Early January 2026 outings

 New Year's day dawned clear and cold. It was the date for the annual St. Clair NWA Christmas Bird Count. As usual, my territory started at SCNWA, along the northwest berm that is normally off limits to visitors which I have permission to access. It is very much out in the open, subject to wind. Since the day started off at about -13C and a wind chill making it to about -23C, it was not easy going, especially since I have to hike about 2 km or more, carrying a tripod and 'scope along with binoculars. 

This is what I encountered from a landscape perspective:

...and this was the adjacent St. Luke's Marsh a bit to the north.

 The vast majority of the wetland was frozen, not surprisingly given the recent weather, but as is often the case, there is a small area at the extreme NW part of my route which has open water. And  there are many individuals of waterfowl making use of it, hence the need for the 'scope. The birds were packed in so it was difficult to pick out anything unusual, but there were many hundreds of Mallards and Canada Geese with a few Tundra Swans and American Black Ducks there as well.

Some readers will be aware that the NWA was closed to public access for three months while some trail/bridge alterations were made. It re-opened just before the end of December, fortunately for the CBC. Here is the new bridge structure...

...and the view from the bridge looking generally south:

After covering this part of my territory I went elsewhere, and fortunately came across a few more things, such as a few Dark-eyed Juncos coming to a feeder....

...a few Northern Cardinals along a roadway...

....and four Wild Turkeys scattered well out in a field

An Eastern Screech Owl was cooperatively sitting out in plain view.

At another spot, a small amount of corn was present at the roadside, and the birds found it. There were several Horned Larks, which are sometimes hard to get photos of. As it turns out, the American Birding Association has declared the Horned Lark to be its featured Bird of the Year.

A few other winter birds were also making use of the corn availability, including a species that is always fun to see.

Snow Bunting

 

Mourning Dove

Elsewhere, there were always crows to see!

 I 'managed' to get to Rondeau on a couple of occasions a few days later. While birds were not abundant where I hiked, I got a few photos of things. This sub-adult Bald Eagle was surprisingly tolerant along the east South Point Trail on my way out...

...but on my return had decided to move a little farther away, on a white pine branch right at the edge of the forest.

A Fox Sparrow is not common at this time of year, but I got a few photos of this one along the north end of Harrison Trail.

 Northern Cardinals are scattered about....

...as are Red-bellied Woodpeckers.

On another occasion I walked the west side of the SPT. A wind storm had knocked over a dead American Beech tree across the trail. No doubt as American Beech trees continue to be affected by the deadly Beech Leaf Disease, this will become a more regular occurrence. I brought this to the attention of park staff, and was advised the next day that the trail had been cleared.

The view from the very south end of the trail is always intriguing as the shoreline with ice and waves are constantly causing change.

A quick trip to Erieau had a fair variety of water birds to see, but most were too far to attempt a photo. However American Coots are usually fairly close by.

 

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Late autumn, early 'winter' birding in prep for the Rondeau bird count

 I had been out a few times, looking to see what might be around in preparation for the Blenheim/Rondeau Christmas Bird Count on Dec 14.

In spite of the wintry weather, it is surprising that there is as much diversity as there is. Of course there are the usual things, including:

American Coot

Bufflehead

Lots and lots of Canada Geese!

A few Hooded Mergansers, mostly in the unfrozen areas around the Erieau harbour.

A pleasant surprise was to hear, and then get out and see some Ross's Geese. At a distance they look like a smaller version of Snow Goose, and this photo was take at quite a distance. Fortunately the head was visible enough to see the smaller stubby bill, and lack of a 'grin' patch, as well as the typical black wing tips.

In the same field with the Ross's Goose, were a couple of Tundra Swans, and lots and lots of Canada Geese.

In a field near the Blenheim Landfill, there were as many as 27 Wild Turkeys out roaming around on the lightly snow covered harvested field.

My territory for the bird count has almost always been inside Rondeau Park. I have been on this count for ~56 years. In the past it has included both the south beach all the way to Erieau, and then driving up to the Marsh Trail where I walked at least the south half. That typically involved walking a total of about 15-17 km, while carrying a tripod and scope, along with binoculars, and sometimes camera equipment as well. But that was yesteryear, and the Marsh Trail has been inaccessibly by vehicle for several years due to erosion, And while I could do the south beach, there is a much younger generation of fellows, in their 20s, who have more energy and better eyes and ears, so I have passed that area over to them. Instead, I roam around some of the roads and trails in the wooded area of the park, which is a lot less conducive for bird diversity, but there are some things around.

I checked several of the deer feeding stations that had been regularly stocked with cracked corn. (As a result of the two weekend deer culls in late November and early December, there were exactly 50 deer harvested, so the ongoing deer browsing will be reduced, much to the delight of saplings and shrubs, I am sure.) 

Birds immediately flushed even as I cautiously approached, but waiting patiently and quietly caused them to return. I guess their hunger won out!

Some would approach carefully...

...and after a few moments, drop down and start feeding.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Fox Sparrows are rather uncommon this time of year, but will hang out with other more abundant birds, and join them in their feeding frenzy.

Dark-eyed Juncos are quite abundant now.

And American Tree Sparrows are fairly abundant, and widely scattered. 

The bird count was held regardless of the cold, wintry weather, as usual. The day started out at about -14C but warmed up to a balmy -8C. The brisk westerly wind made the wind chill more like about -20C! Not exactly late autumn weather, but every year is different.

 White-throated Sparrows, named appropriately, were scattered here and there, and certainly the feeding piles were helpful.

I saw at least 5 Red-bellied Woodpeckers, mostly in the vicinity of these feeding stations.

Pileated Woodpeckers are never abundant, even though they are year-round residents, so just getting one is sometimes a bonus.

Cardinals are always to be found, near a feeding station or wherever, along woodland edges.

A bit unexpected was to see this Hermit Thrush. We don't get this species on every count.

Blue Jays have been in migration mode for several weeks, with some lingering, and likely will be here all winter. There are lots of acorns for them to find and feed on!

And lastly, this American Tree Sparrow was present at a few feeding stations on the day of the count.

Overall it was another successful count in terms of numbers and diversity. I don't think it is official yet, but at this point it seems that there were 101 species seen. Getting 100 or more is quite a feat! Of course there were many, many energetic and highly capable birders out scouring the entire count area, and that makes all the difference. 

There were lots of Bald Eagles seen, along with a couple of Golden Eagles. Sandhill Cranes, Short-eared Owls, Merlin, Peregrine Falcon and even an Eastern Phoebe were counted. Some shorebirds were even found to be sticking around, including Killdeer and Wilson's Snipe. A couple of warbler species were counted, including Yellow-rumped, which is to be expected, as well as a single Orange-crowned Warbler. The Ross's Goose was found; it was trapped in the ice at the sewage lagoons, but was freed by a couple of birders, and the goose was able to fly away!

 

If you are still looking for a Christmas gift, both of my two books, Life On A Sandspit, and Natural Treasures of Chatham-Kent, are available locally at:

Book Brothers, King St E Chatham

Mindful Market and Eco Hub, Main St, Blenheim

Mitton's Jewelers and Gifts, Main St, Ridgetown

Bayview Market, just outside the park gates of Rondeau (open Thursday-Sunday) 

 

 

If you would like to subscribe to Nature Nuggets, send an email to: prairietramper@gmail.com 

 

 

 

 

Highlights of the 43rd St. Clair NWA Christmas Bird Count

 The 43rd SCNWA Christmas Bird Count was held again, on New Years Day. A January date has been the norm almost since it started, back in 1981, since much of the best areas to cover were privately owned wetlands, and at the beginning, waterfowl hunting continued up until the end of December. To have a better chance of accessing those wetlands, it was decided that a January date was best for all concerned. However since that time, some waterfowl hunting has been allowed into January, so some wetlands are often inaccessible. I have been on every count except for one, and have been the organizer/compiler since 1988.

This time around, we were fortunate to have almost all of the best wetland areas accessible. The unfortunate part was that the weather wasn't the best! Of course the cold, wintry blast of the previous weekend, caused much of the wetlands to become frozen, and at least some of the waterbirds decided it was time to move on. By the time of this count, the warmer weather had caused a lot of the ice to disappear, but the misty/foggy conditions made 'scoping for waterbirds difficult. And by mid-day, the rain arrived. Every year is different.

There were still some dirty snowbanks present, a reminder that the many tilled fields along with the high winds of a few days ago, moved a lot of topsoil around.

 Nonetheless, seventeen of us carried on, covering our allotted territory. And overall, the results were quite satisfactory. Collectively we tallied 76 species, a bit lower than our average for the past two decades of 82 species, but all things considered, not bad. It will likely end up in the top ten of all counts in Ontario.

There were some highlights, as usual. Since the weather was anything but good for photography, most of the photos featuring some of those highlights that follow are largely from other times.

Bald Eagles aren't quite the novelty that they used to be, but still are a highlight to see. We only had 16 this year, quite a bit lower than the average of 45 over the last few years.

Raptors in general were not all that abundant. There were a few Red-tails, of course, and Cooper's Hawks...

...but this is the first time since 1998, and only the fourth time overall that no Rough-legged Hawks were observed. They have been pretty scarce everywhere this winter, so not all that surprising.

In the waterfowl group, we ended up with 19 species, a bit lower than our usual ~25 species that we often get, and a lot lower than the cumulative 32 species we have on the list. Of course the most abundant species was Mallard....

A highlight was to tally 4 Trumpeter Swans, our previous high being a single bird in 2021.

Long-tailed Ducks are quite rare on this count, but a single bird was reported.

Fourteen Sandhill Cranes were counted, a species we have only had 5 times during the previous 42 years.

 

We get Fox Sparrow on occasion, but typically only one or two. Just one this year.

There was a new high for Wild Turkey, with 54 reported. The previous high was 31, and has only been tallied in 14 of the previous 42 years. However it is a species that was essentially gone from Ontario until major re-introduction efforts were undertaken beginning in the 1980s, and the species has done well. It was not recorded on this count until 2004.

Eastern Bluebirds are always a highlight. We have only had them on two previous counts, with a maximum of two birds. On this day, a total of 7 was seen.

Near a couple of the feeder areas, was this feral cat, doing what cats are programmed to do, which probably explains why no small birds were seen in the vicinity.

Belted Kingfisher is something we get about half the time, but usually only 1-3 birds on any count. There was only one bird reported on this count, so it is always nice to get that one added to the list.

And with that, I also want to mention that the American Birding Association has declared Belted Kingfisher to be its Bird Of The Year for 2023. It is always nice to find, although they tend to be shy and flighty when a camera is aimed at them.

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