Mega bird rarities of the Rondeau checklist area

Back to the rare birds series, and here is hoping that the production of this blog post is a little smoother and less problematic than the previous post! Nonetheless, I need to do a bit of revising since some of my birding friends have pointed out some things that I should have considered in my first version. Thanks, guys!

With 365 species of birds on the Rondeau checklist, there are some birds that are extremely rare, with maybe only one or two appearances in spite of the intensity of birding there over the past century or more. There are some species that I just don't have any photos of that fit into this mega rarity category, including species such as Passenger Pigeon or Eskimo Curlew, obviously, but also others that are not extinct and would include White-collared Swift, Thick-billed Murre, Northern Gannet and Northern Wheatear. The swift was seen by a single observer. The murre and the gannet were way before my time at Rondeau, and when the Wheatear showed up, I was out in southern Alberta. Maybe someday I will get have the privilege of seeing these species and get photos as well.

But here are 17 species that I would place in the mega rarity category that I do have photos of. Some of them will appear near the end, in what I consider a "mega-mega rarity" category due to their very unexpected presence. A quick note here: as often as possible I have included photos of the birds actually seen at Rondeau, but in a few cases, which will be noted, they were taken elsewhere.

This first photo is of a Cinnamon Teal. There are about three records for the Rondeau area, and two of them are from birds that were shot during the autumn waterfowl hunt. Identification of them in the autumn is much more challenging, and it is possible that there are records that have been missed. There has been only one record of this species in the spring breeding plumage, in the 1990s. The photo here was taken in southern Saskatchewan in July, 2018, with a single bird surrounded by Wilson's Phalaropes.

There have been a few, scattered records of this next species, Glossy Ibis. In fact one of my earlier birding memories at Rondeau was seeing 4 of these out along the South Beach while on a birding trip with the park staff, back in about 1966. The bird shown here was taken in May, 2019, at the Keith McLean Conservation Lands just outside the park.

Lark Bunting, shown next, has only been recorded on 2-3 occasions. I have not seen this species in the Rondeau checklist area, but did see one in Essex a few years ago. This photo was taken in July, 2018, near Grasslands National Park in southern Saskatchewan.

 Little Blue Herons show up in Ontario from time to time. However there have been very few records for the Rondeau area, less than half a dozen. The one below showed up along the causeway just outside the park in late August, 1982 and stayed around for a little more than a week. There have been a few records since, usually in late summer, but nothing that I have come across since 2000, where one was seen from August 26 until September 14, during which time it was reported by numerous birders.

 There have been a few records of this next species, Sabine's Gull but it is often very hard to come by. Records across Ontario are not plentiful, but with all of the waterbirds that come through Rondeau, it is a bit surprising that we only had the first record in November, 2007 following some stormy weather. I didn't see my first one in the Rondeau area until 2015, shown below. It was seen in the Erieau area, and the south beach of Rondeau is in the distant background here.

This next species, Sage Thrasher, could almost be considered in the mega-mega category. Prior to this one that occurred in April, 1981, I believe there had only been one accepted record for Ontario. I discovered this bird well out along the Marsh Road while I was trying to track down a Louisiana Heron. I did not immediately identify this bird, and even after I got several far more experienced birders to check it out, (e.g. the late Norm Chesterfield, Alan Wormington) and we all scratched our heads, did we decide it was a Sage Thrasher. The bird stayed around for at least three weeks along the southern half of the Marsh Trail, and since it was the first real opportunity for Ontario birders (and many birders beyond Ontario) had a chance to see it, there were probably well over a thousand people who trekked out to look for it. It isn't the greatest photo as it has been scanned from a slide. Due to its rarity and celebrity status, I didn't want to venture too close and risk scaring it. Of course the photo equipment I had at the time was not as high a quality as I eventually acquired. The likes of the late Dennis Rupert and Jim Flynn, both expert photographers with high end equipment, got better photos. An interesting little side story to this bird record is that because of its fairly extended presence, about a month later I had the opportunity to spend an hour or so birding along the Tuliptree Trail with none other than Roger Tory Peterson and one other Ontario birder.

 While the bird in the previous photo was the second Ontario record, Chatham-Kent, and specifically Rondeau, was to enjoy the presence of other Sage Thrashers over the next few years. This next photo was taken at the southern end of Rondeau in the early summer of 1985, of a bird that was only present as far as we know, for a couple of days. A few years later, a bird showed up in the winter in the Wallaceburg area. And in 2008, I had one on the Christmas Bird Count out on the Marsh Trail! I think I can safely say that I am the only one who has seen 4 Sage Thrashers in Chatham-Kent.

Members of the Flycatcher family are well known for their sometimes erratic migration, and they can show up most often in the late summer. Our first record for this next one, a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, was in 1987 not far from Blenheim. Another record was in the early 2000s just outside of Rondeau, which is the bird that I saw briefly. The bird shown here is of a nice adult which I photographed in southwestern Missouri in 2009, a place where they are much more likely to be seen than in southern Ontario.

There have been a handful of records for Yellow-crowned Night-Heron in the Rondeau area, but for some reason, none in the last two decades. This first photo shows an adult that appeared along a slough on the Tuliptree Trail in May of 1990 and was seen by at least a few folks.

 This next one is a photo of an immature bird that spent some time in a slough just south of Gardiner Avenue and was seen by many over the course of the day or so it remained.

 Western Grebe is a species that for some reason is not often encountered in the Rondeau area. In fact this is the only record, and it occurred off the south beach of Rondeau in mid June of 2013. I trekked out the South Beach to get this photo. It was also seen by a few birders from Erieau, but only with 'scope views. This species likely passes through on rare occasion but is just missed, as it is seen with more frequency at the eastern end of Lake Erie and the western end of Lake Ontario.

The next few bird records are what I would consider to be "Mega-mega" rarities, although it is a personal choice as some of them aren't really any more rare than ones in the first part of this post.

There are relatively few records of Black Skimmer anywhere in Ontario. I believe there are no more than three, including the one shown here. It was present at Erieau and the south beach of Rondeau for several days in September of 1981. I think the only previous Ontario record was a flyby along Lake Ontario, and only seen by one or two birders. The bird here was seen by many especially since one could drive up to the edge of the pier and 'peer' across the channel to see it surrounded by various gulls.

There is only one or maybe two records for Brown Pelican at Rondeau. I have not seen it in the Rondeau checklist area, although the one shown here I photographed in Chatham-Kent at Wheatley harbour in late August, 2013.

There is one record for Burrowing Owl, a bird which showed up at the McGeachy Pond area back in late June of 1977. It was around for a couple of weeks. I saw the bird, but did not get any photos. The photo shown here is one I took at Grasslands National Park, in southern Saskatchewan, in June of 1986.

 The following dead specimen is of Cassin's Kingbird. I found it along the southeast beach in late November of 2013. Although it is now on the park's checklist, no one can count it since it was already dead when discovered. As mentioned previously, members of the flycatcher group are known for showing up well out of their range following, presumably, a mis-direction in their migration. I seem to recall that this bird was only the second or third record for Ontario. I think there has been one since.

 Still on the mis-directed theme associated with flycatchers, this next one fits as well. It is a Say's Phoebe, a western species found in late September of 2018, in a farm yard a bit north of Erieau. Interestingly this was the second one of this species for the Rondeau area, and credit goes to the Burks, Jim and Keith, who found both of them. The first one was in another farm setting only a couple of kilometers or so east of this one. I only got some distant photos of the first one, so will use photos of this second sighting which turned out much better. Way to go guys!

I'm not sure how many Western Tanagers have been discovered in southern Ontario, but they are very few and far between. The one shown here occurred at the southern end of Lakeshore Road at Rondeau in mid-May of 2011. Fortunately it was in prime time for many birders, so although it didn't stay around for a long time, it was seen by a fair number of birders.

During the general mid-summer lull of birding, this next one was discovered in very early July of 2012. It is a Magnificent Frigatebird, and it was present in the Rondeau area for a few days. The best views were from a boat off shore of the South Beach (thanks Ric & Anne!) as it perched at the top of an Eastern Cottonwood tree for several hours. It was apparently first seen a few kilometres east of Rondeau during some Canada Day celebrations the day before. There have been a very few records of this species showing up briefly in southern Ontario in the years before and after this record. It is likely that such birds got caught up in some severe hurricane type storms that arrived from the south and got blown well north of their normal more tropical range.

Last, and certainly not least, of the Mega-mega rarities is this next one: Great Kiskadee. It is not a species known for meandering beyond their normal range of the extreme southwestern USA and Mexico and even farther south. So for this one to show up and cooperate/tease/tantalize thousands of birders for a week to ten days at a time, off and on from early September until early December of 2018, was nothing short of phenomenal. It is the first Canadian record, and since it spent its entire known time at Rondeau in the north end, including the beginning of the Marsh Trail, and the southern end of the campground, birders who put in a bit of time were guaranteed to have satisfying to excellent, if not crippling, views.

There will be a couple of articles in an upcoming issue of Ontario Birds, the official publication of the Ontario Field Ornithologists, so for any member of OFO, be on the lookout for it. One article has been written by Laura Rainbow Dragon, the finder of this incredible bird, while I have written a related article discussing a bit of background on this species and some extralimital records.

There are a few other species which I would love to feature as part of this series, including Tropical Kingbird, Black Rail, Lazuli Bunting, Gyrfalcon, Bell's Vireo, Bewick's Wren, Swainson's Warbler, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Painted Bunting, etc. but I have yet to get photos of them. Perhaps in a future post if I am so fortunate to photograph them!

Excellent Early Winter Birding!

I have always really liked the Brooks Falls photo that has been on my header for a few weeks now. However I thought that with the Great Kiskadee continuing to fascinate birders far and wide with its presence at Rondeau since at least going back to September 7, it deserved being highlighted again.

While it is not yet winter officially, at least by the calendar, the weather is certainly typical of early winter. For bird listing purposes, the beginning of the winter period is December 1. Hence it is a great time to get some lingering migrants or whatever happens to be sticking around. And it is worthwhile checking out things as much as possible in preparation for the upcoming Rondeau/Blenheim Christmas Bird Count.

A couple of early morning visits to Rondeau from about daybreak, have been cold, but rewarding. Of course the presence of Great Kiskadee, the first for Canada, is very much a target species for the bird count. There have been people out every morning watching and waiting, with varying degrees of success. Sometimes it is heard and seen within a few minutes of leaving its roost; other times one needs watchers to spread out and check the places it may be at. On one occasion this past week when it left the roost quickly and moved off, it took at least a couple of hours for anyone to find it again. And even then, views were challenging due to distance and poor light. This first photo is the view at the equivalent of about 10 power binoculars. Not exactly ideal.

 Cropped to the equivalent of about 60 power, it looks better.

Yesterday the bird left its roost quickly, heard by one person only. It was only after about two hours when Jim and Blake found it while they were checking out the campground. It was a nice bright sunny day, but quite cold as the overnight temperature had been to about -7C. I'm sure the kiskadee was wondering what the cold was all about, but at least on this day it was able to soak up some sunshine. It was content to bask at this location for about 20 minutes or so before flying south towards the maintenance yard.

White-tailed Deer are usually returning from the more open eastern side of the park as daylight arrives. I guess they can read traffic signs....

 ....but when they realize people are close by, decide to move to more sheltered areas.

The cold caused various birds to spend a bit of time warming up in the sun, allowing them to be approached more closely than usual.

 Cedar Waxwings are moving about in small groups, feasting on berries such as these rosebush berries.

This Red-tailed Hawk was surprisingly tolerant of birders right close by.

 A White-eyed Vireo has been present for awhile in the vicinity of the maintenance yard, roosting and feeding in the white cedars lining the fenced area. Normally the species is not common in Ontario at all, although it has nested at Rondeau before, but all of that species should be a long way south at this time of year. If it sticks around and is counted next week, it will be the first record for this bird count, and one of the few bird count records for the province. I had one on the Pelee Island bird count back in the early 1990s. Often this bird is in the shadows of the cedars, flitting about quickly, making photography difficult. Yesterday it was quite cooperative for a time, and at one point it was in the bright sunshine and as close as about 5 feet, which was too close to focus on! I backed off a bit, and the next time it came out in the open sunshine, I had much more success.

 It was finding something to eat, but we couldn't tell what it was.

 Another species that is not often found at this time of year, although a small number is typically recorded for the bird count, is this next one: Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Its relative the Golden-crowned Kinglet is more abundant as the season goes on. There were several Ruby-crowns in the north end of the park yesterday.

 At the north end of the campground is a feeding station at a cottage, which has had a few birds using it in the last couple of weeks, including a female Baltimore Oriole. A few of us have had brief glimpses of the bird, but it does not stay out in the open for long. Here, a birder is heading around the street to check on nearby conifer trees which the oriole seems to prefer hanging out in.

 Two or more Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers have been in or near the campground lately. This next photo shows a young bird working away on some holes it has drilled. If it is waiting for some insects to be attracted to it, it might be a long wait. But if it is going to suck the sap, it will be okay.

 White-throated Sparrows are still around in small numbers.

 The local resident population of Pileated Woodpeckers can be notoriously difficult to find on count day. Most years we get one or two, but not always.

There is a new conservation area just northeast of the intersection of Talbot Trail (Hwy 3) and Chatham-Kent Road 15. It isn't large but has a nice mix of planted hardwoods, pines and some open grassy areas. It was planted under a woodlot improvement agreement with MNR back in the early 1990s. The owners, Sally and Jack Foster, recently donated it to the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Area, and it is known as the Bannerstone Conservation Lands.

Yesterday just before leaving the park I got a text from Jim and Steve indicating they had found a Long-eared Owl in the pine plantation, and provided very detailed directions on how to find it. Apparently it was being scolded by chickadees and kinglets, always helpful in finding roosting owls. I got there a few minutes later just after Jim and Steve left, and followed the directions. I couldn't find any owl. After 20 minutes or so Keith came by, also looking for the owl. We scoured the area carefully, and even after Keith phoned them to make sure we were in the right area, there was still no Long-eared Owl to be seen. We broadened our search and came across an owl, but not a Long-ear. It was a Northern Saw-whet Owl!

As is often the case, branches etc are often in the way, but I was able to get reasonable focus. Interestingly Jim came back a little later and couldn't find either owl, and when Keith returned an hour later, the only raptor he found was a Sharp-shinned Hawk. A classic case of birds on the move, so there is never a guarantee of finding them, even in their roost.

Keith had told me of some Turkey Vultures feeding on something at the back end of the Blenheim Golf Course, so that was my next stop. Sure enough, from Harwich Road I could see two vultures feeding on a Raccoon carcass.

The Raccoon population has been fairly high recently, and canine distemper is running rampant. If you see a Raccoon wandering around erratically in the daytime, chances are it might have distemper, and when it gets to that stage, it apparently cannot be treated successfully. Virtually all affected animals will die sooner or later. Fortunately the disease is not transmitted to humans.

My last intended stop of the day was at the Stefina Line pasture. I have seen Northern Shrikes there in the past, as well as Short-eared Owls, among other things. With the pasture being grazed up until recently, the grass height it isn't ideal for the owls, and it seems there are very few small songbirds that might interest a shrike. I had seen the Sadler brothers checking out where the creek comes up and under the road, but they didn't stay long. We chatted briefly as we were going in opposite directions, and they went on their way. In a matter of minutes I was at the creek and didn't see anything either, so decided to 'pish' to see if any small birds might pop up. Almost immediately I saw a bird heading straight for me from a distance and at first thought it was a Mourning Dove, but as it approached I quickly realized it was a medium-sized shorebird. It plopped itself down in the wet grassy section of the creek bed and there was a Wilson's Snipe, a mere 20 metres or so away. This spot has attracted a snipe on a regular basis in the winter, and it is often the only one we get on the Christmas Bird Count. There's no reason to not expect it to stick around, but actually seeing it on the count day isn't a guarantee.

If the Baltimore Oriole, White-eyed Vireo and Great Kiskadee remain and are seen in the count week or on the count day, we will add three new species to our overall list, which considering we already have about 191 since this count began in 1939, will be amazing! Stay tuned!

Winter Kiskadee

The Great Kiskadee adventures at Rondeau continue. This mega rarity has gone AWOL before, and had last been reported on Nov 9. In spite of local birders being on the lookout for it on regular visits to Rondeau, including at its usual haunts, the bird eluded us. That is until Dec 2, when two birders were walking down the Marsh Trail a bit before noon and saw it at the usual former canal along the north end of the trail. The discovery was reported to the staff at the Visitor Centre, which fortunately was open that day, and the word got out to others almost immediately. It was seen for a short period before going into its disappearing act once again, but this time only for a few hours. It was heard by several of us towards the end of the afternoon in the vicinity of the maintenance compound. Then it went silent, and we had no idea exactly where it went.

Bright and early the next morning, well as bright as a heavy overcast day with a hint of precipitation can be, several birders were stationed in what we thought were the most likely places it might appear at. After about two hours, we heard it, then saw it briefly as it flew north east over the maintenance compound. It continued by wing as we pursued it on foot, continuing in its northward trajectory. Then we briefly lost it, only to find it again heading into the campground. Was it looking for a vacant campsite? Probably not, but this was the first time any of us had seen it this far north in the park, even though it was only a short flight from its usual area. Is it possible that it had spent some of its time there after it disappeared in early November? Possible, but considering the amount of time that local birders had spent combing the campground in recent weeks for late migrants, or early wintering species, it would be a bit surprising. Regardless, there it was. But it was almost constantly on the move, rarely spending more than 30 seconds in one spot before moving on in what was a large circling route. We did get some distant views of the bird, and even fewer photos, also from a distance. This first one is cropped to the equivalent of about 60X, and with the bright, bland background, is nothing more than a record shot.

It eluded us for awhile longer, but we all thought that the best chance of re-finding this bird was to stake out the area immediately south of the maintenance compound. As the afternoon arrived and then wore on, there was likely a bit of uncertainty felt by the dozen or so birders who were committed to the task of waiting the bird out. And then it was heard, and seen where we had hoped. First it was down low over a slough and then it went and sat fairly high in an open deciduous tree branch facing us. The bright yellow belly was quite visible even against the bland sky, although binoculars were a necessity to truly appreciate it. At this point, it sat relatively motionless for about 30 minutes, and never made a sound.

It was apparent that being as motionless and silent as it was, and so high up, it would have been easily missed by even the most careful and observant birders. Who knows how often birders had walked by within view of it over the past several weeks when it was not reported?

After awhile, the bird flew downward and off towards the beginning of the Marsh Trail, and a few of us followed it as best we could before losing it again. It was seen briefly along Water Street feeding on berries before flying back towards the maintenance compound, presumably getting ready to enter its still unknown overnight roost.

It will be interesting to see if this bird can be found for the upcoming Rondeau/Blenheim Christmas Bird Count in less than two weeks. Given the weather that it has survived through already, and its omnivorous diet of berries, tadpoles, dragonflies, leeches and undoubtedly a few other things, we have no doubt it can survive. But will it be seen?

While on the lookout for the kiskadee on this day, a few other noteworthy birds were seen, including White-eyed Vireo, (Western) Hermit Thrush, Eastern Towhee, Baltimore Oriole, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Gray Catbird. Most were seen by only one or two others who happened to be at the right spot at the right time which is all so typical of birding. I was only able to catch up to the sapsucker and catbird, the latter species noted skulking amongst the dense honeysuckle shrubbery across from Lot 17240.

Kontinuing Kiskadee, etc

The Great Kiskadee, which first showed up at Rondeau in early September, continues to be seen daily, at least if there are a few folks out looking for it. The first few days of its known presence resulted in many hundreds of people visiting the park to see this first for Canada occurrence. After about a week, it seemed to have disappeared, but after several more weeks went by, it was seen again in much the same place.

Typical spots for it during the last few weeks include the old canal between the cottages along Water Street and Rondeau Bay.

It has also been seen along Water Street, sometimes at the very south end bend by the last cottage, where sloughs are adjacent to the road. With all the rain of recent weeks, the sloughs have quite a bit of water in them, so there is a lot of habitat for the Kiskadee to search for tadpoles as it was seen doing in September along the Marsh Trail.

When the Kiskadee is in the shrubby and vine covered habitat, it invariably is perched so that a branch or three are partially obscuring it. At these times it becomes almost impossible to get a decent photo.

 As the season progresses, there will be fewer and fewer tadpoles and frogs to feed on, so it may not be as needful of these small bodies of water. Recently the bird has been seen feeding on berries, of which there are many kinds in the profusion of shrubs and vines that Rondeau has to offer. Dogwood, spicebush, Virginia Creeper and poison ivy are all abundant, although the myriad warblers and thrushes that have already passed through have picked off many of the berries. Nonetheless, there are still oodles of berries which may provide sustenance for the Kiskadee for awhile yet.

Just yesterday, Steve Charbonneau who has been at Rondeau almost daily for weeks and weeks, reported seeing the Kiskadee over on Harrison Trail south of the pony barn, feeding on berries! He speculated that the bird may have spent a fair bit of time wandering elsewhere in the park during its several week hiatus from the Marsh Trail from mid September to early October, including by the log pond along Harrison. That area does not get much coverage by birders at this time of year, so could have easily been missed. There are hundreds of hectares of what appears to be suitable habitat of this type available to the bird, so maybe it will survive until the Christmas Bird Count on December 16. If it does, the challenge for birders will be to be able to track it down on that day, so stay tuned.

There are lots of other birds still around, or recently arrived. American Goldfinches seem to be abundant.

A few more northern winter finches have appeared in small, and widely scattered numbers. These include Evening Grosbeak, Common Redpolls and Pine Siskins. I haven't seen any in the last time or two I've been at the park, but others have reported them. Of course most of the birders reporting them have much better hearing than I have, so that can make a difference.

American Tree Sparrows, many of which will remain for the winter, are showing up in increasing numbers.

There are non-bird things to see along the way, such as squirrels busily scrambling around for more seeds and nuts to put away for the winter.

In other news, the shorebirds at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons are fast disappearing. Only a week or so ago there were hundreds of shorebirds of at least 10 species. The Hudsonian Godwits were a major attraction with as many as 5 present for a few days. It was hard to get more than three in the camera frame at any one time.

HUGO trio

HUGOs with yellowlegs for comparison

 It was getting late for Semipalmated Sandpipers, but at least two or three remained until a few days ago.

The last visit by anyone, as reported on eBird, resulted in only 4 species of shorebird, totalling a mere 16 individuals.

Snowy Owls are reappearing. Of course an occasional one from last winter was still found somewhere in Chatham-Kent at least until the end of July, an unheard of event. But for the last couple of months or more, they have been nowhere to be found. That is until the last few days, when Snowies have appeared in the Pain Court area, where this photo was taken.....

....as well as northern Chatham-Kent and just north of Erieau. Perhaps another invasion of Snowies is in the works.

While driving around, there have been other things along the way, including this immature Bald Eagle feasting on a dead critter well out in a field.

 And now that more and more fields are being harvested, leaving at least a bit of grain scattered on the ground, sometimes there are huge flocks of blackbirds on the move and swirling around. This one flock I encountered while out looking for the above pictured Snowy Owl I estimated to be at least 35,000 birds. The majority were Red-winged Blackbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds, but I also saw Common Grackles and European Starlings mixed in. I was hoping to get at least a glimpse of a Yellow-headed Blackbird, and there may well have been one or two, but I did not pick any out this time.

A small portion of ~35000 birds