Things are hopping, flying, singing, swimming and slithering out there!

It is a great time of year, especially with the mostly favourable weather we have enjoyed these first few days of spring. There are more and more things to see in nature, and it is just a taste of what will be appearing over the next few weeks.

On a couple of the warmer, sunny days we've had, I purposely went out to Rondeau Prov Park to see what butterflies I could catch up to. I was pleased to have encountered about a dozen individuals altogether, of the following two species:

Eastern Comma

Mourning Cloak

Both species overwinter as adults, so are among the first to emerge when the weather is suitable.

While hiking the sheltered trails, I also came across these critters, that either hop or slither.

Leopard Frog

Green Frog

Green Frog

Green Frogs can vary in colour and pattern quite a bit. The first one above is probably an older male, whereas the lower one is a younger individual. One easy way to tell Green Frogs is by the ridge extending down their back, behind the eyes.

Wood Frog

I heard other frogs as well, including Spring Peepers and Western Chorus Frogs, but got no photos. This is the first snake species I have seen so far, but others are likely out and about.

Eastern Garter Snake

In the flying category, besides the butterflies shown above, the bird diversity is on the upswing. With a little bit of work, one can usually find about 50 species in a few hours. Here are some that I saw and had cooperate for the camera over the last few days, mostly at Rondeau.

 American Tree Sparrows, shown first, are one of the most common winter sparrow species, but are steadily declining now.

Eastern Screech Owls are permanent residents, but are not always easy to find. This one likes this particular cavity lately.

Another permanent resident is much more noticeable due to its bright plumage. It can be heard quite regularly bursting out in song to declare its territory.

Black-capped Chickadees are mostly migrants although a small number over winter. There seems to be a few more these days.

American Robins have become quite plentiful in the last couple of weeks, as you likely know. Most of them are males, told by their darker head. The females will be arriving in larger numbers soon, and nesting will begin shortly.

One of the highlights of early spring birding is seeing Fox Sparrows. Even when they are passing through to or from their northern range, they are most often found partially hidden in scrubby, shrubby areas, making getting a clear photo difficult..

Common Grackles are, well, quite common these days. Hundreds can be seen entering the marsh at dusk, or emerging at daylight. During the day they are scattered everywhere, especially if there is a feeder nearby. The time I stopped at the Visitor Centre feeder there were at least a couple of dozen coming and going and scratching underneath the feeders to see what they could find.

Another regular at an active feeder is the Eastern Grey Squirrel.

I walked the Tuliptree Trail shortly afterwards, and watched this Muskrat feeding ravenously on some aquatic tubers.....

....and photographed these pollen flowers of a Silver Maple.

On a short visit to Clear Creek Forest Prov Park, I wanted to check on the Skunk Cabbage that occurs in one small spot. It was just emerging.

While I was listening to some Western Chorus Frogs in a large pool at Clear Creek, I noticed this pupa of a Promethea Moth. It looked healthy and intact, and hopefully it will emerge successfully this coming June. We had photographed an adult last year here.

 

On the way to Clear Creek Forest, I had stopped at the Ridgetown lagoons, as waterfowl can be relatively easy to see and photograph right from the vehicle. Ring-necked Ducks, shown first, were quite plentiful.

Snow Geese have often been seen, and on this occasion I encountered 17, mostly in the closest pond.

However they gradually moved over to the far side....

....and eventually had a rest on the berm in between the ponds. While many of the geese have moved on closer to their sub-arctic breeding ground, there were at least three Snow Geese reported at Ridgetown yesterday.

Our back yard isn't quite as productive as a place like Rondeau or Clear Creek, but there have been some interesting sightings in the last couple of days. An American Toad was seen hopping across the grass.....

...and the moth season has begun. I had the black light on in the yard for a few hours on two separate nights. The insects that came were not abundant, but I had two moth species show up:

Green Cloverworm

Morrison's Sallow

...as well as these next two visitors.

Lacewing species

Winter Cranefly

With the slight cooling and damp spell looming over the next few days, things will slow down a bit. But the much needed rain, that will really get things growing!

Marsh Madness

 Ok maybe it wasn't really madness, except by the time I got finished with my 14-15 kilometre trek to the very south end of the marsh trail of Rondeau and back, carrying camera, telephoto lens along with binoculars, my legs and feet were feeling a bit mad. I hadn't been out to the very end of that trail for months. The weather yesterday was inviting, to be sure. It was sunny, relatively mild, and with the easterly type winds, it wasn't as exposed as it would have been with west winds. So off I went.

The first part of the trail is mostly washed away, but with the currently lower water levels, the path is relatively easy to traverse at the edge of the water. There are some ups and downs. As the trail progresses, there is a fairly firm path for awhile, and you get the sense that all is well. Once you get past the former main parking lot half way out, that changes. The trail is on a berm, that was dredged out to create the adjacent canal, back in the late 1950s. And with the high water of late, and no maintenance for at least a few years, the muskrats have been having a hey day. As much as one wants to keep eyes focused on what birds, etc., are to be seen, one also has to keep a close eye on the path. There are numerous areas that have sunk in. Those aren't really the main problem, however. The real problem is when what looks to be a relatively solid part of the path on the surface, doesn't have the underground support to make it safe. There are always a few times when the foot comes down and starts to sink. At that point, you have to be aware that your foot could sink 5 cm or 50 cm. I've had both happen, and when you are looking off for birds and the ground gives way, it certainly gets your attention, especially when carrying expensive camera gear.

But care and persistence can be worth the risk and effort.

There were lots of ducks on the bay; thousands of them, probably at least ten thousand, but most were way beyond camera range. There were several rafts of Canvasback relatively close and I caught a few in flight.

There were lots of scaup, both lesser and greater, but only a few lesser were close enough to attempt to photograph.

 About half way to the former parking lot, I noticed an adult Bald Eagle in a tree. It seemed to be content to watch as I walked by. It probably hadn't seen too many hikers lately in its territory.

I was a little surprised to see this adult so far from the known nest which is much farther south. The nest that is visible along the marsh trail already had an adult in the nest, and another close by. The only thing I can think of is that there is a second nest not far from where I saw this bird, but in a location that is not easily visible from any trail. That happens, as I have seen other nests in the past, that are only visible if you get well off any trail and follow a ridge or slough. At times there have been three pairs of Bald Eagles actively nesting in the park, but at the moment, only the one nest is visible.

I saw several other Bald Eagles on this trek, probably at least 6 birds altogether, including three sub-adults like the one in this next photo.

Hawks were not plentiful, but there were a few, including a Northern Harrier off in the distance, as well as a couple of Red-tailed Hawks, one of which circled overhead well enough to allow me to get this photo.

As I approached the beginning of the trail on the raised berm, I had heard some bugling of Sandhill Cranes. Fortunately for me, a pair were just across the canal, and were tolerant of me long enough to get past them for better light for photograph.

But I guess I lingered a bit too long for the photos of these cooperative birds, as after a few minutes, they took flight for other parts of the marsh.

The rest of the trail was not as productive, at least not for many new things. I did see this Tundra Swan skulking in the cattails. Presumably it was not feeling well, and was content to hide. It hadn't moved a bit when I returned.

I saw my first Dandelion of the year, looking a bit rough, but there it was.

I also saw my first Eastern Garter Snake, sunning, but it slithered off into the grasses before I could get a photo.

And this is the view of the south beach, with the lake beyond, from the southern end of the marsh trail...

....and looking east towards the forested part of the park.

The trek took about 4 hours, and I was glad to get back to the vehicle. I only saw three other people on the trail the entire time, and none of them even half way out. It was an excellent day, with a good tired feeling at the end of it.
 

Bird Action Increases!

We've had some very nice late winter weather, making it feel more like spring every day. But the forecasts look like things will slow up a bit, which is likely a good thing. Nonetheless, with some warm weather, brisk southerly type winds and lots of sunshine, it has spurred more activity amongst our feathered friends.

It was only a few days ago (March 2) when I took this photo of the piles of ice along the Rondeau shoreline.

In a matter of just a few days, that ice had all but disappeared. 

Waterfowl continued to pour in to the open waters of Rondeau Bay and even the local sewage lagoons. The warm, southerly winds caused most of the Tundra Swans to depart, although some continue to linger. The Greater White-fronted Geese that showed up periodically at Ridgetown over the last week or so seem to have left, but up to 15 Snow Geese were still there earlier this week. Snow Geese are much more of a novelty here than in extreme eastern Ontario, where tens of thousands of them pass through both spring and fall. This first photo shows all Snow Geese, including a single blue colour phase individual, and a single Tundra Swan.

This close-up shows a difference in size between two individuals. I had hoped the smaller one might have popped its head up, to see if it showed any characteristics of a slightly smaller Ross's Goose, but it remained in this sleeping pose. Then, as I was photographing something else, all of the Snow Geese took flight, although I don't think I 'shot' the smaller one in any of the several photos I got. It may have been a hybrid between the two species, which is known to happen with some regularity.

Rondeau Bay attracts thousands of waterfowl. In the last few weeks, Tundra Swans have been in impressive numbers, but most have left and it is dominated now by ducks. They are often too far to photograph, let alone get a good view of, but as was the case yesterday, several rafts of both Canvasback, shown next, and Redhead, were close enough to make the attempt. Note that there is a single American Coot at the far right of this photo.

Since several pairs of Bald Eagles have been observed at the early stages of nesting, with an adult sitting on the nest presumably incubating one or more eggs, I went part way down the west branch of Rondeau's South Point Trail to check out the nest there. It is barely visible from a limited part of the trail, and a 'scope is really useful. This next photo shows a white head sitting above the nest, so it would appear that this pair is also into the nesting cycle. This photo was taken and cropped to about 45X, so not easy to see or photograph.

While I was there, I had three cyclists stop by and I gave them a view through the 'scope, and as they were leaving three young fellows came by and also got a look. None of them had seen an eagle's nest in the park before.

The sunshine has definitely triggered some increase in activity amongst the smaller land birds, and yesterday I was treated to a fair bit of activity in the campground area. I got several firsts of the year, including Tufted Titmouse (they are year round residents, but not always easy to find)...

...a couple of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers......

..and two Yellow-rumped Warblers. It is likely they were over wintering individuals, although there had not been any reports of them in the Rondeau area for several weeks.

I also had a single Evening Grosbeak perched at the top of a cottonwood tree, but it was seen from a distance and before I could get even a distant photo, it flew north. They were quite frequently seen in mid to late autumn last year, and presumably this is one that was on its return to the boreal forest region.

Other, regular winter residents cooperated nicely for the camera.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Northern Cardinal

House Finch

Golden-crowned Kinglet

Black-capped Chickadee

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker, male

Downy Woodpecker, female

Elsewhere in the park, I came across several Turkey Vultures. They will be a regular occurrence from now on....

....and three Killdeer.

This Eastern Screech Owl is showing up in its usual beech tree a bit more regularly.

I came across this Virginia Opossum along the Tuliptree Trail.

The Spicebush Trail did not have much birdy action, partly because the brisk westerly winds had them hunkered down, or elsewhere. I hadn't been around this trail for several weeks, and noted that since my last time around, a large Silver Maple had come crashing down across the boardwalk, likely due to one of the strong easterly wind events.

On one occasion while returning home, I saw this Striped Skunk scampering along the edge of a field. Normally you don't see skunks out in broad daylight and so far from any cover, although as they emerge in the warming days of spring, they may forage farther afield. A closer look at this individual, however, shows a diseased or damaged left eye. I did use a telephoto lens, but still got fairly close to get these photos. I made sure that the wind was blowing in the skunk's direction, just in case!