Some mid-autumn birds, colourful forests and hunting for an endangered species

 It has been a rather hectic last few days, but I've managed to get out here and there on occasion.

A visit to the north end of the former Dover Twp enabled me to get photos of some lingering Great Egrets; will one or more stick around for the Christmas Bird Count on Jan 1 like last year?

The clouds rolled in, and I heard, then saw, then photographed almost two dozen Sandhill Cranes circling a field well away from the road. Obviously the light wasn't the greatest when they were air borne.

It helped when they landed, in scattered groups, allowing me to get a few distant photos.

I stopped in at Keith McLean CA to look for some shorebirds, and other things of interest. I didn't get any photos of shorebirds, as this Peregrine Falcon was stirring things up. Flight shots of this speedy raptor can be challenging to get. These first two are taken at about the equivalent of 18X and further cropped to about 67X.

This one was taken at about 18X and you can see all the birds that have been stirred up!

A Nelson's Sparrow popped up briefly, although it didn't face me before it dropped back down out of sight, so this is the best I could get. It has been a very good year for this species. There is a lot of habitat, and perhaps one or more will stick around for the Christmas Bird Count like last year. It is only about 6 weeks away!

Spending time roaming around Rondeau is always high on my list of places to visit. A Townsend's Warbler has regularly shown up at a well-known feeder area but only for brief periods once or twice a day. Birders have waited up to 3 hours or more to see it, and others have spent even longer without seeing it. For some reason, there have been more occurrences of this species at Rondeau over the years than all other areas of the province combined.

The site where it occurs has been quite busy with birders, both for those who want to get it on their year list, and a lot more who want to get it on their life list. I am not a fan of crowds of birders, so I have not attempted to wait it out. No question it would be a good year bird, but I have seen three already in the park over the years. In fact I was the first one to find one, to add to the park's list, back in May 1984. I didn't get photos of that one, nor of the one that was in the park in the spring of 1997. However in November of 2017, one was found in the subdivision immediately adjacent to the park, and it even ventured into the park itself. It hung around for awhile, and enabled many birders to get it on their Winter List, which begins on Dec 1. Here is a photo of that individual. It was typically high up in a cedar tree.

I spent some time at the Visitor Centre feeder area, as the day before one of the park staff had photographed a Yellow-breasted Chat there. It is quite a rare species, and would be good to see at such a late date. However it was apparently a one-day wonder, as it did not show again. While waiting and watching, I did manage to photograph a few other things, such as this Black-capped Chickadee...

...a Red-bellied Woodpecker....

...this Red-winged Blackbird...

...and this White-throated Sparrow.

Elsewhere in the park there were huge flocks of blackbirds. This flock was made up of mostly Common Grackles, but had the occasional Red-Winged Blackbird and Rusty Blackbird in with it.

The autumn colours were quite nice over the last couple of weeks. As the green leaves of the growing season start to shut down, the chlorophyll which is important to absorb carbon dioxide and change it to carbohydrates which the tree uses to feed itself, begins to exit the leaves. As it disappears, it results in the other pigments to take over. They are usually there all the time, but are just overwhelmed by the green chlorophyll so most of the year they are hidden. This is the time of year when they really stand out, before the leaves tumble to the ground. The colours change on a regular basis, so several visits are helpful to capture them at their best. The first three are along Harrison Trail, taken about 10 days ago.

Where there are maples, the colours tend to be a bit more vivid with some red/orange showing.

The next two are along Rondeau Road, where maples are a bit more common.

This next one is along Bennett Ave, and the trees here are usually more golden than red.

Here is a slough along Bennett Ave, a favourite photo spot of mine.

Most trees are well into the leaf changing mode, and as the leaves go through this stage, the leaves show a fair bit of deterioration. That isn't quite the same for Red Mulberry, a legally endangered species that has its stronghold at mainly three Canadian locations: Pelee Island, Point Pelee, and Rondeau.

It isn't clear exactly how many individuals there are at Rondeau, as we are finding more and more. Most of the searching has gone on from various roads and trails. One of the several challenges for this species, is that they can hybridize with the much more abundant, and non-native, White Mulberry. At Rondeau, White Mulberry is quite common at the north end of the park and the east side, along Lakeshore Road. The best examples of Red Mulberry are farther inland, especially along Rondeau Road. There are also a few good specimens along Harrison Trail, mid way between Lakeshore and Rondeau Roads. As part of the recovery plan process, it is important to know how pure the presumed Red Mulberry individuals are. For years, botanists have relied on macro features, which for a Red Mulberry include:

-large, almost plate-sized leaves with fairly long drip tips;

-pubescence on both the upper and lower sides of the leaves; the drip tips help the water to drip off the end of the leaf, to minimize fungus growth on the leaf;

-some leaves are distinctly lobed;

-the bark does not show any orange tint to it.

White Mulberry, on the other hand, has:

-smaller leaves with little or no pubescence on either side of the leaf. The leaves can be quite obviously lobed, and may be somewhat shiny on the upper surface.

-the trunk typically has an orange tint to it in places. 

The first photo shows typical large, Red Mulberry leaves, looking quite green during the peak growing season. The drip tips are quite distinct.

Some of the large leaves can show obvious lobing.

This next photo show leaves of Red Mulberry taken in late October. There is some deterioration of the leaves but nothing like most other trees at this stage, and that makes late October one of the best times of the year to pick them out of the forest.

This next photo is of White Mulberry, with smaller leaves, and the drip tips are not nearly as pronounced.

The bark of a White Mulberry trunk shows a hint of orange in places.

Yesterday, I met with Rondeau staff to collect some leaves of individuals that were potentially hybrids, although some of them featured some good quality macro characteristics. They will be sent to a lab for a genetic analysis, to see how pure these individuals are, and to confirm or correct using macro characteristics as a way to separate Reds from Whites. Time will tell, but a positive outcome of our field work is that we came across four individuals that had not been noted before. And this was just from the trail, so it makes one wonder how many others may be present on the ridges a long way off the trail. Potentially dozens more are out there waiting to be discovered!

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