Mid 'Winter' Birding?

 OK technically, early to mid February is mid-winter, but with temperatures sometimes being like late March or even early April, it has felt anything but winter. I don't mind not having to shovel snow, however.

We did have a bit of snow in mid-January, and so the Mourning Dove nest that was occupied in late summer.....

....was now looking like this.

 But since then, I am sure even some of the not-so-regular winter birds are even a bit confused. Things like American Robins have been fairly widespread, even plentiful at times.

Killdeer are beginning to show up in widespread areas. Perhaps some of them never really left southwestern Ontario.

Areas that typically are partly to totally frozen over, such as the Thames River at Jeannette's Creek, just upstream of where it outlets into Lake St. Clair, is mostly wide open.

No Great Egrets here like has happened occasionally in the past, but typically three or more Great Blue Herons are hanging out within sight of the boat launch.

When the river is mostly frozen over, but with some open spots remaining, there can be a concentration of water fowl. And when that happens, there can be a concentration of Bald Eagles perched on trees along the river, keeping and eye open for an available injured bird to swoop down upon. On one occasion when these conditions occurred, I counted at least 28 eagles from this vantage point!

Elsewhere in wetland areas that are sometimes open and sometimes frozen over, there are lots of waterfowl using them. The Ridgetown Sewage Lagoons are productive, but mostly for Canada Geese. However there is often a much rarer goose species mixed in amongst them, such as a Snow Goose. In this case it is a young blue-phase Snow Goose, showing the mostly dark body and blotchy white head....

...as well as a Greater White-fronted Goose, or Speckle-belly, with its orange bill, white at the base, and brownish feathering with black bands across the belly.

Both species are smaller than the average Canada Goose, so sometimes are hard to pick out when they are at a distance or mixed in with a lot of other geese. If the head of the White-front is not visible, sometimes the orange legs are. This next photo shows all three species together.

Canada Geese are by far the most abundant.

In other wetland areas, and sometimes in roadside ditches, one can come across various duck species. I came across these Northern Shovelers near Bear Creek.

The males are quite striking.....

....this one is going through its plumage development, and in a few weeks will likely look as crisp and clean as the other male.

Along another roadside ditch I came across a pair of Wood Ducks. They are often quite skittish, even though the hunting season is over, and the female was a short distance away so I didn't get her photo. But I manages a couple of quick shots of the male from the vehicle as follows.

While I was out roaming around the former Dover Twp, I encountered this Snowy Owl. I had checked this spot on numerous occasions over the past few weeks, as this general area often has one or more Snowies, but this year they have been hard to find. This is my first one of the winter.

It is barely a record shot, as it was several hundred metres from the road. With my telephoto lens combination, and further cropping, it is shown at about 100X magnification!

I've been to Rondeau a couple of times in recent days....no big surprise there. Birds have been quite widely scattered, and not always photograph-able. I managed to get this White-breasted Nuthatch as it scurried around a tree trunk....

 

 The long-staying Red-headed Woodpecker continues in its usual little wooded patch at the corner of C-K Rd 15 an Wildwood Line.

 

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Avian Harbinger(s) of Spring

Today, March 20, spring arrives. It seems to have been slow in coming compared to some years. In considering some of the bird arrivals, there have been a few indications of its arrival. Certainly one of the ones quite obvious has been the arrival of Tundra Swans. But by now, many of them have moved farther along their northern migration pathway.

 Ducks are present in quite impressive numbers. As the ice disappears from places like Rondeau Bay, there can easily be 10,000 or more birds of a couple of dozen species scattered across the water. And flooded fields are popular with some. The flooded fields of the Keith McLean Conservation Lands, just north of Rondeau, have had several hundred ducks. One of the more common species in recent days was American Wigeon.

 On occasion there will be the much rarer Eurasian Wigeon somewhere in the mix. Such was the case late last week, although it was never very close for photography.

 Also seen from time to time was another unusual wigeon, which may be a hybrid between American and Eurasian. I haven't seen it yet, but may do so soon.

Some waterfowl are already getting underway with nesting. Pairs of the non-native, and very aggressive, Mute Swan are establishing territories in marshy sections.

 Other species are pairing up even as they pause here in southwestern Ontario before making the next leg of their journey.

Northern Shoveler

Bufflehead

Land birds are becoming more plentiful. American Robins have arrived in good numbers lately, with the darker headed males being the first to arrive.

 Golden-crowned Kinglets are constantly on the move in the shrubs and grasses, searching for an insect to devour.

 Northern Cardinals are frequently heard in song on the sunnier, warmer days.

 There has been an influx of Song Sparrows lately. It is not unusual to see 50 or more in just a couple of hours or so, scattered throughout the open areas and shrubby edges.

But the real harbinger of spring, at least to many, is the Eastern Bluebird. On occasion one or more will manage to stay the winter here in southern Chatham-Kent, but this year there were none to be found once winter finally arrived. So it was with great delight that birders came across half a dozen or so of them at Rondeau in the last few days. Most were seen in the oak savanna habitat between the campground and Lakeshore Road.

 For a brightly coloured bird, they can sometimes be difficult to find as they perch quietly on a branch scanning for evidence of an insect in the dead vegetation below. But watch carefully and eventually their movement will give them away. They don't like to be approached, so waiting quietly for them to come closer is often the best solution. At least it worked for me as they got closer and did not seem to mind my presence.

Positives and negatives of all that rainfall

There is no question that the last few days have had many people concerned in the Great Lakes Region. With the warm weather and substantial amounts of rainfall quickly melting the snow pack, there is a lot of water on the landscape!

I've been up along the St. Clair River a couple of times recently, partly hoping to see the King Eider that had been hanging around the north end of Stag Island for a few days. I didn't catch up to it, but saw lots of other waterfowl. The warm weather and rainfall has certainly cleared out a lot of the ice.

A Horned Grebe, hanging out in the vicinity of the Chenal Ecarte at the bridge that goes to Walpole Island First Nation was a bit of an early arrival.

 Common Mergansers were quite common.

 There was the occasional Hooded Merganser.

 Long-tailed Ducks used to be a novelty on this river, but for the last decade or so, have become much more common. Several hundred, sometimes more, are scattered somewhere along the river on any given day.

 Red-breasted Mergansers aren't as abundant as their Common relatives, but a few can be found.

 Redheads are frequently seen, sometimes in large rafts.

Canvasback are reliably seen, although this year they haven't been nearly as common as Redhead.

I saw three Bald Eagles also, all immatures, but not well enough to try for a photo. A Great Blue Heron flushed up from a warm water outflow just south of Bickford Line. No photo there either.

While driving south along the river, I looked over at the edge of a woodlot which belongs to the family of a friend. I knew Wild Turkeys hung out there, as it is within my usual territory for the Christmas Bird Count. Sure enough there were a couple of dozen roaming around in the field just beyond the woods.

With all the rainfall, I knew that the McKeough Floodway would be in use. It was constructed in 1984 in response to the major flooding that Wallaceburg often experienced. The floodway re-directs excess water from the East and North Sydenham Rivers before it gets to Wallaceburg, thereby alleviating some of the flood risk. Sure enough, there was a lot of water flowing through the floodway and entering the St. Clair River safely away from Wallaceburg.

Floodway looking 'upstream' from Baseline Road

 After viewing the floodway I returned home via West Holt Road heading over to Hwy 40. I was pleased to see a Snowy Owl sitting cooperatively on top of a hydro pole, which allowed me to get some reasonable shots.

Upon arriving home on one of these occasions, before all the snow had disappeared, I was surprised to see Am Robins hanging out in our yard. At least a dozen were there, taking turns searching in the leaves near the base of the house which hadn't been covered with snow. They hung around for several days until most of the snow was gone, scattering to other snow-free areas.

Waterfowl were arriving in greater numbers in the vicinity of St. Clair NWA, as expected. I checked them out and saw many of the usual overwintering species, but caught up with Snow Geese and Greater White-fronted Geese as well, although they were too far away to bother with a photo. I did capture these Northern Pintail, however. The occasional one had been around all winter, as had Gadwall, Green-winged Teal and Am Wigeon, but there was definitely an influx of them in the last few days.

The flooded fields were very attractive to waterfowl.

They were much less attractive to the farming community. This part of Chatham-Kent is extremely flat, due to the outwash of receding glaciers a long time ago. This highly productive area dominated by rich black soil is a result of the wetland or prairie vegetation that developed here after the glaciers left. If the water levels of adjacent Lake St. Clair was high, it would be wetland; in periods of lower water level, it would be dominated by wet tallgrass prairie vegetation. But it has very poor natural drainage, so farmers do everything they can to remove standing water as quickly as possible. Pumping stations are strategically located, and in these last few days every one of them has been in operation where tractor powered pumps are going full tilt pumping the water off the fields, through the tile drains, and emptying the offending liquid into the larger drain system.

 This particular photo was taken along Town Line Road and empties into Lake St. Clair at St. Luke's which is the north end of Town Line Road.

The Erieau area is always worth checking out due to the wetlands and waterfront there. Again, this time of year waterfowl are the most abundant bird species. It wasn't many days ago where the extensive ice conditions limited open water to these birds. The main channel often had a bit of open water.

A lone Gadwall was there, hanging out in the vicinity of Am Black Ducks.

A four-legged Mute Swan?

On one of the warmer days I was there, the fog had rolled in making views much more challenging, so I opted for a different kind of photography.

I did see some waterfowl resting and feeding in the wet fields adjacent to McGeachy Pond just outside of Erieau. The fog wasn't quite as thick, but still made viewing and photography challenging. I got these three Greater White-fronted Geese under much less than ideal conditions.

On the way home I decided to check out the Indian/McGregor Creek diversion that protects the south end of Chatham from flooding. It is much smaller than the McKeough Floodway mentioned earlier, but the Indian/McGregor Creek watershed is much smaller than the combined East and North Sydenham Rivers. It wasn't that many decades ago when residents of south Chatham greatly feared the weather conditions we have been experiencing these last few days, as late winter and early spring flooding was almost a regular event. There hasn't been any serious flooding in that area since 1992 when this floodway project was completed. This first image shows McGregor Creek at the corner of Hwy 40 and Boundary Line, looking south. The creek at this point is normally less than 5 metres wide at the bottom with only a little water flowing. Here it is probably well over 100 metres wide.

 This next photo shows McGregor Creek at the corner of Maynard Line and Creek Road. It clearly looks more like a small lake than a creek!

Flooding to some extent does still occur in the immediate area of downtown Chatham. Here is an impressive aerial video of downtown Chatham taken today, Feb 24 just before peak water levels of the Thames River arrive. This video has now been taken down by the owner, unfortunately. But this one shows another section of the river flood downstream from the downtown.