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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Some late winter encounters

 There certainly have been some ups and downs of the weather as of late! But it is March, being March, so it is to be expected. Hopefully there won't be a major ice storm like there was in early March of 1976, when almost every tree in Rondeau (and likely elsewhere) was affected to some extent, resulting in the park being closed for several days due to the massive clean-up required.

One of the highlights of the last couple of weeks was to continue on my photographic search for owls. In my previous post, I managed a poor record shot of a Long-eared Owl. A few days later this one perched in quite an open spot, allowing this photo.

There have sometimes been several birds roosting in this thick cedar hedge, but are hard to see, with the occasional exception such as this.

Open water is becoming more prevalent, now that temperatures are getting above the regular intensity of cold over the last few weeks, and this has resulted in more waterbirds being visible.  At one location a bit northeast of Chatham, I came across this Great Blue Heron, presumably hoping for a small fish to come by and become a meal.

Swimming by just in front the heron, note the heron's legs, was this pair of Hooded Mergansers.

Nearby were some Wood Duck boxes, with an Eastern Screech Owl residing in one.

 Elsewhere in open water spots near Erieau was a variety of ducks in relative close proximity. There were lots of other ducks, but most were too far to even identify easily, let alone photograph. With the approach of the breeding season, many of the males are showing their attractive colours and patterns.

Bufflehead

This next one is of a Canvasback, a young male not quite in its prime breeding plumage.

This next one shows an older male, in its prime pattern. However a closer look shows that its right eye appears to be damaged. I see that somewhat regularly, and especially if food is a bit scarce, there is some fighting going on when a duck emerges with something. Other waterfowl of various species will fight to gain possession, and some damage can occur.

These next two photos are of Greater Scaup, with the male first, and a pair which follows.

Redheads, especially males, are quite distinctive....

...as are male Ring-necked Ducks, one of my favourites.

I stopped at McGeachy Pond CA on one occasion, and finally caught up to a long-staying Northern Mockingbird, surviving on some of the berries that linger. Most of the berries that persist this late in winter are that of European Highbush Cranberry. The berries look tempting, but are quite bitter early in the winter. They become more palatable to birds later in the season.

On another day at McGeachy Pond, I watched and waited for a River Otter to appear. One has been seen on a couple of occasions in the past week or so, in the proximity of the beaver lodge. River Otters are not typically found in this part of southern Ontario. However I recall back in the 1970s, when we were trying to assemble mammal records for Rondeau, a mammalogy specialist from the University of Guelph, a former professor of mine, was in the park checking on things. He reported seeing River Otter tracks near the south end of the park, but there was never a confirmed sighting of an actual animal. It is interesting to note that one was seen at McGeachy Pond, just a short distance from Rondeau, about 50 years later! Of course it wouldn't be the same one, but it just goes to show that some mammals can be present but hard to confirm. Whether the species is a short or long-term resident of the area is open to speculation, but the habitat is suitable. As in the case of beavers, they were almost totally gone from southwestern Ontario in the latter half of last century, but there is no question that they have re-established themselves in many aquatic habitats here in the southwest.

While I didn't seen any sign of the otter, I did photograph this pair of Mute Swans, even exhibiting courtship and breeding behaviour. It won't be long before their nesting is underway.

Sandhill Cranes have continued here and there, in small numbers. They are often quite a distance from the road, so even with a good photo lens, they are not as crisp as I would like, and the sunlight haze over the distance interferes with the clarity to some extent. These two were part of a group of five, foraging in a field near St. Clair NWA.

Typically by late February, birds such as Horned Larks are well represented near agricultural fields. They were almost non-existent in January and early February, especially with the snow and cold, but since that weather is abating, this species is fairly common in small groups. They will be forming up pairs, soon to be nesting. Many of them get underway well before agricultural activity begins, in the hopes that they can raise a brood before having the nest turned under by equipment. Others will continue to move north, nesting in the wide open tundra habitat of the Hudson Bay lowlands.

 Here is a photo of a nesting Horned Lark that I took while doing wildlife surveys in Polar Bear Prov Park back in 1991.

As hints of spring arrive, species like Killdeer are beginning to show up, at least on those occasional days with southerly winds and relatively warmer temperatures. There have been a few reported already in the last few days, but I haven't caught up to one yet. This next photo is of a lingering one I photographed in January.

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Owls!

 Owls are one of the most admired and sought after creatures for anyone even remotely interested in nature. As they are mainly active at night-time, finding and seeing them is not always easy, even though some of them are year-round residents. One of my first, quite rare owl species to see and photograph was this Great Gray Owl, which Keith B and I went to see in the GTA back in March, 1979.

 It is very much a northern resident, and a few years later, I got a quick glimpse of one while I was on the Polar Bear Express train on my way to Moosonee. However in January of 2012, one showed up in Essex County, of all places!

 

 It created quite a stir amongst birders and even curious onlookers. As a northern species, it probably didn't know what to make of all the people. It perched right out in the open at times, as the next photo shows. However it did perch in a more natural looking setting, as the previous photo illustrates.

Great Gray Owls are the largest owl species for Ontario, at least in overall dimensions. Snowy Owls and sometimes even Great Horned Owls are slightly smaller, but have more body mass, so can be a little heavier.

A much smaller, and perhaps even rarer owl for southern Ontario that I saw is this next one, a Boreal Owl, that again, Keith and I went looking for in March of 1977. It was tucked away in the branches of a pine tree, and with the bright sky background, made for a difficult photo. Hence this less than ideal photo, a scan from my film days, is just a record shot.

Winter time seems to be a good time for finding owls, especially some of the more northern residents that come a bit south for the winter. Barred Owls are more commonly found here in the south than the first two species shown. There have been a few records, including this next one which Josh P and I discovered on the Blenheim/Rondeau Christmas Bird Count in December of 2018. It was the first confirmed one for this count, although one had been reported a couple of decades earlier.

This one stayed in Rondeau until at least late February, although it moved around a bit and was not always easy to find. There were lots of squirrels to feed on! Plus since it had been seen regularly, the novelty had worn off, and fewer people were out looking for it as time went on. However it was likely gone to its more northern haunts by sometime in March.

 In early January of 2023, another one showed up in the village of Shrewsbury, and initially could be fairly easily seen right from the street in this birch tree.

Again, this one moved around the village a bit, but was seen in various places for at least a month.

Fast forward to late December 2023, and this next one was found in a small pine plantation of a local conservation area not far from Rondeau.

It has been seen fairly regularly, but not by all who have ventured out looking. It will often be fairly high up, and visible only from a certain angle. And getting a good photo isn't easy, as there are often branches in front of it partially obscuring the bird, as well as affecting the focus. It has been present up until at least early February, and could likely remain in the area for a few weeks yet, especially given the fairly intense winter that continues.

In the same general area is this next one: a Northern Saw-whet Owl, which I photographed on the same day as the Barred Owl above.

This one likes to stay well inside a fairly dense pine tree, making nice clear photos a bit of a challenge. Fortunately for birders and photographers, they are more frequently found than any of the ones above, and can sometimes be quite out in the open.

Here is one of the first ones I ever found, in a small pine plantation just west of Cedar Spring, back in February of 1978. This photo was featured on a Nature Canada calendar in 1988.

I've seen a few others over the years in both Chatham-Kent and Essex, with some photographic success.

November, 1987

November, 1990

November, 1987

 Another owl that I photographed on the same day as the Barred Owl and Northern Saw-whet Owl of a few days ago, was this next one, a Long-eared Owl. It was one of two or three individuals, which have been roosting in a stand of White Cedars, but unfortunately are difficult to even see let alone photograph. They are often right up against the main trunk, with lots of cedar branches obscuring them.

 Another owl species that is primarily a winter visitor in recent decades, although there are historical records of them occasionally being present in suitable habitat during the breeding season, is this next one: a Short-eared Owl. They are most often seen in flight during later afternoon, or at least in more subdued light, and not always easy to photograph as they dip and dive in their search for something to feed on.....

...but on occasion, one will be perched out in the open, such as this next one, which I photographed along a pasture on this dull day in January of 2016.

Of course one of the owl highlights that many people look forward to, and have a relatively good success in seeing, is the Snowy Owl. They breed in the very far north, in the arctic lowlands, and every so often they have an eruption year when nesting success has been higher than average, so in the late autumn, they will migrate south where there is a better chance for food.

We usually get one or more on the St. Clair NWA Christmas Bird Count, but not always. A couple of years ago, we had an amazing all-time high of 23 of them! But during the last couple of years, we haven't had any. In fact there have only been a maximum of two reported in the count area this year, and then only for a couple of days before they moved to somewhere else. The dry autumn allowed many farmers to work up the corn stubble and other fields, making the habitat that the wintering owls often hung out in hard to find.

Birds that are almost pure white are adult males....

...whereas ones with a lot of spotting are usually immature birds, or sometimes a female.

Regardless, they are always fun to see, especially if they sit up on a perch with a nice background. This next one was perched on the roof of a small pump house along the roadside.

There are some owl species that are permanent residents of southern Ontario, such as these next two. An Eastern Screech Owl shows up fairly regularly in the cavity of an American Beech tree at Rondeau, providing good looks even from one of the main roads.

And elsewhere, where Wood Duck boxes have been erected, during the winter season, they may be occupied by a Screech Owl.
 

Great Horned Owls, another resident, are quite large, and can be fairly vocal. They can be found in woodlots throughout the southwest and beyond, and sometimes even within urban areas such as this next one, which has occupied a wooded area within the city limits of Chatham.

 They will sometimes nest where a large tree limb has broken off, such as in the crotch of this Willow tree, shown next.

...or sometimes where an entire tree trunk has snapped off, leaving a slight hollow to build their nest in.

This next photo was where a hollow was present in a Black Cherry Tree. The owlets were fairly visible in this setting, as the nest wasn't very deep down.

 After a few weeks, the young will venture out, testing their wings, and eventually trying to make it on their own.

I'm not sure whether the local owls are nesting yet here in Chatham, but if not, it won't be long. Stay tuned!

 

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