Egrets, Eagles, shorebirds, etc.

 On occasion there have been some fairly sunny and bright days lately. Even a tad warmish. On those days, it is always a treat to go to places where there are wetlands, especially sheltered ones. On a trip to Rondeau, with all of the sloughs and other wetland habitats, you can hear the chortling of Wood Frogs.

You can't always find them close to the trail or boardwalk. This is a photo when that was possible on one of those exceptional days a couple of years ago.

Other frogs are out as well, including Leopard Frogs. They have a tendency to wander a bit farther from the wetlands, and aren't always successful in their road-crossing efforts.

Birds have been increasing slowly and steadily. Golden-crowned Kinglets are seen in lots of places, but due to their sometimes frenetic activity, aren't always easy to get a photo of.

Brown Creepers are increasing as well, although they never seem to be as plentiful as kinglets.

I had an invitation a few days ago, to visit a private wetland complex north of Mitchell's Bay, and within easy sight of Walpole Island. Just prior to making it all the way to that spot, I decided to check out the Mitchell's Bay North Lakeshore Nature Trail. I hadn't been there for several months, and it showed a considerably different look. The main reason was that the water of Lake St. Clair has dropped from what it was over the last couple of years, leaving lots of exposed shoreline and even mud flats. I found my first shorebirds of the season (other than Killdeer) here. I got photos of Dunlin, shown first...

.....and Lesser Yellowlegs, shown next. I also saw a Greater Yellowlegs, but did not get any photos.

I also saw about 8 Great Egrets overall, but the only place they were right together was in a mostly obscured location along the lake. Here is a trio of them that I caught en route to that lake side location.

There were ducks, and I got these photos. Some Northern Pintail were going somewhere else......

...but this pair of Northern Shoveler was a little more tolerant of me.

There were also several Bald Eagles in view, but too far away for a photo from this vantage point. However at the next stage of my destination for that day, the aforementioned private marsh, I was more fortunate. I saw at least 8-10 Bald Eagles, mostly sub-adults as the adults were likely closer to their home territory. The only one I got a sort of satisfactory photo of was this one, against an overcast grey sky.

It was actually chasing another adult, hence the fierce open-mouth cry it was making. But the photo of the two of them interacting did not turn out.

There were another 8 or so Great Egrets in this vicinity, and I got a few photos. It isn't too surprising to see so many along this part of Lake St. Clair wetlands, as there is a heronry on Walpole.

There were also lots of ducks, as usual, but not all that close at hand other than these.

Blue-winged Teal

This pair of Hooded Mergansers caught me off guard, explaining why the photo isn't in great focus.

A few Northern Flickers were along the edges.

On another occasion, I decided to walk part of the berm trail at St. Clair NWA. It was sunny and breezy, but quite comfortable. I saw a couple of Bald Eagles there, but they were well off along the tree line at the lake shore.

Most of the ducks were well beyond photo range, but a trio of Bufflehead came in right in front of the tower which I was on, and seemed to be more interested in the courtship activity rather than me on the tower.

There were lots of American Coot, at least several dozen scattered here and there....

...and right along the trail was a single American Tree Sparrow.

One of the Wood Duck boxes along the main access road to the NWA often has an Eastern Screech Owl peeking out. It isn't always this visible.

I have zipped out to Erieau a couple of times of late, mainly to see if I could catch up to the Eurasian Wigeon that gets reported from time to time. I have 'scoped the water front a few times, but it always seems to turn up somewhere else. The light hasn't always been good, but that's no reason. Here is a Horned Grebe slowly changing over from winter attire to the breeding look.

 Green-winged Teal seem to be fewer than Blue-winged, at the moment, but there are usually a few around.

 

This was an overcast day, and I almost drove by this Snowy Owl, perched on this pole having just about finished its dinner. I couldn't really tell what the menu item was, but it had webbed feet.

I went again on Friday, since the Eurasian Wigeon was reported again from Erieau. But again, no luck finding it. The only European bird species I saw was this European Starling, a common species of course, and not all that popular with North American birders. But all things considered, they really are an attractive/colourful species.

Another non-native species is this Mute Swan, a species that is all too frequently found in local wetlands. This was along the Rail Trail, and clearly the nesting season has begun.

....as it has for Canada Geese.

While I was out along this trail, this sub-adult Bald Eagle came floating by, stirring up many of the resting waterfowl.

It made no attempt to pick off anything, but eventually continued out of sight.

After the eagle departed, many of the disturbed ducks returned to the shelter of the marsh, although they were still a bit skittish. This male Northern Shoveler didn't seem to mind me capturing it in all of its breeding finery.

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Roaming Chatham-Kent in early spring

The series covering Birds of Chatham-Kent, then and now, will continue soon. In the meantime, here is an account of more recent outings.

The short-lived taste of spring a few days ago was wonderful, but not to be sustained this early. And that is fine by me. I am a big enthusiast of spring, but once it arrives, it seems to quickly transform into summer.

I meandered up along the Sydenham River in northeastern C-K a few days ago, to see if a Bald Eagle's nest I encountered a few years ago was still there. I found one, but since I didn't make precise notes on its exact location, cannot be certain it is the same one. This time I took more careful notes of its location. It is in a very large Eastern Cottonwood.

It is quite visible from the road, but at a distance. This image was taken and cropped to the equivalent of about 50X, so if you come across it, don't expect to see the eagles' activities all that closely. In fact it wasn't until I got the photo on the computer and greatly cropped it that I could tell an adult was on it. If you look closely (click on it for a larger view), you may see the front portion of the head of an adult eagle just to the right of the largest left hand branch supporting the nest.

While some birds are beginning to nest, some winter birds are lingering. It was an excellent year for Snowy Owls in late December and into early January, but due to a lack of great habitat for them, most of them moved on to other areas. I have seen the occasional one in my travels, but seldom was able to get a photo until I came across this one.

American Robins are back in rather large numbers, typical for this time of year. I see them everywhere, sometimes seeing several dozen or more each outing. Most are males, with the darker head. Females will be arriving soon, if not already, and then nesting will begin.

I've been out to Rondeau a few times, not surprisingly, in part to photograph whatever birds I can find, such as the recent arrival of many Song Sparrows......

....and watching Downy Woodpeckers going through some courtship ritual in establishing territories and attracting a mate.

Golden-crowned Kinglets are fairly plentiful, moving about the park in small groups. They are always a delight to see, but due to their constant motion, are difficult to get a photograph of. My finger pressing the camera shutter has to coincide exactly with the 1/500th of a second the kinglet is relatively motionless!

European Starlings are not the favourite bird of many. It certainly isn't my favourite either. But in their own way, they are an attractive bird as their feathers wear off to show the heavily speckled pattern. This one was feasting on some well-ripened berries of Staghorn Sumac.

While wandering the trails, I often hear the early spring drumming of Pileated Woodpecker. This impressive Rondeau resident is much less often seen, however.

Now that the ice is completely gone from Lake Erie and Rondeau Bay, there are hordes of waterfowl making use of them as most will be traveling farther to get to their nesting grounds. On one trip, as soon as I got out of the vehicle I could hear the distinctive "owl-owl-omelette" call of the Long-tailed Duck. They were a long way out, but in the calm conditions, their calls were heard easily. It is always a highlight of spring to see and hear them. This individual was relatively close, at least within a photographic distance even with extreme cropping.

From one vantage point at the south end of the park, I could see a huge raft of ducks, well out from shore. I estimated that there were around 10,000 birds scattered in a raft that stretched for more than a kilometre. Most were Greater and Lesser Scaup, Redhead with both Common and Red-breasted Mergansers mixed in, along with Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye and Mallards.  This photo just shows a very small portion of the large raft.

The woods are quiet, other than the periodic drumming of a Pileated Woodpecker as noted above. There are few, if any, hikers on the trails. It is peaceful, soothing and quite an enjoyable aspect of roaming Rondeau.

Well soothing can occur in more ways than one! And clearly someone else had been using the trail before. It is a bit surprising how often I find one of these along the trails.

But the sunny, warmish days are quite soothing in other ways, just to enjoy the tranquil nature of such forested habitat.

There were a few Red-winged Blackbirds working the sloughs, but I didn't see any Rusty Blackbirds on this trip. It is a declining species, but hopefully there will be a reasonable showing of them this spring before they move on to northern forested wetlands.

 

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