There is so much to see and photograph these days. Many birders have taken these last few days off and spent many hours a day birding. For various reasons, I have only been out to Rondeau 2-3 times in the last week, but still managed to see quite a bit. Of course warblers are one of the main draws, as the ~30 species pass through in large numbers, even in the thousands some days, and it is always a treat to see 20-25 or more of these species in a single day. But there are so many other birds and things to feast ones eyes on, and this post will highlight some of those that I have tracked down or stumbled across.
One of the highlights of these past few days was the Glossy Ibis that was discovered at the Keith McLean Conservation Lands, just north of Rondeau. It was not an easy bird to catch up to. Many birders stopped and checked, without success, according to eBird lists. The small parking lot was often fairly full. I did eventually see this bird. The usual vantage point to look over the wetland and see it required trudging through a bit of water, especially on those days when Rondeau Bay, and subsequently the KMCL was affected by high water levels due to the wind. Even the pathway to the observation tower was under water. And once you got to the top of the tower and managed to see where the bird was, this first photo was sometimes about as good a look as one would get. Certainly not great, and this was at an equivalent of about 16X.
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| Glossy Ibis, the dark spot in the centre |
Not being satisfied with such a poor view even after waiting for awhile and hoping the bird would come out from behind all the dead cattails, I decided to walk around to the bridge. This was not easy considering the amount of water and mud one had to slog through. The trail was totally underwater and very muddy, as were the field edges. But the angle of view was better, and once I got to the bridge and walked along the edge downstream looking back, this next photo is the best I could get, still at about 16X.
Obviously it was an improvement, and after waiting a bit longer, the bird wandered to a point where it was even more out in the open. The second photo below is at an equivalent of about 96X, not super sharp but the best I was able to get. Fortunately it was overcast, so the light was a little more even without the harshness to contend with.
This bird would undoubtedly be a life bird for some who saw it, and a new Chatham-Kent or Rondeau bird for others. I had my first observation of this species back on May 22, 1971 along the south beach, where 4 of them had been present for several days. There haven't been very many at Rondeau in between then and now!
An Eared Grebe in prime breeding plumage has been at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons for several days. It is possible that it is the same one that was at Erieau a couple of weeks ago. The bird has been very reluctant to give satisfying photo opportunities even with good telephoto equipment, so I dug out this photo of one I took in Saskatchewan in 2017.
The White-winged Dove continues at various places along Lakeshore Road south of the visitor centre. No sign of a mate yet, but there have been several other reports this spring in southwestern Ontario, so it still may happen.
On some days there has been a profusion of brightly coloured birds, such as Scarlet Tanager.....
......and Baltimore Oriole.
Orchard Orioles are far less common, since southwestern Ontario is more or less at the northern extent of their breeding range. It is nice to get a photo or two of them in a natural setting.......
....but it sure doesn't hurt to have a few oranges around!
Pine Siskins have been hard to come by this winter and spring. I got my first one of the year this past week, at the Visitor Centre feeders.
Red-headed Woodpeckers have been in serious decline for a few years, and in some years it is hard to find a single one even though they used to be a fairly common breeding species here. For some reason they have been a bit more abundant this year. On one day, I saw 4 birds.
With all the low wet spots in the park, Solitary Sandpipers are enjoying the conditions even if campers and hikers are not. This one was in an otherwise unoccupied campsite. I didn't see that it had a permit.
Thrushes are fairly plentiful. This Veery was apparently much more intent in feeding along the Warbler's Way Trail (still not used to that name.....) than it was with the birders close by.
House Wrens are busily cleaning out old homes, in preparation for a new season.
The cooler weather on some days meant insect activity was closer to the ground, and that meant that insect eating birds such as this Great Crested Flycatcher was down at eye level or below instead of way up in the tree tops.
A nice surprise was to find out about this roosting cavity of an Eastern Screech Owl along Bennett Ave. Screech Owls are fairly common in Rondeau and elsewhere, but finding a roosting hole that is visible from the road is a treat. A few weeks ago while I was calling for owls one evening just a hundred metres or so from where this owl is, I had 4 Screech Owls responding. Chances are this one was one of those calling back to me.
While walking the trails, one has to be aware of some of the park's residents also on the trail. This Eastern Garter Snake must have been just warming up, as it did not move at all, and enabled me to get this photo from less than a metre away. I literally had to step right over it, and it never even flicked its tongue out.
On one occasion my birding colleagues and I were searching at the north end of the park for a reported Brewster's Warbler. While that particular effort was not successful (more on that in the next post), we paused at the road and saw a Cooper's Hawk fly in. It was a male and had something in its talons. It proceeded to pick away at it very briefly. After a bit of chittering, another Cooper's Hawk flew in, this one was a female, and almost immediately they got a little romantic. Copulation took place, as depicted in the next photo.
The male left and the female ate what remained of the bird, which appeared to be a young robin.
When she was finished with the robin, she picked up a twig and flew off to a White Pine, where we noticed a nest. She is in the nest in this next photo. A close look will show her tail sticking out of the nest just to the right of centre.
One evening as the wind was quietening and the sun was setting, I decided to take a walk out the Marsh Trail. The high water and regular pounding of the waves has caused a great deal of damage to this road. This next photo was taken from about the same location as where the Great Kiskadee was first discovered last September. It is looking north, a little way south of the last cottage, which you can see the top of here in the upper right hand corner.
Rondeau is a dynamic sandspit, and this is nature in action. It is a bit hard to believe, but as recently as the early 1970s this road was about 100 metres from the edge of the bay, with some excellent semi-open marsh in between. Now the waters of Rondeau Bay are cutting right through the road as this photo shows.
The most heavily damaged section of the road is in the first 400 metres or so south of the last cottage. From there on, it is more or less the same as it has been, at least for now. I must admit that I felt a bit melancholy while walking this damaged area. Having access to the marsh trail has been such an incredible opportunity to explore parts of the vast ~400 hectare (1000 acre) Rondeau marsh over the decades. Being able to drive out or bicycle out the 7 km trail has provided numerous fabulous experiences, and with the continued high water levels, who knows what the future of this road/trail might be?
Regardless of the current conditions, it was a very pleasant walk, so I went as far as the main parking lot. There were a few warblers, sparrows and thrushes, and even a couple of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds staking out territory at a willow tree just coming into flower. Nothing really out of the ordinary, but it was wonderful to have most of this 5-6 km hike to myself, with terrific light and very little wind, and just the usual marsh trail inhabitants.
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| Field Sparrow |
I heard a Least Bittern and Virginia Rail from somewhere in the depths of the marsh. Brown Thrashers were calling from the shrubbery and tree tops. Flycatchers, including Eastern Kingbirds, were present. Marsh Wrens were heard scattered amongst last year's cattail vegetation. A Green Heron and Great Blue Heron flew over the marsh surveying their domain. At one point a Great Egret must have been startled when it found out it had to share part of the marsh with a human, and so it squawked and flew up into a dead tree to survey the interruption to its feeding.
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