Wednesday 26 April 2023

Life on a Sandspit: update

I promised an update on where this is available, and given that the Christmas season is not far off now, people may be looking for something special or different as a gift to give. Therefore here is the current list of places where this book available:

Friends of Rondeau bookstore (has very limited hours, mainly weekends)

Bayview Market, just outside the Rondeau gates

Mindful Market and Eco Hub, Blenheim (corner of Marlborough and Talbot streets)

Mitton's Jewellers and Gifts, Ridgetown, (just east of the main intersection) 

The Book Brothers, Chatham (just east of William St, on King St east)

The Five-eau, Erieau, also Molly & OJ's, both on Mariner's Road

Sydenham Field Naturalists, Wallaceburg (https://www.sydenhamfieldnaturalists.ca/publications/)

 

Below is the original post announcing it back in April, and describing it a little.

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A few posts ago I mentioned about a forthcoming announcement. And today is the day. I have just produced a book entitled "Life on a Sandspit, a collection of photos depicting some of the natural history of Rondeau Provincial Park"

Since the 1980s I have had upwards of 500 photos used in various books at the request of the authors, as well as several hundred more for pamphlets, journals, smaller booklets and various people's or organization's web sites. I have long thought about publishing a book of my own, and in fact have a couple of projects underway. One would be to give a much more detailed written description of Rondeau, its beginnings and the several major habitats found there. Rondeau is one of the most biodiverse parts of Ontario, indeed of Canada, and needs more information to be made available to anyone interested. Why don't I do it? I have had more than 6 decades of a connection to Rondeau, and in fact it was exactly 50 years ago this spring when I started my career there. For the first three years,  I was a seasonal/summer student while pursuing a degree in biological science from the University of Guelph.

As I proceeded to work on a larger, more detailed book on the natural history of Rondeau, I found it rather daunting to get into the production stage, so a few months ago, decided to move forward with a simpler project, with an emphasis on some of the photography I have done there over the years. There are several chapters, featuring the Beach & Shoreline, the Pine/Oak Savanna, the main Woodland component including Old Growth Forest as well as Sloughs, and finally, the Marsh.

In addition to a small amount of written material, there is a total of 86 photos featured in this 60 page book, which measures 9" X 12" in a landscape format. Many photos are full page, bleeding to the edges. Some pages have two or more photos. Quite a few of the photos have appeared in one of my many blog posts over the years.

I just picked up the books from the printer earlier this week.

Here are a few of the ones in this photo book in general alphabetical order based on their label. Clicking on a photo will provide a larger image to view.


















Details regarding local sources for this book, as well as pricing, are yet to be finalized. Places like the Friends of Rondeau bookstore and other local sites are being approached. I will update details as they become available.


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Friday 21 April 2023

(Mostly) Wetland Wanderings

 Birds returning, wildflowers blooming, turtles sunning, butterflies flitting....there is lots to take in as spring develops! 

I recently stopped in at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons to see what was happening. There was a good variety of waterfowl, as expected, with Ruddy Duck taking top honours in terms of numbers. There were anywhere from 800 to 1000 or more scattered across the various cells. Many were in fine breeding plumage. Perhaps they have memories of the last hunting season, however, as they were not eager to be within good camera range.

The water in all of the ponds was about as high as I have ever seen it. Even two of the sprinkler cells had lots of water, which bodes well for the upcoming shorebird season if those sprinkler cell levels remain. On this day, however, I only saw Lesser Yellowlegs and Killdeer, but it is a bit early.
There were many hundreds of swallows, mainly Tree Swallows, and due to the cool temperatures, some were low down or even on the ground.
A small number of Purple Martins, like the female shown next, were mixed in on the wires and on the wing....
...I only saw a single Barn Swallow.
A couple of Savannah Sparrows were skulking around.

I next went to the Erieau Marsh Trail. It can be quite birdy, and due to the narrowness of the trail, at least some of the birds are not far off. Ducks are becoming fewer, although there are still many out on the bay but well beyond camera range. Close by the trail are the usual Canada Geese and Mute Swans nesting. This pair of Blue-winged Teal was scrounging around....

...and nearby were up to 9 Dunlin. This one is a long way from full breeding plumage, but getting there.
Blackbirds of various types are typically plentiful, and occasionally a Common Grackle was busy enough with something else that it let me get this photo. I love the iridescence of its plumage in good light.
Along the trail was this Groundhog. At first I wasn't sure what it was up to. But watching for a few minutes indicated it was on the prowl for something to line its burrow with.
It scampered back and forth several times while I watched. After it went down into its burrow, I kept moving along, and when I got to its burrow entrance just a metre or so off the trail, I could see its head at the top keeping an eye on me, to make sure I moved along.
Just as I left the trail, I noted this Osprey perched on a pole. It was apparently quite comfortable and secure, as it let me turn the vehicle around and pull into a driveway to get this photo. There are very few places to pull off along this stretch of road, so I was glad it was close by one of them.

I have been to Rondeau a couple of times lately, although the birding has been erratic. I always find other things to enjoy if the birds aren't plentiful, but I have to decide what camera/lens combination to take on my route. On one of the days, I had a wide-angle zoom intending to photograph some of the emerging wildflowers, so it was a bit of a challenge to get this Azure species. Not so many years ago, most butterfly people would be content to call this a Spring Azure but in recent years the butterfly specialists have re-configured the Celastrus genus and some of them get quite indignant if one puts a species name to the genus. I just call this an Azure species.

I also had several Red Admirals go by.
The resident Eastern Screech Owl shows up in its usual spot on occasion, but is not predictable. It was quite visible on this day.

I've also spent time at some of the wetland areas along the Lake St. Clair shoreline, and for good reason: there is always a variety of things to see there as well! At the NWA, I had this American Kestrel perched on a branch well away from the trail, but at least it stayed long enough for a distant and heavily cropped photo.

There were many dragonflies flitting about, including this pair of Green Darners 'in wheel'.
A young Painted Turtle was along the road side, but clearly it was dead.
More Red Admirals were around.
Up in the Mitchell's Bay area, I had several Forster's Terns, but most were well out over the lake. I got a single photo of one perched on a rail, just as it was getting ready to take off.
Great Egrets are often within camera range. I had about 11 on this most recent visit, and a couple were within shooting range.

There were numerous turtles out, with about 95% of them being Painted Turtles. I saw 5 of these Northern Map Turtles, the first ones I have seen this year.
Pied-billed Grebes can be heard hooting and hollering out in the marsh. I had a pair of them swim by fairly close, before they realized I was not a tree or something, whereupon they quickly made their way elsewhere.

One of my target birds for this outing was to see a Yellow-headed Blackbird, which are known for nesting in the cattail islands close by Mitchell's Bay. I did get a couple of quick glimpses of one, but it was very skittish and did not allow me to photograph it. So I include a photo of yesteryear.


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Friday 14 April 2023

April showers bring flooding; also some more birds

 The sunny, clear weather has made it great to be out. I'm not a big fan of temperatures in early April that are close to mid-day temperatures of July, however. I hope we have a relatively normal spring!

I've been out to the Lake St. Clair wetland area a few times, and one is almost assured of getting good views, and photographs, of Great Egrets, not surprisingly. They nest at nearby Walpole Island, as well as some of the grassy islands in the lake just west of Mitchell's Bay. They can be a bit hard to get close to if they are on the ground, at the edge of a wetland. But if they are up in a tree, they seem to be a lot more tolerant of how close they allow you to be. Looking down at you seems to give them a sense of security. These two cooperated nicely.


Killdeer have been back in the area for a few weeks, and their nesting season is well underway.
Colourful breeding plumaged Ruddy Ducks are fairly plentiful, and occasionally the distance and light make for a good photo.

Red-winged Blackbirds are aggressively announcing and defending their territory.

Tree Swallows have returned in good numbers these last few days.

These nice sunny days are a good distraction from those recent days with lots of rain. We got about 3 inches of rain over the wettest period, and given the already fairly saturated ground, led to some local flooding.This was exacerbated given the widespread nature of the rain upstream throughout the rather large overall drainage area, which typically causes the lower Thames River to flood.  McGregor Creek, one of the tributaries of the river in Chatham-Kent, showed just how much water we had to deal with even within its relatively small drainage area. This next photo is from a few kilometres southeast of Chatham, and is usually an indicator of potential flooding of south Chatham.

It was for this ongoing flooding risk from this creek to Chatham residents a few years ago, that the McGregor Creek diversion channel was constructed, to divert the water to the Thames River before going through Chatham. After this most recent rainfall, that diversion was running at least half full. Parts of the creek that went through southern Chatham still overflowed, but remained on the flood plain and posed minimal risk to local residents.

After taking the above photo I continued on my way to Rondeau. There were a lot of wet fields, and some had large groups of gulls. I looked carefully at some gatherings, hoping that a Franklin's or Little Gull might be there, but if there was, I did not find them.

This next photo shows the same area of McGregor Creek from the same vantage point, about a week later, and the creek is confined to its normal channel.

I have been out to Rondeau on a couple of occasion, to enjoy the solitude and even shoot a few birds. Song Sparrows are frequently seen, and singing regularly.

I got one of my first Eastern Phoebes of the season, and they have become more numerous in the last few days.
There has been a good incursion of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers. This one was actively defending a Basswood tree full of holes made by the sapsucker, causing a bit of sap to seep out. Two other sapsuckers were trying to take advantage of this one's work, but it successfully kept the others away, at least while I was watching.
I got my first of several Yellow-rumped Warblers at the south end of the campground, which is now open for camping.

The various access points at Erieau are always good for bird diversity at this time of year. Lots of the common things, but with the limited habitat, it concentrates some of the earlier arrivals.

American Coot are visible by the hundreds, although not often from very close up.

Bonaparte's Gulls have been building in numbers, and it is common to see several hundred. Their plumage varies.

There are still some Bufflehead around.
Golden-crowned Kinglets are present in small numbers....
...and I managed to get a record shot of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, a relatively recent arrival. As kinglets are almost constantly flitting amongst shrubs, it is difficult to get an unobstructed photo.
Tree Swallows are a challenge to photograph as they are mostly in flight. But when they need a break from their aerial search for insects, they can be shot much more easily.
I got my first of the year Barn Swallow.
I had watched this female Red-breasted Merganser swimming underwater, chasing a school of minnows close to shore. When it surfaced and swam by quickly, I managed this.
One of the highlights of the most recent visit to Erieau was to have this Common Loon in good breeding plumage, swimming slowly in the small boat marina. The light wasn't always the best angle, but this photo seemed to be the best one. It is hardly cropped at all. It isn't often here in the south we get to see such a fine-looking loon at such a close distance, unlike many northern lakes where one or more are often seen and heard throughout the breeding season.

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