many were just around the bend? On the recently held St. Clair NWA Christmas Bird Count, we officially tallied 50 Bald Eagles for the count circle, although unofficially we tallied 60. But since some may have been double counted due to their movements, we reduced the total to 50. Now with seeing a minimum of 45 of them from one general vantage point and only a small part of the count circle, maybe even 60 for the bird count was low.

I took a few shots, but the distance was pretty far. In this first photo one can see 14 eagles either in the trees or in the air. There are a couple of Herring Gulls flying as well.

At the mouth of the river, one of the three eagles there at least was close enough and in pretty good light to provide a better photo op.

With the river being totally open, there were various waterbirds to be seen, including about 15 Great Blue Herons along the far shoreline. At least they were in good light, enjoying the bright sunshine.

The next photo shows two herons, one at either side, as well as a couple of Double-crested Cormorants on the log. Not the closest, but that was as close as I could get.

There was an impressive number of ducks on the river, mostly Mallards but also Common Mergansers. The mergansers were actually not too far from where many of the eagles had gathered. Shortly after I checked over the eagles, the mergansers headed downstream flying right by me in various sized groups.

I had also been to Rondeau on a couple of occasions, in part to see if the Barred Owl was still around in the campground area. Unfortunately no one has seen the owl since Jan 6. But there were other species to find, such as the ongoing Baltimore Oriole in the campground which I came across a couple of times....

....as well as scattered groups of White-throated Sparrows, Northern Cardinals and Dark-eyed Juncos. One or more Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers have continued in the campground as well.

The lake has fewer and fewer birds on it.....I haven't seen any Red-throated Loons for a few days now. A small group of Ruddy Ducks had been hanging out off the northeast part of the park for a week or two. Here there are about 27 of them. Other single ducks join them from time to time, including scaup and scoters, but this image is all Ruddies.

Now that the bay is freezing over, there are thousands of Tundra Swans (4000+) and Canada Geese (3000+) scattered across it, as well as a much smaller number of ducks. However they are well out in the middle and difficult to photograph on a sunny day with all of the sunlight interference. Not as much of a problem when they are flying, fortunately.

Feeders haven't been terribly active since it has been relatively mild with absolutely no snow cover. But some of the regulars are there when there is food for them.

With the onset of colder weather along with snow that stays, it is imperative for feeders to be well-stocked with food.