Blenheim/Rondeau Christmas Bird Count: my perspective

Bloggers like to tell stories about the exciting things they saw or did recently. Otherwise, why write, right? So when my recent day on the Blenheim/Rondeau Christmas Bird Count was one of my less exciting days on this count, I wrestled with what to say about it. But the more I thought about it, the more I decided there were things that were important to share even if there weren't lots of exciting birds. No White-eyed Vireo or Barred Owl, like last year.

If memory serves me correctly, and as one ages that is less and less likely to happen, I have participated on this particular count for almost exactly 50 years. My first few years were with my dad covering farmland and woodland outside the park, not far from the farm where I grew up. Once my career began with Rondeau in the early 1970s, my territory to cover was park based. And for about the last 35 years or so, it has included some of the most remote parts of the park.

My starting point is at the south end of the South Point Trail, and striking off along the south beach intending to go all the way to the Erieau channel. It is one of my favourite parts of the park, but it can be quite challenging in winter. While this past count day was not the worst conditions I have had to put up with, it was not exactly easy. The temperature wasn't that bad, being just below freezing, but the wind was quite brisk. The trek out was facing straight into the wind which varied between 30-45 km/hr, and the south beach is quite exposed.

Last year I had two friends join me, and they were intending to join me again this year, but on my way out to the park that morning, I got a text stating that due to some health conditions they were not quite over, they would not be making the trek to Rondeau for the count. So I was on my own. That put me at an immediate disadvantage since more eyes are better, and their younger eyes and ears would be very helpful in pin pointing any little bird that was out there. However given the constant noise due to the wind and wave action, I suspect that even their ears wouldn't have been able to hear any birds.

It can be a little risky on the south beach. The first part of the area has very spotty cell service, so if you run into a problem, you are on your own. Cell phones and being able to be in touch with the world at any given moment is a relatively recent phenomenon, of course. It wasn't that long ago that you just ventured out into the wild with no contact and never gave it much thought. How the technological aspects of our times have changed.

At any rate, out I went. I didn't take my camera with me, as I was already loaded down with binoculars, scope, and a few snacks in my heavy winter parka. I scanned the lake regularly with both binoculars and scope, hoping for some goodies such as Red-throated Loon. While that species was seen in much smaller numbers this year compared to last, it seemed that all were along the east beach, and instead of following the shoreline, kept going south and not within my view.

There was an average diversity of waterfowl and gulls, but nothing all that unexpected. The best bird I got was a Green-winged Teal which turned out to be the only one on the count. There were some hunters at the far end of the tip, presumably along the sheltered side of bay/marsh, so I didn't go all the way. I did scope as far as I could see and there weren't any ducks at the end.

One of the stories of anywhere along the lower Great Lakes of late is the high water and the subsequent erosion. Certainly on a sand spit formation such as Rondeau, the effects are fairly significant. This next photo shows what part of the south beach looked like on the bird count exactly 5 years ago.

This is looking towards Erieau. The grasses are predominantly Little Bluestem, a pioneering grass species often found on beach dunes. Fast forward to 2019, and this next photo is what it looks like today, more or less from the same vantage point.

As stated earlier, I didn't have my camera with me on the day of the count, so I decided to go out again today and leave my scope in the vehicle and take my camera instead. It was a bit colder today, and every bit as windy. There was a bit of ice forming along the shoreline, and the bay was totally frozen over. But if I am dressed for the weather and prepared, I really enjoy getting out into the elements to see the forces of nature at work on this dynamic sand spit. Go out regularly and the changes are subtle. But comparing photos over a longer period of time, and it is really evident there are some major changes. This next photo is at the beginning of the break in the south beach that was evident for quite awhile earlier in the year. It was probably the most extensive break in this narrow south beach that I have ever come across in my 50 or so years of exploring this feature. The distance between where I took this photo, and the trees at the far end of the sand spit that locals call "Gull Island" but which really isn't an island, is probably almost a kilometre.

This portion of the south beach has been migrating northward for well over a century. At one point the Erieau part of the peninsula and the Rondeau part of the peninsula were in alignment. The only thing that separated them was the channel at Erieau. Since boat access to Rondeau Bay was important back in the day, a pier was constructed at Erieau in the late 1800s. And that began the changes. The prevailing water currents came from the west, and when they encountered the pier, slowed down and dropped their load of sand, slowly building up the west side which is now known as Laverne Kelly Memorial Park. But when the water currents got around the end of the pier and continued eastward towards the south beach, the resumed velocity caused the currents to pick up sand and move it either along the shoreline, or moved it northward, into Rondeau Bay. It is interesting that a geological consultant in the early 1970s determined that part of the south beach a bit east of Erieau had moved northward ~550 feet from the early 1930s to the early 1970s. With the continued high water level, less ice to protect the shoreline and increase in wave action, it is clear that the south beach has moved quite a bit farther north in the last 40+ years. This next photo was one I took in April, 1989. It shows how even at that time, the Erieau sand spit on the left of the pier had developed so much farther south than the south beach side, on the right. I wish I had taken one just a little farther east, showing how much the south beach curved northward at the time.

While my main intent of today's trip was to capture shots of the south beach to compare it with 5 years ago, I took advantage of some other winter type scenes.

 The ice is really starting to build up on the fallen trees along the shoreline. But with the warmer weather forecast until after Christmas, I expect this new ice will be short lived.

Just to finish up a bit about the bird count. I did see a few Tundra Swans flying over the South Point Trail on my way back.

At the end of the day, I came across a flock of about 350 swans scattered across a field just north of Hwy 3/Talbot Trail.

An Eastern Screech Owl is periodically seen in a cavity of an American Beech tree along Bennett Ave, although it is often only partially visible.

One thing of interest I noted a couple of days before the count was this Northern Brown Snake lying along the north section of Rondeau Road.

It didn't have a mark on it that was noticeable, but it was very dead. Perhaps a bicycle went over it, or perhaps it just succumbed to the cold. It was still there today.

After covering much of the south beach, I checked various other parts of the park that wouldn't have been covered by other bird counters. And then I went to the next major part of my normal territory: the Marsh Trail. In past years, I have driven out to the big parking lot about half way out the Marsh Trail and then walked the rest of the way to the south end, checking out the Long Pond area along the way. However as many readers will know, the Marsh Trail is closed due to being washed away in places, so parts of it are barely passable even on foot at times. The water is down enough to make it more easily accessed on foot, but the trail is officially closed. So instead of driving out, I walked to the parking lot. However with the intensity of the wind, any of the smaller birds that were out there were keeping under cover. Other than a few Bufflehead on the bay and a few Ring-billed and Herring Gulls drifting by overhead, there wasn't much to see. It was a long walk for all I got. I did see this non-birdy thing along the trail, however.

I'm not sure what the intent of this wildlife cam was, but I got a photo of it taking a photo of me, if in fact it was working.
In spite of the overall low numbers of birds, the results were quite satisfying, totalling 102 species at last count. We have only missed hitting the 100 mark three times since 2000, so everyone was pleased with the results. My total for the day was only 34 species, one of the lowest I have ever had, but with the weather being what it was, and the fact that many of the smaller birds left the area with the intense cold spells in the last few weeks, I couldn't complain. But by the end of the day some of my leg muscle were complaining, having walked an estimated 17 kilometres in those conditions and carrying all that gear!

Only three more bird counts to go in the next couple of weeks.