Photogenic water birds

The water front is the place to be these days. There is still a lot of water fowl around, with many of them in their prime breeding attire. Since they are either hungry for sustenance in order to continue their migration, or vying for a mate, they are quite busy with those things in mind, so are more tolerant of photographers. Of course it helps that the hunting season is not on. At the Erieau harbour, the birds are quite used to vehicles coming and going, so staying in the car and using it as a blind, really works well.

Bufflehead are one of the most numerous ducks within 'shooting' distance at Erieau these days.

It is a species that one has to look through carefully when one is trying to find the local pair of Harlequin Ducks, since the female Bufflehead are mostly dark bodied with white facial markings. Compare with the female Harlequin in the image below. The Harlequins have been around for several weeks.

One can sometimes spend quite a bit of time scanning from the main channel area and not see them. Case in point: a couple of days ago I was at Erieau for the better part of two hours, mostly photographing whatever water birds I could find in order to fine tune my camera's autofocus. I didn't see the Harlequins at all, and eventually left. However an hour later, Jim Burk had one of them in their usual spot at the far eastern end of the rocks across the channel.

Yesterday, I was on a grand tour ranging from southern Lambton County, then to Rondeau and eventually ending up at Erieau. I purposely left Erieau until later in the day, since by 3 or 4 p.m., the commercial fishing tug and associated activity is over for the day, leaving the waterfront along the channel as well as where the fish tugs are moored, very quiet and the water birds have relatively free reign over the area. Another bonus is that when the sun is out (not often these past few days!) the angle of light is much better later in the day.

I initially checked the channel, but only saw Bufflehead. I then moved a bit farther towards the lake so I could scan the lake side of the far rocks. Almost immediately I saw a male diving in the relative calm of the lake. I looked for the female, and a few minutes later saw another Harlequin a short distance away...but it was a male as well. Did the first bird just dive and swim farther away than I expected...but no, it was a second young male! And the female was in the area as well!

A little later Steve Charbonneau arrived, and I told him we had three Harlequins, and sure enough, they were all still there, although still a long way off for the kind of photo we hoped for.

 

They were well out in the lake at one point, but eventually came back in and hung out around the rocks. They were still in that location when we left after 7, so presumably they were getting ready to settle in for the night.

The last time anyone had this many Harlequin Ducks in the Rondeau checklist area was way back on May 17, 1960, when 8 birds were seen at Erieau. That was at a time when the overall population was healthier than it has been for a few decades.

The Willet which I found on April 8 is still there, but now it seems to spend all of its time on the tip of the south beach of Rondeau across the channel, affording only distant views and photo ops.

Photo of April 8

Photo of April 12

In spite of the lure of these two rarities, there are other water birds to enjoy, including lots of Horned Grebes in various stages of plumage development

 This next one is coming along nicely.

 This next bird seemed to be injured. Its one leg was continuously dragging behind, and it swam a bit sideways. Maybe it will linger for quite awhile before it succumbs, since it may not be able to fly to its normal breeding ground.

There are a few Greater Scaup still around, most of which are well out in the lake or the bay,

Lesser Scaup are more abundant right at Erieau. They are told from the very similar Greater Scaup by a slightly different shape to the head, and a narrow black tip of the bill which isn't always visible in a side view. Greater Scaup have a relatively wider black tip to the bill.

Lesser Scaup

Lesser Scaup

Greater Scaup

Mergansers are less common than they were a few weeks ago it seems, but both Common and Red-breasted Mergansers are still around. Red-breasteds are easily told by their darker breast in the male, and their unruly 'hair', compared to the white breast and sleeker look of the Common.

 This one is in the beginning of a dive, to go fishing.

Red-breasted Merganser female

Common Merganser

Gulls are building in numbers, and in spite of them being a noisy nuisance at times, are attractive in their own way. The adults are quite immaculate looking.

Herring Gull

The sub-adults are much less immaculate looking!

Herring Gull

Bonaparte's Gulls, that dainty member of the gulls, are starting to build in numbers. This one will have an all black hood over its head in a few weeks. When a birder sees a smaller gull with a slightly pinkish hue to its breast feathers, such as on the one below, it makes one think of that ultra rarity, the Ross's Gull in breeding plumage. Alas, the pinkish hue on this bird is a reflection of the boardwalk decking. There has never been a confirmed record of Ross's Gull in the Rondeau checklist area, although there is an unconfirmed record for one about 15 years ago. We keep looking and hoping....as all optimistic birders do.

Bonaparte's Gull

Forster's Terns, which used to be quite a rarity back in the 1970s since they were generally a more mid-western species, are now fairly plentiful. They started nesting at Rondeau in the early 1980s, with dozens of nests present at times in the cattail marshes of the park. They do not breed as regularly now for some reason, perhaps due to high water levels, or more likely due to the expansion of that horribly aggressive and non-native wetland plant known as Phragmites. At least 15 Forster's Terns are present at Erieau these days, with more to come.

Willet & Harlequins, Snowy & Forster's

I was at Erieau this afternoon, hoping for an opportunity to get some better pics of the pair of Harlequin Ducks which have been present for several weeks. I find that later in the afternoon is better, as all of the commercial fish tugs have come in, and there is no boat activity at the main channel. Also the angle of sunlight is better for photography.

 

The Harlequins can be seen at other places earlier in the day, but usually a scope is required. In the channel, binoculars are all that is necessary, and some folks have had them quite close.

Today they were in the channel, part of the time working along the main pier with a group of Bufflehead, but were not very approachable. Bufflehead are still pretty common, but so photogenic.

The Harlequins drifted off across the channel and spent a bit of time at the southernmost end of the far breakwall, and then began working their way northward along the breakwall. This is one of the better shots I got.

 While I was watching the Harlequins, I temporarily lost sight of them and as a result of some quick scanning, noticed a largish shorebird on the far breakwall. I knew there had been the occasional Greater Yellowlegs reported in southern Ontario in the last few days, including one at Erieau, and figured that was what this bird was. It wasn't close, and I just got a look at it through the camera. When I got home and had the pics on the computer, I had second thoughts. I noted the rather stout straight beak and the pale gray legs.Yeowsers! That doesn't fit a Greater Yellowlegs! It must be a Willet! After careful looking through several reference books, I concluded it was a Western Willet, due to the lack of any pale pinkish colour at the base of the bill. And some references state that the Eastern Willet is strictly along the eastern coast, whereas Western Willets are the more common one inland, even though they breed in the mid-west.

Here are two of the better shots I have. The camera and lens combination works out to about 22X magnification, and with the cropping on the computer, this image is now at about 40X, so it isn't as crisp as I would like.

 After sending the shots off to Blake M, Jim B and Steve C to get another opinion to see if I was overlooking anything, the consensus was that it is indeed a Western Willet. Had I seen the bird fly, it would have been much easier to confirm, but I didn't see it arrive or leave. It was only on the break wall for a few minutes, and left when I was looking at the screen on the back of my camera.

This may be a new early record for Ontario. I have yet to find or hear about any record earlier than April 13. Considering that there have not been many shorebirds reported in Ontario so far this spring, not surprisingly due to the wintry weather, this record is even more unusual.

There have been a few other, less notable species around to enjoy. Forster's Terns are back, with half a dozen or so at Erieau in the last couple of days. I heard one or two at first yesterday, and then one was cooperative enough to land in a decent location for me.

Snowy Owls continue to linger. This one was at the end of the street that goes to the bay at Shrewsbury.

Weather ups and downs

I thought I would change my header pic. The Vermilion Flycatcher was wonderful to see, no question, but it is almost certain that it met its demise several weeks ago. Snowy Owls have been fairly abundant again this winter, with being able to find a dozen in a single day on occasion. Since there is still a bit of winter ahead of us and some Snowy Owls are still around, I thought it fitting to give one of the whitest owls I came across this winter a bit of profile before I switch to something more spring-like in a few weeks.

With all the ups and downs of the weather, I am sure the waterfowl (maybe humans also!) are just wondering what in the heck is going on. There was a lot of waterfowl around at the beginning of January. By late January, with the weather taking a nose dive, much of the open water became ice covered and some of the waterfowl disappeared for warmer climes, presumably. Then we had a warm spell, with rain, and much of Lake Erie, Rondeau Bay and the Thames River was quite open. Lots of waterfowl returned, and this time included the deluge of Snow Geese along with a few Ross's and Greater White-fronted Geese. Then the polar vortex hit us about a week ago, leaving very little open water anywhere. The birds that did stay could be seen huddled around whatever open water there was, or in flight moving from one open patch to another. That was the state of things for most of this week, so I went looking for open water to see what was there.

A trip to St. Clair NWA proved fruitless. Everything in view was frozen solid, with not a single duck or goose to be seen anywhere, not even in the surrounding fields searching for food.

I moved on to the Jeannette's Creek boat launch at the Thames River. Different location, but same story.

Next stop was the mouth of the Thames River at Lighthouse Cove. Surely there would be something there, even if it was just a handful of the domesticated Mallards!

And there they were. Not the domesticated Mallards, but more than a thousand waterfowl. Unfortunately they were packed in to a relatively small opening in the ice, about 400-500 metres from the viewing point. They were stretched out in a long line, so this first image just shows a portion. Beyond the waterfowl is ice right to the horizon!

An initial quick scan determined that most were clearly Canada Geese, not surprisingly. A few Tundra Swans were mixed in. A closer look is always worthwhile, and in doing just that, I came across a few Canvasback, Mallard, Greater Scaup, Redhead and a single American Coot. And Snow Geese.

It seems that Snow Geese are scattered with almost every flock of waterfowl in extreme southwestern Ontario right now. I counted about 28 Snows, and also saw at least 4 good examples of Ross's Goose, plus at least half a dozen Ross's X Snow hybrids. Unfortunately with the bright sun reflecting off the snow and ice playing havoc with the camera's ability to focus clearly over that distance, the image above is the best I got.

I moved on, deciding to head towards Lake Erie. Given the alteration of the landscape, it was not surprising to find clusters of non-native birds.

European Starlings and Rock Pigeon

I noted a Muskrat out at the edge of a field, nibbling away at some of the recently exposed grass.

 At Erieau, there was some open water in the main channel and part of the harbour area towards Rondeau Bay. Ducks and geese there were a-plenty, although not often close enough for the photographic results that I was hoping for.

I only saw 6 American Coot. The numbers have dropped considerably from the ~4000 that were in the area on the Christmas Bird Count in late December.

American Coot

There were small groups of Bufflehead.

Bufflehead

 And small groups of Common Goldeneye.

Common Goldeneye

A coupe of Hooded Mergansers were around, but a long way off, so they went unphotographed, as were the Red-breasted and Common Mergansers I saw. There were small flocks of ducks waaaayy out in the lake beyond the ice pack. It seemed like they were scaup and mergansers. Three Bald Eagles were observed well out on the ice as well....two adults and one that appeared to be a fourth-year bird, so not quite a full adult.

On the return home, I stopped in at the warm water outlet of the Chatham water treatment plant along the Thames River. It was a good decision.

The winter resident Belted Kingfisher was still there, perched on a branch right over the water outlet. I could park close enough and open the car door so as not to spook it.

Belted Kingfisher ♀

 A male Green-winged Teal was swimming around. This is the first one I've seen since the SCNWA Christmas Bird Count on January 1.

Green-winged Teal

 A single male Wood Duck was close to the river bank. Others have seen a couple of Wood Duck there in the last few days, but since there are other open spots along the river in less accessible areas, it was probably elsewhere at the moment.

Wood Duck

Now that another spell of warm weather is upon us, it will be interesting to see what else has been lured to this area with the promise of spring!

It's snowing geese!

With the warm spell of a few days ago, the waterfowl returned in considerable numbers. Geese in particular are getting a lot of attention, but not the usual Canada Geese. We've had a ton of Snow Geese, including lots of the darker morphs known as blues, to enjoy. Numbers as high as 200 have been seen, but since there are so many and they are often on the move to some extent, it is hard to know exactly how many are around. I know that number pales in comparison to the tens of thousands that show up in extreme eastern Ontario in the fall, but it is a very good number for this area. The only time I remember a larger number in the Rondeau checklist area was back in the very late 1960s, when there were a couple of thousand that came through for a few days in the fall. A hard north east wind had blown them off their usual course, and they were making use of the corn stubble fields in the south Chatham-Kent area. They would fly almost right over the house that I grew up in on their way from the bay to the corn fields. That was back in my hunting days, and a couple of my buddies and I were successful in getting two or three birds.

On Tuesday of this week, they were coming to their usual field along New Scotland Line, which they had been using for at least a week. Often they were a kilometre or more back from the road, but every once in awhile, at some point in the day, they would come fairly close....sometimes less than 100 metres from the road. They did this on the second time that I stopped that day. Just as I pulled off the road, I noted several groups of them headed straight for me, and some landed as close as about 80 metres! Unfortunately, it was a dull, snowy, drizzly day, and even at that relatively close distance, the images were not as clear as I would like. But you have to take what you get.

And when they got close enough, and I looked at some of the images more closely on the computer, I realized I had captured some of the Ross's Geese as well as some Snow X Ross's hybrids.

Snow Geese

Snows and Ross's and Canadas

 There could be as many as 4 or 5 Ross's or hybrid Snow X Ross's in this next image.

A Ross's Goose looks like a smaller version of a Snow Goose, with the following differences: smaller of course, about the size of a large Mallard; shorter legs, a rounder head, a stubbier bill, no 'grin' patch on the beak; bluish purple colouration at the base of the bill; a more vertical feather line at the base of the bill.

Of course unless you see things really clearly and from the best angle, not all of those characteristics are necessarily visible. A photo only shows that singular fraction of a moment in time when the shutter clicked, and you can't get multiple angles from one photo. To make things even more complicated, Ross's Geese hybridize with Snow Geese, so any or all of those characteristics can be more like one species than the other.

Unfortunately these images which were taken on that snowy, drizzly day are less than clear. But they do seem to fit a decent version of a Ross's

 This next one shows the closest goose to be about the size of a Mallard, shown in the foreground at the right. It maybe a little pudgier, but most characteristics fit compared to the Snow Goose just behind it.

 And a similar one with a Mallard and Snow Goose for comparison.

There have been Greater White-fronted Geese at the Ridgetown Sewage Lagoons, which I showed on my previous post. And lots of ducks on the mostly open water of Rondeau Bay, including large rafts of Canvasback.

But that was earlier this week, and with the arrival of very cold weather again, it is a different story out there. A trip today, under brighter and clearer conditions was in order. The bay is mostly frozen. The swans were still around, but widely scattered along the far edges of the ice. The Snow Geese were all packed in to a tight group, but a long way out. This group was at least a kilometre away from the closest viewing point at the end of the LTVCA trail. I counted 142 Snow Geese, although there likely were a few Ross's and hybrids mixed in, but too far away to tell.

 These shots aren't quite as sharp as I would like, partly due to the distance and there is some thermal affect from the sun reflecting off the bright snow and ice. But it was partly due to the camera.......

A side note: late last fall, I was experiencing some auto-focus problems with my Canon 7D2, which sometimes resulted in it stopping to focus altogether. It was only by turning the camera off, taking the battery out, waiting a few minutes and putting things back that it worked the way it was supposed to, at least temporarily. So in early January, it was sent in for repairs under warranty. I got it back last week, only to discover that it now failed to show any information in the viewfinder regarding ISO, shutter speed, f/stop, etc. So back it went to the repair facility. I got it back yesterday (Wednesday), so it was a quick turn-around, and today I wanted to try it out. It seems like everything is back the way it should be, but I now need to go through the Auto Focus Micro Adjustment, which is a really useful way to fine-tune the focus and match the individual camera to each lens. Going through the AFMA steps will be done soon!

Tundra Swans in flight, Snow Geese on the ice

 

I included a trip to Erieau, thinking that the increase in ice cover would concentrate ducks in the harbour area. There were a few American Coot hanging in there, with 17 seen. The numbers have been dwindling over the last little while. It is a far cry from the ~4000 that were there in late December! With the arrival of even more cold weather in the next few days, who knows how many of these few will survive!

Canada Geese were around in small numbers as well.

A highlight was seeing this male Hooded Merganser in the harbour, but it didn't stick around long.

Common Mergansers were, well, fairly common, and by far the most abundant duck close to Erieau with at least 100.

Bufflehead weren't really quite paired up yet, but the males looked dazzling and there was definitely some courtship in progress.

I was hoping that the Harlequin Duck and Long-tailed Duck were still around, and they might be, but weren't showing themselves. With the extreme cold over the next 2-3 days, I expect that the entire bay will be frozen over again, so birds that decide to stick around will be even more concentrated.

And now, I'm off to AFMA my camera.