Spring continues to emerge slowly, in spite of the ups and downs of weather

 The spring weather continues with its typical ups and downs. A little bit of sun, a little bit of rain, a little bit of warmth and a little bit of snow! Sounds like a typical spring for southern Ontario. Some warmish sunny days in late March had many folks anticipating a good push of birds arriving, and although some did arrive, not a lot. They are on their own schedule and most have a long way to go to get here. 

On April Fool's Day, we even had some snow that with the wind, created almost whiteout conditions for a little while. This is the view out our kitchen window after the worst had passed through.

But as is often the case, if you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes!

A day or so earlier, I had been to Rondeau, and while there weren't a lot of birds to see, while scanning the lake for loons and other waterbirds, I noticed this adult Bald Eagle wrestling with something along the water's edge.

It had been picking away at a fish. I don't know whether it was washed up, or whether it caught it floating on the water. After a few minutes, however, it decided to move on with it, and it headed southward more or less towards its nest. Perhaps it was taking it to feed its mate.

In my travels that day, I also saw the usual early butterflies out sunning in some sheltered spots.

Eastern Comma

Mourning Cloak

A bit later that day I headed to Erieau. There had been lots of Bonaparte's Gulls arrive, and since there were brisk southerly winds, there were 150 or so in the protected marina.

Several Horned Grebes were swimming by, showing some change in their winter garb to look a bit more like their breeding plumage.

While I was standing at the dock, this Common Grackle came almost right up as it was searching for some easy pickings from the water's edge.....

.....and this Muskrat swam right underneath me, oblivious to my presence until a slight movement I made caused it to dive quickly. It surfaced a short distance away and just sat there in the water watching me, trying to assess my threat status. After a few minutes it continued on its way somewhat warily.

At one point as I glanced behind me I saw this Brown Creeper swoop in to the base of a tree a very short distance away. It was quite busy in its search for sustenance, and basically ignored me. I hardly had to crop this image at all.

Yesterday I meandered through parts of the former Dover Twp, northeast of Chatham. There wasn't a lot to see, but I noticed the eagle nest near St. Clair NWA had the pair of adult eagles at or on the nest. And just south of the NWA, I came across this Great Egret standing across the ditch in this field of winter wheat, giving a nice green background. 

Various plants are in growth mode. I saw this Bloodroot in flower at Paxton's Bush.

Before I left home today, I had two, possibly three, Red-breasted Nuthatches stop by and search for tidbits in one of the trees outside the living room window. The light wasn't ideal, but you take what you get. It is always fun to see these in action, and are most often seen on migration in our area.

 

A bit later, while on route to Keith McLean Conservation Lands (KMCL), I stopped at Sinclair's Bush, and saw this sedge out in flower. It isn't all that showy, as sedges seldom are, but they do have flowers. I believe this is Plantainleaf Sedge, a common species here.....

...and nearby a population of Pawpaw trees were starting to show some bud development. It is a rare species, and at least historically, Chatham-Kent has had the most populations of anywhere in Ontario.

A bit later, I ended up at KMCL. It was quite windy, and most waterbirds were not all that close to photograph. There was the usual mix of waterbirds, as well as Bald Eagle, Great Egret, and such. I did see quite a few Blue-winged Teal, about 18 or more, the most I had seen so far this year.....

...and while on the lookout for either a Greater or Lesser Yellowlegs, shorebirds that had been reported there recently, I saw a smaller shorebird on the far side of the eastern pond. I got a few shots, and managed to get them processed and cropped to be at least identifiable. The camera/lens combination, along with the resulting image being greatly cropped, resulted in this photo at the equivalent of about 130 X, so it isn't great, but shows enough detail to be identified as a Dunlin. It is a bit early, but not totally unlikely.

At present, the shorebird habitat at KMCL isn't nearly as good as it has been the last 2-3 years, but with the forecast rain off and on over the next week or two, maybe that will change. Fingers crossed!

Happy Easter everyone. Here is one of my all-time favourite Easter songs here.