Mitchell's Bay North Shore Trail

 The Mitchell's Bay North Shore Trail is one of my regular places to go to, especially in the summer. It is open, usually a nice breeze, fewer bugs, and always a few things to see and photograph. And it isn't that far from home.

For anyone not familiar with this trail, this is what it looked like when I took this photo in April of 1989, as I was giving some folks an aerial tour of the district.

 The wetland had been altered, obviously, to create more edge and what not. It has changed a bit, but the canals are still there, although somewhat filled in, and they aren't as sharply delineated as this photo shows. There is a gravel trail that goes out through one of the stands of cattails, and is a little higher elevation, which gives a great view of Lake St. Clair. The trail also goes south and ends at Mitchell's Bay village, following the shoreline. This next photo was recently taken from the slightly higher vantage point, looking northwest out over the lake, with Walpole Island First Nation in the background. There is even a picnic table to rest at and spend as much time as you want, watching the ducks, geese, cormorants, egrets, gulls, eagles, terns, etc. moving around.

 Great Egrets are almost always seen, from early May until freeze-up. Sometimes they are perched on something along the shallow water edge....

...or sometimes up in a tree fairly close to the trail. They must feel a little safer higher up.

 A cormorant swims by in the canal adjacent to the trail....

...while a Green Heron partially hides in the vegetation out in the shallows.

Shorebirds can be around, depending on water levels of course. Here is a Greater Yellowlegs....

...with a Killdeer nearby.

Sandhill Cranes are often in the area, although sometimes just seen flying well out over the lake. The wind turbines in northern Essex County are visible out in the back ground.

This shows that shorebirds can be seen in close proximity to one another, as in this next photo, a Solitary Sandpiper is on the left, then a Lesser Yellowlegs in the middle and a Killdeer on the right.

A closer look at a Solitary Sandpiper, not a species that ever seems to be very abundant.

There is some Phragmites along sections of the trail. This sparrow popped up and got my attention. It isn't a typical plumage, but appears to be a partially leucistic plumage of a Song Sparrow. Leucism is the result of a lightening of the feathers, as opposed to albinism, the latter of which results in some or all of the feathers being white, and the eyes, legs and beak are pink.

Along with the Phragmites, there are other plants, especially as in the last decade and a half, some of the land areas have been planted with tallgrass prairie species. Of course when flowers are blooming, butterflies can be found, such as this Viceroy.

Purple Loosestrife, can be abundant, unfortunately.....

...and this next photo shows a view across the canal along the trail, and the Purple Loosestrife can be seen in the foreground, with numerous taller Cup Plant in the background.

Cup Plant

Another non-native, but fairly abundant species is Velvet Leaf. It is quite common anywhere near roadsides or agricultural fields.

The next two species are definitely tallgrass prairie associates.

Missouri Ironweed

Indiangrass

Great Blue Lobelia, next, is native but a generalist.

And other critters will be found on the flowers such as:

Goldenrod Soldier Beetle

Arcigera Flower Moth

Another prairie plant species is American Senna, next, but is pretty much finished flowering now.

Various critters can be found along the trail, including a few Bronzed Tiger Beetles...

...and Differential Grasshoppers, which are a species at risk, but quite abundant here. They are on the gravel path... 

...or resting in the adjacent vegetation.

This Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly was quite cooperative resting on the bent over stem of Indiangrass.

So there are a few things to see along this little used trail. Sometimes there are people from the Mitchell's Bay village hiking or biking along the trail, but sometimes I have the trail all to myself for an hour or two. I don't mind a bit :-).

 

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3d outings, Nelson's Sparrows and waterbirds

 First of all, I must apologize for not responding to some of the comments that readers have left on the past few posts. For some reason unbeknownst to me, this blog site periodically goes into a funk, and even though I can post blogs and comment on other's blogs, it does not allow me to reply to comments on my own blog! It will eventually straighten around. At least it always has in the past.

On to this post. 

There has been quite a mix of weather these last few days, ranging from wonderful sunny, bright, comfortable days to what I call 3d days: dull, damp and dreary days. I've been out in all types. Sometimes I choose to go out on a 3d day, as I know the places I want to go will not be crowded. On a couple of those that occurred recently, I went for a long hike at Rondeau. On one of them I didn't even take my camera with telephoto lens, just the camera with a short zoom lens. And also an umbrella.

Some readers will be familiar with the term 'forest bathing'. It is becoming more popular, although it is not a new type of outdoor experience. While some attribute it to an experience first developed in Japan in the 1980s, in reality it has been going on for a lot longer than that! I expect that the intensely driven nature of Japanese society to be productive following the war, might have caused some to realize the dangers in such an intensively driven society, and thus realized the benefits of spending relaxing time in nature. But the reality is that humans have been finding comfort, relaxation and inspiration, and therefore many health benefits, for centuries. It just wasn't called forest bathing.

I have been doing it for decades. I intentionally choose places where I am least likely to encounter other humans, especially if there is a lot of human activity on a nice day. 3d days are ideal. One can walk along at a very leisurely pace, soaking up the ambiance of the quiet woods. Or one can go along at a brisk pace, stopping along the way when you want, but getting good cardiovascular benefits as well. If one is out for long enough, both brisk and leisurely time can be done.

I typically try and get about 5-7 km in a walk of this type. Sometimes hiking this far or longer on a 3d day I might only encounter 2-3 people, and then only briefly as the cyclist is going the other direction. As mentioned above, I have been out to Rondeau a couple of time with this in mind. On the occasion when I didn't take my long lens, the only photography I did was to capture the quiet greenery of the forest.

Without focusing on birds, one may notice some of the other inhabitants of the forest. While some might consider them 'lesser' inhabitants, I don't, as they all contribute in the way that they were intended, and without them the conditions of the forest might be quite different!

Fringed Gentian

New England Aster

 Some, unfortunately, will not be around anymore, but the scavengers and decomposers may get some benefit.

Northern Watersnake

On other occasions, I have taken the telephoto lens with me, and encountered scattered flocks of migrant birds. Under the shaded canopy, and with numerous leaves to contend with, getting good photos is not easy. Most photos ended up in the deleted file.

Blue-headed Vireo

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Most of the migrants are busily, even frantically, feeding on whatever they can find, to gain enough energy to continue on their southward journey. Sometimes they get into some rather unconventional positions in their search, which may or may not end up successful. This Black-throated Green Warbler was getting into all sorts of positions looking under the leaves for a tiny morsel of something.

There are lots of berries still clinging to the shrubs and vines that produced them. Dogwoods, Viburnums, Wild Grape and Virginia Creeper are some of the most abundant berry producers, but the one shown next is that of Winterberry, not a very common species here at all. While it likes to grow in damp locations, which there is a lot of at Rondeau, I only know of it occurring in about three locations. These berries seem to be popular, and will not last long with all of the berry-eating migrant birds passing through these days.

On another occasion, Marie and I spent some time hiking the Mitchell's Bay North Lakeshore Trail, and also the southern trail. I find the north trail a bit more enjoyable, as it is less busy and with better view points to appreciate what is along the trail. Parking can be a challenge, however. Very few people, even birders, explore this trail. Nonetheless, almost 140 species of birds have been recorded here.

The trail has been upgraded in the last year. It was closed for most of a year, due to high water damage of the dyke much of it is built on, and this visit was only the second one of the year for me. The trail has had a good layer of crushed stone on it, with one part of it leading to a slightly higher viewpoint looking over Lake St. Clair and the south end of Walpole Island First Nation. There is even a picnic bench at the end, to make spending time at the viewing point more comfortable. Thanks to the municipality of Chatham-Kent for maintaining these trails!

One often will see Great Egrets here, not surprising since there is at least one sizeable nesting colony at Walpole.

Ospreys don't nest anywhere nearby that I am aware of, but given that it is their time to migrate, birds passing through will make use of the watery environment from which to catch their next meal, as this one has done.

As long as there is open water, one will almost certainly see anywhere from one to several dozen of the non-native and problematic Mute Swans.

The Keith McLean Conservation Lands just north of Rondeau continue to be productive for birds. While the water levels are down from the past couple of years, at times migrating shorebirds and others make good use of the more limited flooded field habitat. I have stopped there a couple of times as well, and had good success at finding and photographing some of these migrants, including:

American Golden Plover

Greater Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Stilt Sandpiper

Long-billed Dowitcher

 Long-billed Dowitchers are not common, but show up annually in small numbers, at least for a few days. I came across two birds on my second last visit.

 

 Up to a dozen Hudsonian Godwits dropped in for a short time a day after one of my recent visits. Most left, but at least three remained, and on a subsequent visit, I managed to get a very distant photo of them. It is highly cropped. The godwits are to the right of the smaller, single Killdeer, with their heads down feeding in this photo.

Great Egrets are regularly found here as well, although not usually very cooperative at close range.

Turkey Vultures pass through daily right now on their migration, with some sticking around for a short while.

On my second last visit, I saw some small sparrow types that I suspected could be Nelson's Sparrows, but they were furtive and I never got conclusive looks at the. Other birders were there the next day, and confirmed seeing several. As a result, there has been a fairly steady stream of birders spending time here to search for them, and as far as I know, always with some success. Since I was going to the park for some black lighting last Friday, I went a bit earlier to also search. The soybean field along the natural area had been harvested, and the weedy edges along that field that seemed to attract these shy, elusive sparrows, was gone. Fortunately there was enough habitat elsewhere, and in a more concentrated area, to keep the sparrows from moving on. I did manage to see not one, not two, but eleven Nelson's Sparrows! It was a breezy time, and since the birds didn't sit atop the vegetation for their views, they were always a little lower, and with the wind blowing the weedy vegetation back and forth so steadily, it was difficult for the camera to lock focus in time for a clear photo. This first one is one of the 'better' out-of-focus shots I got. Many others were quickly deleted.

Fortunately there were a few photos that I was pleased with.

This next one has two birds, with the front one being in relatively good focus, but partially obscured by vegetation. Another bird is in the blurry background to the left.

I was definitely more satisfied with the results this time. Last year, while there weren't quite as many as far as we know, I did not get a single photo that I was pleased with.

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