(Mostly) Bird highlights of late January

 Since winter hasn't gotten all that vicious yet (and hopefully won't get too vicious!), there are still birds around. Some which you expect, and others that definitely aren't normally here.

Water birds are the most likely to be found. Along the Lake Erie shoreline, flocks of ducks are regularly noted flying by, usually well out of camera range. Mergansers, bot Common and Red-breasted, are still around in good numbers, as are some scoter species.

Common Mergansers

Most Wood Ducks are long gone by now, but this one is hanging around the Thames River with several dozen Mallards, feeding on things that people put out for them on the river bank.

A water bird that really shouldn't be here, but four of them were still around a few days ago, is the Great Egret. When I was out to the Jeannette's Creek boat launch on the weekend, I saw not one, but all four of them. Three were together, but one left when I stopped the vehicle, with camera in hand.

I caught up to the fourth one a little way down the mostly frozen canal.

Snowy Owls have become more reliable in the last dozen or so years. It used to be quite a novelty to see even one other than in an irruption year. At least in the former Dover Twp, it isn't all that hard to find at least half a dozen on any given day, as long as the landscape remains fairly snow free.

Still on the subject of owls, I roamed around the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons yesterday to see if I could scare up a Short-eared Owl that had been reported from time to time. After a lot of walking to check the berms and grassy fields, I did literally scare one up. And immediately the crows in the area noticed, and began mobbing it. The owl climbed higher and higher and eventually I lost sight of it. Due to the heavy overcast, I only got a couple of record shots, shown here, and even these have been greatly processed and then cropped to the equivalent of about 85X.

These three muskrats didn't have to worry about the owl or the crows, it seems, as they were busily feeding on some vegetation at the edge of one of the cells.

Roaming around Rondeau hasn't been especially birdy lately, although it is still great for a nice vigorous and refreshing hike. As in previous visits, one sometimes is lucky to see more than one species per kilometre of walking. But on occasion, one will encounter a flock of sparrow types which are worthwhile checking over carefully. Most will be American Tree Sparrows, but sometimes a lingering Chipping Sparrow or Field Sparrow will be mixed in. I came across a couple of different flocks of sparrows in the park, and each one had two or three Field Sparrows, as in the following photos.

Next up, I plan to feature Northern Bobwhite!