Some birding highlights in May

 The month of May is typically prime birding season, as most readers will be well aware. While the weather of 2025 has not been ideal for some migration movement, there have been some very good days, and lots of the expected migrants have put in an appearance in varying numbers.

I have been out from time to time, but not as often as I used to. The month of May has been occupied by many other things, as it was just a year ago, that my wife and best friend of almost 48 years passed away. Monday, May 26, is the exact one year anniversary of her passing. Regular readers will be aware of a special blog I posted a few days after she departed from her earthly life, and you can read that blog at this link. Life has not been the same since, of course, and I may have more to say about that later in this post.

However I do try and get out on occasion, and have seen a good assortment of the mostly expected migrants. One of the highlights is to encounter my first of the year Acadian Flycatcher.

Several of the flycatchers in the Empidonax genus look fairly similar, and it always helps when you hear them vocalizing. This particular bird did not vocalize while I was within earshot, but its appearance was spot on, and it was persistent in hanging around this species prime habitat, and exactly in a place where I have found nesting birds over the last several years. So I feel 99.9% confident in it being an Acadian Flycatcher, and I will be out checking this location periodically.

Some other regular species, and certainly some that are a little less common, include the following.

Another member of the flycatcher family is this one, an Eastern Wood-Pewee.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Next is a Cedar Waxwing. It is an erratic species, and I have seen very few this winter and spring, but on this occasion I encountered at least a dozen flitting around some newly leafed-out trees.

A much less common warbler, in fact it is a Species At Risk, is this Canada Warbler....

...while Black-throated Green Warblers are much more abundant....

...as is the brightly coloured Blackburnian Warbler, one of my favourites,

Next is a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, hard to photograph as they are constantly on the move looking for insects to feed on.

Bay-breasted Warblers, are typically a little later to show up in the migration period.

Baltimore Orioles can sometimes be abundant, seeing several dozen in a day without even trying. Of course some will remain to nest.

Hairy Woodpeckers, shown next, are permanent residents, but can sometimes be hard to pin down for a photograph.

Next is a Least Flycatcher. It looks quite a bit like the Acadian Flycatcher, shown at the beginning, but it occurs in much more open forest edges, looks a bit grayer, and when it gives its distinctive 'che-bek' call almost repeatedly, is easy to confirm.

Another member of the flycatcher family is the Olive-sided Flycatcher, which is just a migrant in this part of Ontario. They usually perch in open areas, fairly high up on a dead branch, and sometimes can be heard calling for 'quick, three beers'. I have yet to see anyone delivering beer to this bird, but they keep calling :-).

A frontal view shows a bit of its grayish vest, and it doesn't have a white eye-ring that many of the smaller Empidonax flycatchers have.

Another permanent resident that occasionally will be visible long enough for a photo is the Pileated Woodpecker. They are always fun to see, and photograph.

One of the bird species that the majority of birders visiting Rondeau are hoping to see is the Prothonotary Warbler. It is an endangered species, and fortunately Rondeau has lots of suitable habitat. It was first discovered nesting in Canada at Rondeau back in 1929. I have been following this species in various ways at Rondeau for more than 50 years, and I have a rough draft of a booklet in preparation to feature this iconic species. I got the first draft completed in early2024, but as mentioned previously, the rest of 2024 and since has carried on with a much different set of priorities. I still hope to complete the booklet, as there is an important story to tell, so stay tuned. Maybe it will be done in time for the 2026 birding season!

Prothonotary male

Prothonotary female

Certainly a popular bird, although not particularly rare, is the Scarlet Tanager, shown next. Most will continue on their migration farther north, but there are always a few that remain to nest.

On one occasion as I was hiking the west South Point Trail, I came across this carcass along the edge of the trail. It is a Turkey Vulture, and it had been there for at least a few days, as one could detect the decomposition smell....

...as could a few of its fellow vultures. In a tree above the carcass, as well as a few soaring above, were at least 9 vultures that had also detected the decomposition 'fragrance'.

Yellow Warblers are one of the most common warbler migrants, and it nests fairly abundantly here. It is hard to believe that back in the 1970s, it was on the Audubon 'blue list' as a species of concern given what was then, in declining numbers. It certainly has rebounded well!

Yellow Warbler back view

Nashville Warbler

Quite common, especially in the early part of the warbler migration parade, is the Yellow-rumped Warbler.

The rufous morph of the Eastern Screech Owl continues in its American Beech cavity, although it is getting harder to see due to the developing leaves.

Elsewhere, some shorebirds are showing up, such as this Dunlin....

...and this one is keeping an eye on the sky, on the lookout for a predator perhaps?

Hanging out with the Dunlin were a couple of Least Sandpipers. Due to the legs being in the shadow of the bird's body one cannot clearly see the distinctive yellow legs, but they were yellow.

Great Egrets are always nice to photograph, and large wetland areas along Lake St. Clair are usually productive since the species nests at some of the offshore islands or a bit farther north at Walpole Island.

And Sandhill Cranes are regularly heard, if not seen. A few will remain to nest in some of the larger wetland areas fortunately for birders and photographers.

Wild Turkeys are widely scattered across the landscape, as well as at Rondeau.

I came across this egg of a Wild Turkey along the Black Oak Trail of Rondeau a few days ago, suggesting it is a recent hatch.

As mentioned near the beginning of this post, life has taken on some very challenging and different directions especially in the last year or so. As a result, while I plan to continue Nature Nuggets, I may venture into another blog which will feature many of the things not totally related to the Nature Nuggets theme. The plan is to discuss so many things related to my ongoing life journey, including many things that I could never have planned for, but that will hopefully be apparent when I get to the stage of adding that blog. When it comes out, I will reference it here in Nature Nuggets, so interested readers can have access to the information that it will cover. So many thoughts and ideas are floating about in my mind, and I have started to itemize many, but I need to get them organized before jumping into it, so stay tuned!

 

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Some of nature's diversity besides birds

 It is such a wonderful time of year to be out. So many things to photograph, or just to see and appreciate for their beauty as the world of nature continues to awaken from their dormant period. This post will focus not on birds, but other things.

One of the highlights at the beginning of the season is to see a few Common Five-lined Skinks, Ontario's only lizard. It is considered an Endangered species. Fortunately it can be found in a variety of places at Rondeau. 

 While walking this trail, I came across another reptile, a Common Snapping Turtle, a Near Threatened species at risk. Again, it is relatively widespread in the wetlands of southern Ontario, and can be found in the marsh as well as the larger sloughs of Rondeau. This was a very large female, seen right along the Tuliptree Trail, just poking her head above the surface.

 Another official Species At Risk is this next one, American Ginseng. I have seen it in a very few places, and due to it being a popular item for collection, will not mention where I found it. 

The flowers are just starting to form in a tight bud. I will try and feature it in good flower a little later in the season.

Much more common is Canadian Lousewort, next, and can be found in various colours as shown in the next couple of photos.

Also fairly common is Cut-leaved Toothwort, quite abundant in the rich beech-maple forest.

 There have been a few bright, sunny warm days of late, and a few butterflies and other things can be seen, such as this Eastern Comma....

....and this Eastern Gartersnake.

Very similar to the Eastern Gartersnake is this Ribbon Snake, with striping a little different but one of the easier features to see without handling it, is the small white spot in front of its eye.

Ontario's official flower, the White Trillium, can be abundant. However due to the very high population of White-tailed Deer in the past, the numbers of this species is not what it should be. This first photo shows a nice stand of these trilliums inside one of the deer exclosures, which have been in place since 1978, protected from hungry deer.

Immediately outside the deer exclosure is an example of what spring wildflowers can look like when they are available to those hungry deer. There is hardly a single spring wildflower in flower. There are developing leaves, but no flowers! Quite dramatic!

In yet another part of Rondeau is this rare wildflower, officially Vulnerable. It is Goldenseal. The flowers only last for a short time before small red berries begin to form.

 Some more spring wildflowers include:

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Large-flowered Bellwort

This next one is Large-leaved White Violet. I came across a small population of them along the Black Oak Trail, and it is new to the park's plant list. The petals are white both front and back, except for the purplish centre at the front, and the leaves are separate from the flowering stem and fairly broad with a pointed tip.

Wild, or Red Columbine, is in peak flower these days.

Red Trilliums are mostly past flowering....

...as the new leaves of this next tree appears, and initially look like flowers. But they are the developing/emerging leaves of Shagbark Hickory.

In some of the more open sloughs with a fair bit of water, there is an abundance of this next one, the Yellow Water Crowfoot, a member of the buttercup family.
 

Along various trails is Wild Geranium....

...but very limited in it abundance at Rondeau is this next one, the Twoleaf Mitrewort. The flowers are quite small as you can see, but are very attractive.

Two-leaved Toothwort

Fairly common is Starry False Solomon's Seal, next, and just becoming quite abundant....

.....whereas Spicebush, also quite abundant, has mostly finished flowering, and the red berries are slowly developing.

Sometimes a small green beetle will be actively wandering the trails or other open areas. It is the Six-spotted Tiger Beetle.

One of the 18 species of orchids known from Rondeau is this next one, the Showy Orchis, and it has been considered a Species At Risk, but is not officially yet. It is quite rare at Rondeau, only occurring in a couple of places as far as I know, but due to the presence of ticks, I spend a lot less time off the trails in my search for things than I used to. I have contracted Lyme Disease 5-6 times, and fortunately have not been as negatively affected as some, but I don't want to press my luck, so I mostly remain on trails. I assume there are many wonderful things to see away from the trails, but I will try and limit my time off trails.

An unfortunate presence in the forest of Rondeau, and elsewhere in extreme southern Ontario, is this next thing, called Beech Leaf Disease. I have hardly come across any American Beech tree at Rondeau that doesn't show at least some sign of it. At this time of year, as the leaves are developing, they will be crinkled with brown areas between the veins. As time goes on, the brown will turn to black, and many leaves will not develop properly. Some mature beech trees are now dead, mostly because of this disease, but to a lesser extent, due to very high water levels some years. This does not bode well for the Endangered Acadian Flycatcher, which nests almost entirely in these beech trees.

While hiking at St. Clair NWA not long ago, I managed to get this photo of a Beaver swimming by.....

...and I saw these two large female Snapping Turtles in a territorial dispute. 

  

 

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