Some first sightings of the season

 I have been a bit busy working on a project which I hope to announce soon, but have still been able to get out and see some of the new hints of spring. For example earlier this week, I saw my first butterfly of the year, a Mourning Cloak. This species overwinters as an adult, so on a warm day, it can suddenly appear. It wasn't all that warm, a mere 4C but sunny and with very little wind; still it was a nice hint of other thingst to come.

In the bird world, I now have seen 5 species of shorebirds in the last little while, with things like Pectoral Sandpiper.....

.....and Dunlin being the latest arrivals this week. Actually a Pectoral Sandpiper had been seen by others a week or two ago, but I never caught up with it.

Dunlin, while typically being one of the latest autumn shorebirds to be seen (we got one on the Christmas Bird Count last Dec), the date of seeing this one yesterday is unusual. In checking sightings on eBird, this individual seems to be the first one of the season here in Ontario.

Both of these shorebirds were observed at the Erieau Marsh/Rail trail, and there is always a few species of waterfowl to be seen. In fact there are often thousands of ducks within binocular/scope view as they rest on the bay before heading off to their breeding ground. Most are too far away to bother with a photo, but some of the 'puddle ducks' are close enough to give them a shot.

Blue-winged Teal have just arrived in small numbers

Green-winged Teal have been around for a couple of weeks or so....

....as have Northern Pintail.

While not technically a waterfowl, I also saw this American Coot at the McGeachy Pond Conservation Area just outside of Erieau.

Mute Swans, well what can I say. If there is any open water, even throughout the winter, there will be some (too many!) around. This one is just resting on a mud flat along the Erieau trail. Some are even on their nest already.

In other swan news this escapee, the Whooper Swan, continues in the Erieau area, either on the bay or in the roadside pond on the way to Erieau.

Continuing with the swan topic, I was at the Mitchell's Bay South Shore trail yesterday and saw a lot of Mute Swans, as well as this Trumpeter Swan. It is native, and staging a comeback in Ontario. It is noticeable by its size, as large as a Mute Swan, but with a large, all black bill and a wide black area just in front of the eye.

Continuing with the waterfowl theme, I finally caught up to Greater White-fronted Goose. There had been a few seen here and there for several weeks, but never right where I was. That changed yesterday when I saw 11 of them at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons. I met another birder there, and together we managed to locate them at the far end of the lagoon site. They allowed us to approach, slowly and carefully, to within about 150 metres before they decided that was close enough, and so flew off to another berm on the southeast side of the lagoon system. We left them alone there, and the next day (yesterday) two more had joined them.

Also along one of the two Mitchell's Bay trails, I saw two Sandhill Cranes, and they are definitely getting into breeding mode as I noted an attempt at copulation.

I also saw my first Great Egret of the year, a bit early for the species given the un-spring-like weather over the past few weeks.

A Ring-billed Gull isn't something I normally decide to photograph, but this one gave me a good setting, and it was in prime breeding plumage, so I took it!

Rounding out some new spring sightings, I added these two species of turtles: Midland Painted Turtle...

....and Blanding's Turtle.

There were actually at least a dozen or more of the painted turtles out basking, but were quick to plop off into the water before I was able to get positioned through the shrubbery to get the photo I was attempting. The Blanding's Turtle, on the other hand, was quite tolerant.

Hopefully there will be a lot more first of year sightings in the near future!

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Hiking is good for the soul

 Last evening was one of those times when it was just about perfect to be out along the trail at St. Clair National Wildlife Area. Fortunately it is only a few minutes from home, and I somewhat spontaneously decided to go out late in the day. It was sunny, fairly mild and quite calm. The sounds of birds was quite entrancing, even with my less than great hearing. I had the place to myself, other than the wildlife, so I could just soak up the amazing atmosphere without human interference.

There were lots of waterfowl in the air, coming and going in various directions. These Tundra Swans were heading out to the lake, and I thought the golden sky background made it extra appealing.

Even the few that I saw with a different background had the golden sun influencing their white feathering.

There were other birds of note, including lots of Canada Geese.

At least 5 Sandhill Cranes flew by within camera range, although not always in the best light.

The cattails were sporadically dotted with Red-winged Blackbirds perched on them, all males, and defining a territory in hopes that when the females arrive shortly, they can get into the nesting cycle as soon as possible.

A male Norther Harrier was settled into a small tree. I was hoping to get farther along the trail for better lighting, but as the photo shows, he was keeping an eye on me. Shortly after I got this photo, he flew off well out of camera range. I saw two others, both females, a bit later.

As I was leaving, I got a shot of the moon, almost full but not quite. That will occur in another day or two.

It was truly a glorious couple of hours spent in this special natural area!

Previously I had been out to the Mitchell's Bay North Shore Trail a couple of times. It is always worthwhile, especially if there is not a brisk westerly wind. Bald Eagles continue to be somewhat common, but usually at a distance. I have seen anywhere from 27-32 eagles from the slightly elevated end of the trail looking out over the lake in my last couple of visits. They are widespread, anywhere there are trees along the lake shore, or even on islands out in the lake. On occasion one may fly by relatively closely.

A good variety of waterfowl  are scattered across the lake, and number in the thousands. This Northern Pintail was at least close enough to get a greatly cropped photo of.

Sandhill Cranes are quite regular along this part of the lake shore wetland. This one flew by fairly cooperatively.....

...and a pair landed in a field near the trail.....

...with one coming quite a bit closer before veering farther out in the field.

There have been some shorebirds appear recently. Killdeer, of course, are quite regular, and I have seen a dozen or more on occasion in the Erieau area. But my hopes were to see either the Lesser Yellowlegs or the Pectoral Sandpiper which have recently been seen in the McGeachy Pond area. So far I have been unsuccessful, especially since with the recent snow and rain, the fields have rather large ponded areas giving the birds lots of area to choose from. Neither species is rare, just a bit early, so I don't expect it to be too long before I get my camera focused on one or the other.

I did manage to get a few shots of a striking duck, a Northern Shoveler.

And en route to Erieau, I have seen this escaped Whooper Swan in its new pond along the Erieau Road. It will be interesting to see how long it stays, or will the owners of the area wildlife zoo be successful in reclaiming it?

While roaming around looking for shorebirds in wet areas along Lagoon Road, I came across a rather large flock of Snow Buntings. Seeing Snow Buntings in the middle of winter, especially when there are winter storms occurring, is not that unusual. But this was a clear day and the snow and rain of the previous day or so had completely disappeared, and usually by then the buntings have returned to points farther north. I managed to get a couple of quick shots, but didn't have quite the right camera settings, so this is the best I could come up with. You might have to use your imagination, just a little.....

 

Of course I have been to Rondeau a couple of times, usually for an invigorating walk, but always with camera gear handy just in case.

A walk down the east South Point Trail got me to the water front, where I watched 4 Long-tailed Ducks cavorting and displaying. I only got photos as they were flying by.....

On one occasion as I was exiting the park, I noticed this coyote passing through some cottage lots. It was acting somewhat strange, limping a little and not paying any attention to me. Usually they are quite furtive and are seldom seen in broad daylight. I managed to get a few quick photos, and a closer look indicated why it was behaving abnormally. One cannot see the limp in a still photo, but a closer look at its head showed a possible blind eye, as well as an injury to the side of the head around the ear.

Clearly the animal was not healthy, and it may be doomed. Hopefully it does not cause problems to humans or their pets, while it is dealing with this agony and potentially its demise.

It eventually disappeared into the wooded area along the road.

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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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