The ups and downs of the early spring days can be rewarding. At least with the periodic upswing, migrating birds are on the move, and a greater variety of fauna can be appreciated.
I have been to Rondeau on a few occasions, in between rainy days. One of my purposes is to get a fair bit of exercise instead of hanging out and being relatively immobile at home. Some days the camera gets a bit of a workout; other days, not so much.
In some of my earlier posts, it was plain to see that there was massive amounts of ice on the lake, but it was gradually disappearing. And then there was none.
There is becoming a nice mix of fauna to see. No native spring wildflowers yet, but that won't be long. Wood Frogs are making a bit of noise in the larger ponds of the sloughs.
Tree Swallows are back, swooping after some insects.
A few flies and things are buzzing around, such as this Narrow-headed Marsh Fly
Mourning Cloaks are by far the most numerous butterfly, although I did see one or two of the Eastern Comma type ones but just in flight
There has been at least one Lesser Yellowlegs hanging out in the good shorebird habitat at nearby Keith McLean Conservation Area.
Golden-crowned Kinglets are fairly common.
On occasion, one may see an Eastern Garter Snake out sunning.
Brown Creepers are becoming more numerous, although they hardly ever sit still for a photo! I've even had several show up on trees in my yard at home.
A nice surprise is to see and photograph this American Red Squirrel, which has been hanging around the maintenance area for several years. It is very active, and photos are hard to get. In the case of this one, I had a hard time focusing on it as there was not only a chain link fence to look through, but also branches of a few shrubs.
Other places relatively close to home have proven worthwhile to check out. At St. Clair NWA, there is often a Bald Eagle flying around, but the bland skies don't make it easy to get a good photo of.
On one occasion as I was along the main trail, this Canadian Beaver was swimming by quite close at hand. You don't often see them in the middle part of the day, but there it was.
Sandhill Cranes are almost a guarantee, somewhere either in the NWA or nearby fields.
The Mitchell's Bay trails are worth checking out. Again, Bald Eagles are almost a guarantee, and I often see 4 or more within view, but not always within a good photographic distance. This one is about a year old, due to the brownish back.
Great Egrets are back, and I always look forward to photographing one or more. This first one shows it had recently grabbed what looks to be a small frog.
At other times, they are just busy watching to see what is going on.
There is some great habitat for shorebirds, due to the lower lake levels. This Greater Yellowlegs was a first of the year for me, a little way out from the closest point at which I could observe it.
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