Early February jaunts, before the real cold

 It definitely seems more like winter! I got out a couple of times before the forecast for the cold and snow was to arrive, looking for lingering things. The Stefina Line area southeast of Blenheim can be worthwhile, especially if a Wilson's Snipe shows up at its usual haunt in the winter. It hasn't yet, to my knowledge, but other things are around. Northern Harriers can be seen regularly floating over the grassy fields. They usually aren't very close, and with a busy background, are hard to get and keep in focus.

On one occasion as I approached the ditch where the snipe is often seen, I was surprised to see this adult Bald Eagle in a tree at the edge of a woodlot. I only had time for a couple of quick shots, and these were taken through the front window of the vehicle, so they aren't as crisp and clear as I would like. This is the first time I have ever seen a Bald Eagle anywhere near this spot. It makes one wonder if it is looking for a new nesting location, as the Ontario population generally is expanding, so it bears watching.

At another scrubby old field pasture type setting a bit farther north, I sat watching several dozen sparrows coming and going, all the while several raptors were on the hunt for something to eat. Most of the sparrows were House Sparrows, but there were several Am Tree Sparrows and upwards of a dozen White-crowned Sparrows mixed in. This young White-crown obliged me for a minute or so.

I took the opportunity to check out part of Rondeau. It was a nice sunny day, albeit a bit cold and with a brisk northerly wind. Clearly there were other people who had the same idea, as most of the parking lots had several vehicles. I chose to go out the west side of the South Point Trail (SPT), which is a nice walk through the forest and ends up at the lake. There were very few birds, but woodlands are normally fairly quiet at this time of year. Even looking out over the lake produced absolutely no birds in sight. But the shoreline landscape was worth the walk out. 

Lately it has been next to impossible to make one's way through the shrubby tangles and fallen trees along the shoreline. The former South Point Trail is now officially two trails, with one being SPT East and the other SPT West. With the buildup of ice piled along the shoreline, and the north winds which meant the waves weren't crashing on shore, I decided to tackle the challenging shoreline from the west side around to the east. It wasn't easy, but a whole lot easier than it would have been a month ago. Once I got to the east side, I continued up along that side of the SPT, then followed Harrison Trail north to Gardiner Ave and then back to where I had initially parked. It was a total of at least 8 km, and in all that distance, I only came across 6 people going the opposite direction, so physically distancing was easily done.

Upon returning to Chatham, I realized that the Thames River was almost totally frozen, so that made it an easy decision to take a side trip to the water treatment plant where it spewed warm water out into the river. Even in the coldest weather, there is usually an open spot varying in size depending on the intensity of the cold, and that makes it attractive for lingering waterfowl. This first photo, taken a couple of years ago, shows how small the open spot can be, but the waterfowl congregate in large numbers regardless. When they aren't resting on the ice, many can be seen in the water, waiting for a small fish to appear. The fish are likely also attracted to the warm water flow, so it serves the waterfowl well. It does seem a bit odd, however, to see Mallards, normally an eater of grain types of food or other vegetable matter, swallowing a fish!

Mallards are the most plentiful, with typically at least 100 birds. There are a few Am Black Ducks mixed in.

And usually there are a few singles of other species.

Common Goldeneye

This next photo shows the male Wood Duck, which was my primary target for this photo. It wasn't until a bit later that I noticed the duck to the right, which is a female Wood Duck. It always had its head tucked in, so wasn't immediately apparent from a distance.

An immature Bald Eagle flew through fairly quickly, as did a Red-Tailed Hawk, but I didn't get their photo. A Belted Kingfisher is often here, perched within easy sight of the water outlet, waiting for a small fish to appear. But I didn't see one on this visit.

As I was returning home, I had to wait for a stop light near a taller apartment building more or less overlooking the river, and where a Peregrine Falcon was seen regularly last year. The presence of ~150 Rock Pigeons in the immediate area is a readily available food source for this aerial predator, and although it had been reported on one occasion a few weeks ago, I had not encountered it yet. That changed today, as while I was waiting for the light to change, I glanced up at the top of the building and saw it perched on one of the tallest aerials. So I immediately changed plans and got myself located to a spot where I might get a photo. It wasn't close by any means. This first photo, taken with a lens combination at an equivalent of about 14 power binocular, was cropped to the equivalent of about 21X. 

And this is what it looked like cropped to about 110X!