More birds, less winter??

 It has been nice to see the intensive wintry conditions subside, at least a bit. So I have managed to get out to a few local places to see what is around. 

 A recent visit to St. Clair NWA wasn't terribly productive, but the combination of a nice walk and a few birds made it worthwhile. American Tree Sparrows are often around, scrounging on the now exposed grassy trail and retreating to the adjacent cattails when a hiker disturbs them.

A few Canada Geese are going to and fro, but not stopping in the still frozen NWA.

Views of the frozen NWA, taken from the observation tower, follow. It won't be many weeks until there is lots of open water, and hopefully lots of water birds!

Rock Pigeons are here and there, and on a really cold day they seldom fly, but as the weather warms up a bit they become less tolerant of a stopped vehicle with something pointed out at them. These three were part of a group that was a little more tolerant. 

I decided to make another trip up along the St. Clair River. There is still lots of ice floating around, making it difficult to get close enough to many of the waterfowl. I was hoping to catch up to a couple of Trumpeter Swans that are here and there, and although I did see them, I didn't get any photos of them. This next photo is of two I saw a few years ago.

A few other, much more common species of waterfowl, were more available for my photographic attempts. This first one features a male Ring-necked Duck in the foreground, and a male Redhead in the background.
 

male Common Merganser

male Canvasback

On another outing, I headed a bit east, into southeastern Lambton County, where it seems that eagles tend to over winter. I have seen and photographed Golden Eagles here in the past. However on this occasion I only saw one Bald Eagle, but didn't get an acceptable photo. I did manage a few other things, such as a fair number of Horned Larks in scattered locations, so I spent a bit of time capturing a few photos of them as they hung out in the fields adjacent to the road. They blend in quite well when in the corn stubble.

Horned Larks are fun to watch, and photograph. It is the the Bird of the Year for the American Birding Association.

A Red-tailed Hawk hung out on a tree quite a way from the road, but enabled me to get this heavily cropped photo.

Closer to home, I spent a bit of time hiking some of the less snowy/slushy roads and trails at Rondeau. I got a good hike or two in, but didn't photograph many birds. This male Pileated Woodpecker was the most successful of my efforts, and didn't seem to mind my camera pointed at him for several minutes.
 

I came across this workings of this Poplar Vagabond Aphid. I hadn't paid much attention to them in the past but they are more abundant than I thought. It looks quite a bit different in the mid-summer, and will try and get photos of it later this year.

Even closer to home, I checked out the water treatment plant outlet just downstream from Chatham. The open area is not large, but there are a few dozen ducks making use of it. Amongst the mostly Mallards, were a couple of others, such as this female Common Goldeneye, shown first...

...and this female Common Merganser. A Green-winged Teal was also there but I didn't get any photos of it.

 And even closer to home, were some American Crows, not surprisingly, and I took this through the kitchen window. Doesn't get any closer than that!

 

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