Wonderful Waterbirds

 It is that time of year when birds are on the move southwards. Fortunately there are some great places in Chatham-Kent which attract these migrants, enabling them to replenish their energy reserves before making the next leg of their journey.

There is no question that the high water levels in the Lake Erie region, and elsewhere, have caused problems for humans living near the water front. But for water birds, it has been great. For example the flooded fields of the Keith McLean Conservation Lands just outside of Rondeau Prov Park, is being well used by many species of water birds.

For birders, shorebirds are of particular interest right now, as the many thousands of shorebirds that nested in the arctic or sub-arctic regions are now making their way south. Many will fly right over and beyond, but there are always a few that touch down locally at least for a little while.

At the area I refer to as Lake McLean at the KMCL, there are sometimes as many as 150 or so individuals of a dozen or more species at any one time. So far in the last 2-3 weeks there have been about 20 species observed, some quite common and others much rarer. The latter ones always garner a bit of extra attention from birders.

The first few shown next are some of the regular ones, but still nice to see.

Greater Yellowlegs

This next one, Lesser Yellowlegs, is almost always more abundant than its larger relative.

The smallest regular shorebird is the Least Sandpiper, below. It is a first year bird.

Quite a bit larger is, in spite of its name, this Short-billed Dowitcher. There have been 1-5 of them at KMCL over the last few weeks, and a single member of its close relative the Long-billed Dowitcher has just been reported in the last few days.

A more slender appearing shorebird, often associating with the dowitchers, is a Stilt Sandpiper.

At least a couple of Stilt Sandpipers have been seen on a regular basis.

A shorebird that always gets the attention of birders is this next one, a Red Knot. This is a juvenile bird, so it doesn't show any reddish coloration that an adult in breeding plumage does. It looks a bit like a chunky dowitcher with a short bill (but not to be confused with a Short-billed Dowitcher :-)

It has been around for several days, and while it moves around quite a bit along the shores of Lake McLean, it can actually appear relatively tame. This next photo is a full frame shot, no cropping whatsoever. At one point I could barely get the full bird in my camera's frame. It is a seriously declining species in North America.

A somewhat more regular migrant, but not often seen on mud flats, is this Buff-breasted Sandpiper. It has a slightly warmer colour tone than many of the grayer shorebirds. It wasn't quite as tolerant as the Red Knot, and all of these images are greatly cropped. Fortunately the light was excellent at the time.

Along the lake shores, one is more likely to see this next shorebird, the Sanderling, as it scurries along the shoreline searching for tidbits of something at the water's edge.

Regular water birds in places like the KMCL include Great Egret.....

....and of course Great Blue Heron. This particular individual was exhibiting some territorial behaviour, as indicated by its upturned bill and fluffed feathers and strutting along in the direction of another one, just to the left of this photo. The one shown here was apparently trying to encourage the other one to leave, which after a few moments, was successful in doing.

The big news of the last day or so was the appearance of a young Purple Gallinule, found by Steve Charbonneau at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons. It is quite a rarity in Ontario, although it does show up somewhere in southern Ontario from time to time. This is the first record for it in Chatham-Kent as far as I am aware. It is a skulking type, and since it is most likely to occur at the muddy but vegetated edges of wetlands, those areas are often difficult to access and view, so it may be more regularly occurring than records would indicate.

As a young bird, it exhibits the warm brown colours, not the purple that it will look like in its later breeding plumage. This next photo shows the breeding plumage, a bird I photographed on May 6, 1984 at Tremblay Creek Conservation Area in the north east corner of adjacent Essex County.

In addition to the warm brown, which the regularly occurring relative Common Gallinule doesn't show, is the pale bluish shield at the top of its beak.

At one point one could see the Purple Gallinule and a Sora in the same field of view.

With shore and water bird migration in full swing and which will continue for the next few weeks, one can only imagine what else might show up!

Visiting a few hotspots in Chatham-Kent

 In between black lighting for moths, I do get out to a few of my regular haunts during the daylight hours. The Keith McLean Conservation Lands, across the road from where Marie and I lived for several years when Keith was still farming, is definitely a worthwhile place to check out especially with the high water that affords great habitat for waterbirds. As shorebirds are steadily heading back south from their arctic breeding grounds these days, there is often a good diversity of them.

Aside from the abundant Killdeer, there are a few of their smaller relatives showing up in small numbers, as in this Semipalmated Plover.

Least Sandpiper is present in small numbers.

Solitary Sandpipers are usually, solitary, although on occasion more than one of this species can be seen.

Lesser Yellowlegs are typically far more abundant than their larger relative, the Greater Yellowlegs, shown next.

Wilson's Snipe may be present, but more often than not, just one or two.

Short-billed Dowitchers are currently around in small numbers, with usually 1-4 seen on an average day. It won't be long before Long-Billed Dowitchers show up, I expect.

A shorebird that is usually found along the shoreline of larger lakes is the Sanderling, shown next. I was a little surprised to see it here on the mudflats. It is possible that the brisk east wind made even less shoreline available along Lake Erie than usual, so it stopped by here instead.

The usual herons and egrets are around, such as these two Great Egrets. Will something more unusual such as a Snowy Egret or Little Blue Heron show up soon? It is time!

I was at Rondeau to do some monitoring of an endangered orchid after one of my stops at KMCL, but those details will have to wait for a future post. However I did manage to stop for a short while at a couple of interesting spots in the park.

The southeast beach dunes are an uncommon and significant habitat in Ontario. Right now there is an abundance of the Cylindrical Blazing-star in flower.

Much rarer, but still the same species, is this white colour form of the blazing-star shown above.

The Marsh Trail has always been one of my favourite parts of Rondeau, but unfortunately due to the high water levels, access is very limited. I did venture a short way down the currently closed trail to see what I could find.

A trio of Eastern Tiger Swallowtails were 'puddling' along the wet sandy edge of the trail.

Arrowhead is a common wetland plant.

The non-native and invasive Purple Loosestrife is, unfortunately, fairly common as well.

Swamp Milkweed is widely scattered, and provide a good source of nectar as well as a breeding source plant, for the endangered Monarch butterfly.

This is Swamp Loosestrife, common where there is a bit of standing water.

A plant that can be abundant, but is an annual and depends on declining water levels later in the season, is Wild Rice. It is considered a rare species in Ontario.

On the subject of rarity, this Blanding's Turtle fits. It was in shallow water at the edge of a pond and when I appeared it ducked its head under water, so all I got a photo of was its back.

A wetland prairie grass is this next one, called Prairie Cord Grass. It is not common at Rondeau.

Swamp Rose Mallow is widely scattered in the Rondeau Bay wetlands, and its large pink flowers are very showy. It is a Species At Risk in Ontario, as it is primarily restricted to the larger wetlands of Essex, Chatham-Kent and Lambton.

Another pink flower occurring in wetland edges, although much smaller than the Swamp Rose Mallow, is this Hairy Willow-herb.

 On the way back, I met these two Viceroys.

I stopped briefly at Sinclair's Bush on the way back, as I wanted to check out the possibilities for black lighting for moths. I had not done any black lighting here yet, but was able to do some a few days ago. That will have to wait for a future post. But I did see a fruit on one of the Pawpaw, a large shrub/small tree that is known from this site. This cluster has lots of flowers in May, but seldom do I see any fruit. This one, and the only one I saw, was fairly high up, so a telephoto lens was necessary.

Another time I went out in the evening to St. Clair National Wildlife Area. On the way there, I came across several groups of from 2-21 Sandhill Cranes way out in some recently harvested grain fields. This next photo was greatly cropped.

I was going to go out to the observation tower, to watch and listen. The wind was fairly calm. Along the way I noted quite a bit of Missouri Ironweed, a tallgrass prairie wildflower that is appropriate for the site considering that much of the immediate area was historically tallgrass prairie or wetland, depending on the water levels of adjacent Lake St. Clair.

There were lots of swallows freewheeling over the marsh in their quest for insects. Occasionally one, such as this Tree Swallow, would take a rest on a Phragmites stem.

A couple of small groups of Sandhill Cranes flew by.

A Great Blue Heron was settling in to its night time roost.

As the sun set, since there were no clouds in that part of the sky, the sky turned a brilliant hue of orange and yellow close by the sun itself.

The telephoto lens I had enabled me to hone in on the most colourful part of the sky.

A short while after the sun went below the horizon, the brilliant colours began to fade.....

.....but not before a few little clouds on the other side of the sky were able to reflect a bit of pinkish colour.

It was a great evening, and hardly a mosquito at all.