As the travel restrictions get tighter and tighter, exploring natural areas has diminished considerably. However before the latest restrictions, I did manage to get out to a few local places where there was no one else around to speak of. And it was nice to get a little more evidence of spring happening 'out there' rather than being limited to the back yard.
A drive out through parts of the former Dover Twp enabled me to see this occupied Bald Eagle's nest across the field from St. Clair NWA. The NWA is closed, so other than peeking over the berm along the road on the south side of the NWA, there wasn't much to see other than the usual mix of waterfowl.
A Snowy Owl was lingering along Mallard Line a few days ago. A more recent trip in the area did not turn up any Snowies, so presumably the few that were around all winter have moved northward. Of course there has been a fair bit of farming activity in the area where they were most often observed this winter, so that may have caused them to move elsewhere.
A walk along the edge of Lake St. Clair brought this quite distant Great Egret into view.
Painted Turtles were out by the dozens, basking in the sunshine. I looked for other turtle species, but it seemed that only Painteds were to be seen.
There were oodles of boaters out on Lake St. Clair, and most were fishing, as were quite a few people on the banks. I didn't see anyone actually catching anything, but I did see this Pumpkinseed floating by. It was still alive, and eventually wriggled out of view. It was a fair size for the species, so I don't know if it just was able to escape the hook it was trying to get the bait off of, or whether it was tossed back in the water since it wasn't the target species of the particular fisherman. Maybe it will survive, or maybe it will end up as a meal for something like a Snapping Turtle.
I managed to see several Tree Swallows and my first of year Bank Swallow along the trail, but didn't get any photos.
In a local woodlot, I caught up to some Mourning Cloak butterflies.....
...several Northern Flickers.....
....and Bloodroot, one of my favourite early spring wildflowers.
Another early spring wildflower is this Spring Beauty.....
....which had a type of Lady Bird Beetle was busily exploring it.
I came across a single Common Hackberry, a Carolinian tree species with very characteristic bark that is largely restricted to extreme southwestern Ontario. I hadn't recalled seeing this species in this woodlot in the past.
While checking out Paxton's Bush for any more Great Horned Owl activity, Marie and I came across an Eastern Garter Snake....
....and this Groundhog which quickly scampered back into the forest once it caught sight of us.
...as well as the local Mallards. While Mallards are very common and it is easy to not pay a lot of attention to them, they really are quite an attractive duck especially at this time of year.
We didn't see any owl activity on this warm day, so we assume that the adult decided to take a break from looking after the young in the nest since they are growing fairly quickly and don't need constant attention.
I was at another woodlot in eastern Chatham-Kent for awhile one day, and came across a spring wildflower called Skunk Cabbage.
There were several Yellow-rumped Warblers checking out some Staghorn Sumac berries. While Yellow-rumps occasionally over winter, the 5 I saw here were the most I had seen at one time since last fall. I'm sure they were here all winter anyway, given the large number of sumacs that still had lots of berries for easy pickings.
It won't be long until a lot more diversity of warblers will be showing up. In fact a Pine Warbler, one of the first warbler migrants to arrive, was reported in the area just a few days ago, and a Louisiana Waterthrush was reported from Rondeau several weeks ago. The unfortunate thing, at least for birders, is that the migrants will have hot spots like Rondeau and Point Pelee all to themselves this spring it seems, given the current closure of these and other parks, NWAs etc.
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