Black-necked Stilts, Pelicans, Phalaropes, June flowers and...Orchids!

 I really had planned on getting more posts out in June, but it has been busy! Lots of the normal things to deal with, and I have been getting back into black lighting in a much bigger way than the past 2-3 years. It involves a lot of preparation time, actual black lighting for hours at a time, and then 'recovery time' as well as processing hundreds of photos. I will be including a black lighting post or two over the next month, which happens to be Moth Month. I am also preparing on a post regarding the saga of Prickly Pear Cactus at Rondeau, which is more complicated than it might seem. And of course taking time to get my head around, and produce the occasional post in my Life Is A Journey blog.

With that being said, this post might be a little longer than average, as there is so much to catch up on. Most of my efforts have been concentrated in the southern part of Chatham-Kent, but also includes a couple of forays to search for orchids elsewhere in C-K and beyond. 

Bird migration has slowed down, but there have been some interesting things to see. I mentioned Dickcissels having arrived in CK in my previous post, and they continue to be present there, as well as at other places. For example some friends who have a combination woodlot and planted prairie a bit north of Blenheim have had at least two pairs of Dickcissels present, and I spent at least a couple of hours quite recently watching and photographing them. They weren't often very close, but I managed to get some fair photos, with the first one showing a nicely coloured male in full song. What is handy about this species is that it will sing fairly frequently throughout most of the day.

The female, shown next, isn't up and nicely visible nearly as often as the male, as she is likely tending the nest. Her markings are more subdued.

Much more common than Dickcissels are Savannah Sparrows, and they occupy very similar habitat. I saw at least a dozen of them in the vicinity.

At the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons, there has been a pair of Black-necked Stilts busily feeding in one of the cells. The male is on the left, and has the black back....

...while the female has more of a brownish/black back.

Also at these lagoons, there was quite an 'invasion' of Wilson's Phalaropes earlier in June, at least 5 mated pairs, which I featured in my previous blog. After most of them left, there was a single male still present for several days. For this species, after the female has laid her eggs, she will typically leave the area in search of another mate, and the male will carry on with the incubation of the eggs in a grassy nest, and raising the young. I had hoped that this might happen since a male was present for several days after the female disappeared, but as far as I am aware, nothing like that happened. 

Male Wilson's Phalarope

Perhaps the mowing around the cells, or perhaps the greatly fluctuating water in the sprinkler cells was not conducive.  At any rate, my last two visits to these lagoons did not have any phalaropes present. I am aware of only one occasion when nesting of this species actually occurred here, as they are mainly a much more western species. But back in about 1980, there was a nest and I managed to get a photo of the male sitting on it.

Another unusual wetland bird species showed up at the Keith McLean Conservation Lands for 2-3 days. It was an American White Pelican.

It must have felt a little out of place, as even before I got very close, I could sense that it was getting restless. In just a few moments it got up and flew out to Rondeau Bay but I managed to get a few heavily cropped photos.

Much more common bird species are this one: Field Sparrow, a pair of which perched reasonably close by, enabling me to get this photo of the pair. They were busy flitting about a fairly large area, which must have been their breeding territory, but at least one periodically came back to this perch.

While the spring wildflower varieties have tapered off somewhat, there are still a few of the usual, mostly colourful ones present, and some are in fair abundance. This first one is False Indigo Bush, a bit of a provincial rarity, but unofficially introduced to Rondeau by someone.

A naturally occurring rarity is next: Green Milkweed. It doesn't seem to be as abundant these last few years, so I was pleased to see this one.

Much more common are:

Bladder Campion

Canada Anemone

Fringed Loosestrife

Ground Ivy

Pale-spike Lobelia

Hairy Beard's-tongue

Poke Milkweed

These next three often get the attention of even the casual walker:

Purple Flowering Raspberry

Wood Lily

Butterfly Milkweed

 One may encounter other elements of wildlife as one travels around. First off is a type of dragonfly, likely a White-faced Meadowhawk due to the season and the relative commonness of this species although the actual face cannot be seen to know for sure.

Lots of these little guys around, and on occasion they will even sit long enough for the camera.

Much less common is this next one: a Blanding's Turtle, which is a provincial rarity. It was crossing the main road in the Rondeau forest, seemingly out of its normal wetland habitat.

Finally, a bit on some successful orchid hunting. Earlier in June I ventured into northern Lambton Co, hunting for some specific orchids. I had hoped to find a Ram's-head Orchid, with the known location being the most southerly location in Ontario for it. But it was not found. However a Pink Lady's-slipper is always a treat to see, and usually are farther north in Ontario than where I venture most of the time.

Next is Hooker's Orchid, a much less colourful orchid, and I have seen it at Rondeau but not for many years. It may still occur, but I don't spend as much time off the trails as I used to, due to the risk of Lyme Disease.

At Clear Creek Forest Prov Park in eastern CK, I caught up to these two orchids. First is Large Twayblade, a provincial rarity.

More widespread but less showy is this Fen Orchid.

 That does it for this post. Hopefully the next one will show up sooner!

 

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(Mostly) Bird highlights of late January

 Since winter hasn't gotten all that vicious yet (and hopefully won't get too vicious!), there are still birds around. Some which you expect, and others that definitely aren't normally here.

Water birds are the most likely to be found. Along the Lake Erie shoreline, flocks of ducks are regularly noted flying by, usually well out of camera range. Mergansers, bot Common and Red-breasted, are still around in good numbers, as are some scoter species.

Common Mergansers

Most Wood Ducks are long gone by now, but this one is hanging around the Thames River with several dozen Mallards, feeding on things that people put out for them on the river bank.

A water bird that really shouldn't be here, but four of them were still around a few days ago, is the Great Egret. When I was out to the Jeannette's Creek boat launch on the weekend, I saw not one, but all four of them. Three were together, but one left when I stopped the vehicle, with camera in hand.

I caught up to the fourth one a little way down the mostly frozen canal.

Snowy Owls have become more reliable in the last dozen or so years. It used to be quite a novelty to see even one other than in an irruption year. At least in the former Dover Twp, it isn't all that hard to find at least half a dozen on any given day, as long as the landscape remains fairly snow free.

Still on the subject of owls, I roamed around the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons yesterday to see if I could scare up a Short-eared Owl that had been reported from time to time. After a lot of walking to check the berms and grassy fields, I did literally scare one up. And immediately the crows in the area noticed, and began mobbing it. The owl climbed higher and higher and eventually I lost sight of it. Due to the heavy overcast, I only got a couple of record shots, shown here, and even these have been greatly processed and then cropped to the equivalent of about 85X.

These three muskrats didn't have to worry about the owl or the crows, it seems, as they were busily feeding on some vegetation at the edge of one of the cells.

Roaming around Rondeau hasn't been especially birdy lately, although it is still great for a nice vigorous and refreshing hike. As in previous visits, one sometimes is lucky to see more than one species per kilometre of walking. But on occasion, one will encounter a flock of sparrow types which are worthwhile checking over carefully. Most will be American Tree Sparrows, but sometimes a lingering Chipping Sparrow or Field Sparrow will be mixed in. I came across a couple of different flocks of sparrows in the park, and each one had two or three Field Sparrows, as in the following photos.

Next up, I plan to feature Northern Bobwhite!

Glossy Ibis, Eared Grebe and other bird highlights, part 1

There is so much to see and photograph these days. Many birders have taken these last few days off and spent many hours a day birding. For various reasons, I have only been out to Rondeau 2-3 times in the last week, but still managed to see quite a bit. Of course warblers are one of the main draws, as the ~30 species pass through in large numbers, even in the thousands some days, and it is always a treat to see 20-25 or more of these species in a single day. But there are so many other birds and things to feast ones eyes on, and this post will highlight some of those that I have tracked down or stumbled across.

One of the highlights of these past few days was the Glossy Ibis that was discovered at the Keith McLean Conservation Lands, just north of Rondeau. It was not an easy bird to catch up to. Many birders stopped and checked, without success, according to eBird lists. The small parking lot was often fairly full. I did eventually see this bird. The usual vantage point to look over the wetland and see it required trudging through a bit of water, especially on those days when Rondeau Bay, and subsequently the KMCL was affected by high water levels due to the wind. Even the pathway to the observation tower was under water. And once you got to the top of the tower and managed to see where the bird was, this first photo was sometimes about as good a look as one would get. Certainly not great, and this was at an equivalent of about 16X.

Glossy Ibis, the dark spot in the centre

Not being satisfied with such a poor view even after waiting for awhile and hoping the bird would come out from behind all the dead cattails, I decided to walk around to the bridge. This was not easy considering the amount of water and mud one had to slog through. The trail was totally underwater and very muddy, as were the field edges. But the angle of view was better, and once I got to the bridge and walked along the edge downstream looking back, this next photo is the best I could get, still at about 16X.

Obviously it was an improvement, and after waiting a bit longer, the bird wandered to a point where it was even more out in the open. The second photo below is at an equivalent of about 96X, not super sharp but the best I was able to get. Fortunately it was overcast, so the light was a little more even without the harshness to contend with.

This bird would undoubtedly be a life bird for some who saw it, and a new Chatham-Kent or Rondeau bird for others. I had my first observation of this species back on May 22, 1971 along the south beach, where 4 of them had been present for several days. There haven't been very many at Rondeau in between then and now!

An Eared Grebe in prime breeding plumage has been at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons for several days. It is possible that it is the same one that was at Erieau a couple of weeks ago. The bird has been very reluctant to give satisfying photo opportunities even with good telephoto equipment, so I dug out this photo of one I took in Saskatchewan in 2017.

 The White-winged Dove continues at various places along Lakeshore Road south of the visitor centre. No sign of a mate yet, but there have been several other reports this spring in southwestern Ontario, so it still may happen.

 On some days there has been a profusion of brightly coloured birds, such as Scarlet Tanager.....

 ......and Baltimore Oriole.

 Orchard Orioles are far less common, since southwestern Ontario is more or less at the northern extent of their breeding range. It is nice to get a photo or two of them in a natural setting.......

 ....but it sure doesn't hurt to have a few oranges around!

 Pine Siskins have been hard to come by this winter and spring. I got my first one of the year this past week, at the Visitor Centre feeders.

Red-headed Woodpeckers have been in serious decline for a few years, and in some years it is hard to find a single one even though they used to be a fairly common breeding species here. For some reason they have been a bit more abundant this year. On one day, I saw 4 birds.

 With all the low wet spots in the park, Solitary Sandpipers are enjoying the conditions even if campers and hikers are not. This one was in an otherwise unoccupied campsite. I didn't see that it had a permit.

 Thrushes are fairly plentiful. This Veery was apparently much more intent in feeding along the Warbler's Way Trail (still not used to that name.....) than it was with the birders close by.

 House Wrens are busily cleaning out old homes, in preparation for a new season.

 The cooler weather on some days meant insect activity was closer to the ground, and that meant that insect eating birds such as this Great Crested Flycatcher was down at eye level or below instead of way up in the tree tops.

 A nice surprise was to find out about this roosting cavity of an Eastern Screech Owl along Bennett Ave. Screech Owls are fairly common in Rondeau and elsewhere, but finding a roosting hole that is visible from the road is a treat. A few weeks ago while I was calling for owls one evening just a hundred metres or so from where this owl is, I had 4 Screech Owls responding. Chances are this one was one of those calling back to me.

 While walking the trails, one has to be aware of some of the park's residents also on the trail. This Eastern Garter Snake must have been just warming up, as it did not move at all, and enabled me to get this photo from less than a metre away. I literally had to step right over it, and it never even flicked its tongue out.

 On one occasion my birding colleagues and I were searching at the north end of the park for a reported Brewster's Warbler. While that particular effort was not successful (more on that in the next post), we paused at the road and saw a Cooper's Hawk fly in. It was a male and had something in its talons. It proceeded to pick away at it very briefly. After a bit of chittering, another Cooper's Hawk flew in, this one was a female, and almost immediately they got a little romantic. Copulation took place, as depicted in the next photo.

 The male left and the female ate what remained of the bird, which appeared to be a young robin.

 When she was finished with the robin, she picked up a twig and flew off to a White Pine, where we noticed a nest. She is in the nest in this next photo. A close look will show her tail sticking out of the nest just to the right of centre.

 One evening as the wind was quietening and the sun was setting, I decided to take a walk out the Marsh Trail. The high water and regular pounding of the waves has caused a great deal of damage to this road. This next photo was taken from about the same location as where the Great Kiskadee was first discovered last September. It is looking north, a little way south of the last cottage, which you can see the top of here in the upper right hand corner.

Rondeau is a dynamic sandspit, and this is nature in action. It is a bit hard to believe, but as recently as the early 1970s this road was about 100 metres from the edge of the bay, with some excellent semi-open marsh in between. Now the waters of Rondeau Bay are cutting right through the road as this photo shows.

The most heavily damaged section of the road is in the first 400 metres or so south of the last cottage. From there on, it is more or less the same as it has been, at least for now. I must admit that I felt a bit melancholy while walking this damaged area. Having access to the marsh trail has been such an incredible opportunity to explore parts of the vast ~400 hectare (1000 acre) Rondeau marsh over the decades. Being able to drive out or bicycle out the 7 km trail has provided numerous fabulous experiences, and with the continued high water levels, who knows what the future of this road/trail might be?

Regardless of the current conditions, it was a very pleasant walk, so I went as far as the main parking lot. There were a few warblers, sparrows and thrushes, and even a couple of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds staking out territory at a willow tree just coming into flower. Nothing really out of the ordinary, but it was wonderful to have most of this 5-6 km hike to myself, with terrific light and very little wind, and just the usual marsh trail inhabitants.

Field Sparrow

 I heard a Least Bittern and Virginia Rail from somewhere in the depths of the marsh. Brown Thrashers were calling from the shrubbery and tree tops. Flycatchers, including Eastern Kingbirds, were present. Marsh Wrens were heard scattered amongst last year's cattail vegetation. A Green Heron and Great Blue Heron flew over the marsh surveying their domain. At one point a Great Egret must have been startled when it found out it had to share part of the marsh with a human, and so it squawked and flew up into a dead tree to survey the interruption to its feeding.