Barred Owl and more early January adventures

 A Barred Owl has taken up residence in Shrewsbury, across Rondeau Bay from the park, at least for a few days. I first heard about it the day after it had been originally seen, but couldn't make it out due to other commitments. Then it disappeared for a few days, only to be re-discovered by Steve C, who put the word out. I had been at Rondeau at the time I received his text, looking for loons and other waterbirds flying by the east beach, but abandoned that activity to go over to see the owl.

It was still there, and remained relatively unconcerned for the next little while.

 At first it was advised to remain in the vehicle so as to not cause the bird to flush, since it was not too far off the street, so I and others did just that. However after awhile, a service truck came along and backed into the driveway immediately across from the owl, and the workers got out and started to do their thing. The owl moved its head a bit, but that was about it. Then some other birder/photographers came along, started walking up and down the street, talking fairly normally, and still the bird didn't seem to mind. At that point I, and another birder/photographer, decided to get out of our vehicles and get into a slightly better position to minimize the small branches and such, that were making focusing difficult. The bird continued to roost quietly, moving its head from time to time but otherwise seemed nonplussed.

It kept an eye on people, but nothing more. The background for the photo was a bright, but bland sky which made getting a good shot of a relatively dark bird, a bit of a challenge. Fortunately a bit of processing can make a big difference!

Barred Owls are definitely uncommon in this part of Ontario. I have only seen or heard two others in Chatham-Kent, and the most recent record was one that I found, along with my birding partner Josh, on the Dec 16, 2018 Christmas Bird Count at Rondeau. That caused quite a stir amongst many of the other CBC counters that day, and it was fortunate that we found it relatively late in the day, as many birders 'finished up their territories early' so as to scoot over to the park and join in this discovery. That bird remained in the vicinity of the north end of Rondeau for at least a couple of months, as I last saw and photographed it in late February of 2019.

A couple of days prior to seeing this bird, I participated on the Skunk's Misery CBC. It was not a very good day weather wise the day started off misty/foggy and by mid-day had started to rain. The woods were almost eerily quiet, although once in awhile one would come across a mixed flock of birds. Near the entrance of one trail, I came across this:

 

It was a reasonably fresh death, as there were some fresh truck tire tracks backing up to where the carcass was dumped. I didn't examine it for a cause of death. It was possibly a road kill, and the carcass was just hauled off and dumped here. Presumably the local coyote population will make short work of it. A bit earlier in the season and there might have been some Turkey Vultures arriving for a bite.

Photography wasn't all that great that day due to the weather, and the lack of birds. I did manage to get this photo of an adult Bald Eagle as it was perched in this tree along a small creek. The photo was taken at about 18X and then greatly cropped to at least 45X.

I have been playing around with my recently acquired mirrorless camera lately, just to see what it is capable of doing. It is a big adjustment in some ways, at least to me, compared to the DSLRs that I have been using extensively for the last 15 years, but I can see some of the advantages. The Barred Owl shots above were all taken with my mirrorless camera body, in combination with my non-mirrorless telephoto lenses. I am considering expanding my mirrorless camera equipment to include a highly regarded crop sensor model.

I was out near St. Clair NWA the other day to try the camera on some other subjects. Both were taken from quite a distance under cloudy conditions, and the second one featuring Snow Geese was taken from a distance of about half a kilometre, and greatly cropped.

Back in the Rondeau area a day or so ago, I returned to the east beach hoping for some less common waterbirds flying by, which I had abandoned previously to see the owl. I managed to see both Common and Red-throated Loons, but too far out to attempt a photo. Red-throats are becoming more reliable in late autumn and early winter. At one point not too many years ago, they were quite a novelty. I'm not sure why their migration patterns have shifted, but it is nice to see them more regularly. Here is a photo I got from a couple of years ago, from a distance.

Elsewhere in the park, not far off from a large group of geese on the bay was a family group of Trumpeter Swans. They are becoming more regular these days, as they continue to expand their Ontario range. At first I was a bit skeptical of this identification, but a closer look showing the large, all black bill, the wide black area at just in front of they eye, less of a curvature at the gape and the young bird showing quite a bit of gray/brown at this time of year, along with its more extensive black on the bill, all suggested Trumpeter.

It was fairly mild, and this Eastern Chipmunk was out scrounging around. You don't often see them out in January!

Along some of the other trails I walked along turned up more blown over trees exposing upturned tree roots, and the accompanying pit.

Some of the pits, especially if they are in a bit lower location than others, will quickly fill in with water, and be an important feature for frogs and salamanders before long. What is detrimental for one species can provide huge benefits for others!

I also went out to the south end of the park, and while most of the lake was now free of ice, there were some rather large ice mounds right along the shoreline. It was a windy day, with brisk winds coming out of the southwest, resulting in some interesting splashes from the waves as they pounded against the immovable ice.

After leaving the park, I headed over to Erieau. This next photo shows what the south beach looks like from there, with lots of dirty mounds of ice piled up along the shore, and the waves hitting it. It would not have been a good day for a bird count out here!

And another view from the Erieau channel, looking past the harbour entrance lighthouse to the open lake, completely free of ice now.

Winter is often noted for its widely varying weather, and this year is continuing that trend. What will the next few weeks bring?

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