Some birding highlights in May

 The month of May is typically prime birding season, as most readers will be well aware. While the weather of 2025 has not been ideal for some migration movement, there have been some very good days, and lots of the expected migrants have put in an appearance in varying numbers.

I have been out from time to time, but not as often as I used to. The month of May has been occupied by many other things, as it was just a year ago, that my wife and best friend of almost 48 years passed away. Monday, May 26, is the exact one year anniversary of her passing. Regular readers will be aware of a special blog I posted a few days after she departed from her earthly life, and you can read that blog at this link. Life has not been the same since, of course, and I may have more to say about that later in this post.

However I do try and get out on occasion, and have seen a good assortment of the mostly expected migrants. One of the highlights is to encounter my first of the year Acadian Flycatcher.

Several of the flycatchers in the Empidonax genus look fairly similar, and it always helps when you hear them vocalizing. This particular bird did not vocalize while I was within earshot, but its appearance was spot on, and it was persistent in hanging around this species prime habitat, and exactly in a place where I have found nesting birds over the last several years. So I feel 99.9% confident in it being an Acadian Flycatcher, and I will be out checking this location periodically.

Some other regular species, and certainly some that are a little less common, include the following.

Another member of the flycatcher family is this one, an Eastern Wood-Pewee.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Next is a Cedar Waxwing. It is an erratic species, and I have seen very few this winter and spring, but on this occasion I encountered at least a dozen flitting around some newly leafed-out trees.

A much less common warbler, in fact it is a Species At Risk, is this Canada Warbler....

...while Black-throated Green Warblers are much more abundant....

...as is the brightly coloured Blackburnian Warbler, one of my favourites,

Next is a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, hard to photograph as they are constantly on the move looking for insects to feed on.

Bay-breasted Warblers, are typically a little later to show up in the migration period.

Baltimore Orioles can sometimes be abundant, seeing several dozen in a day without even trying. Of course some will remain to nest.

Hairy Woodpeckers, shown next, are permanent residents, but can sometimes be hard to pin down for a photograph.

Next is a Least Flycatcher. It looks quite a bit like the Acadian Flycatcher, shown at the beginning, but it occurs in much more open forest edges, looks a bit grayer, and when it gives its distinctive 'che-bek' call almost repeatedly, is easy to confirm.

Another member of the flycatcher family is the Olive-sided Flycatcher, which is just a migrant in this part of Ontario. They usually perch in open areas, fairly high up on a dead branch, and sometimes can be heard calling for 'quick, three beers'. I have yet to see anyone delivering beer to this bird, but they keep calling :-).

A frontal view shows a bit of its grayish vest, and it doesn't have a white eye-ring that many of the smaller Empidonax flycatchers have.

Another permanent resident that occasionally will be visible long enough for a photo is the Pileated Woodpecker. They are always fun to see, and photograph.

One of the bird species that the majority of birders visiting Rondeau are hoping to see is the Prothonotary Warbler. It is an endangered species, and fortunately Rondeau has lots of suitable habitat. It was first discovered nesting in Canada at Rondeau back in 1929. I have been following this species in various ways at Rondeau for more than 50 years, and I have a rough draft of a booklet in preparation to feature this iconic species. I got the first draft completed in early2024, but as mentioned previously, the rest of 2024 and since has carried on with a much different set of priorities. I still hope to complete the booklet, as there is an important story to tell, so stay tuned. Maybe it will be done in time for the 2026 birding season!

Prothonotary male

Prothonotary female

Certainly a popular bird, although not particularly rare, is the Scarlet Tanager, shown next. Most will continue on their migration farther north, but there are always a few that remain to nest.

On one occasion as I was hiking the west South Point Trail, I came across this carcass along the edge of the trail. It is a Turkey Vulture, and it had been there for at least a few days, as one could detect the decomposition smell....

...as could a few of its fellow vultures. In a tree above the carcass, as well as a few soaring above, were at least 9 vultures that had also detected the decomposition 'fragrance'.

Yellow Warblers are one of the most common warbler migrants, and it nests fairly abundantly here. It is hard to believe that back in the 1970s, it was on the Audubon 'blue list' as a species of concern given what was then, in declining numbers. It certainly has rebounded well!

Yellow Warbler back view

Nashville Warbler

Quite common, especially in the early part of the warbler migration parade, is the Yellow-rumped Warbler.

The rufous morph of the Eastern Screech Owl continues in its American Beech cavity, although it is getting harder to see due to the developing leaves.

Elsewhere, some shorebirds are showing up, such as this Dunlin....

...and this one is keeping an eye on the sky, on the lookout for a predator perhaps?

Hanging out with the Dunlin were a couple of Least Sandpipers. Due to the legs being in the shadow of the bird's body one cannot clearly see the distinctive yellow legs, but they were yellow.

Great Egrets are always nice to photograph, and large wetland areas along Lake St. Clair are usually productive since the species nests at some of the offshore islands or a bit farther north at Walpole Island.

And Sandhill Cranes are regularly heard, if not seen. A few will remain to nest in some of the larger wetland areas fortunately for birders and photographers.

Wild Turkeys are widely scattered across the landscape, as well as at Rondeau.

I came across this egg of a Wild Turkey along the Black Oak Trail of Rondeau a few days ago, suggesting it is a recent hatch.

As mentioned near the beginning of this post, life has taken on some very challenging and different directions especially in the last year or so. As a result, while I plan to continue Nature Nuggets, I may venture into another blog which will feature many of the things not totally related to the Nature Nuggets theme. The plan is to discuss so many things related to my ongoing life journey, including many things that I could never have planned for, but that will hopefully be apparent when I get to the stage of adding that blog. When it comes out, I will reference it here in Nature Nuggets, so interested readers can have access to the information that it will cover. So many thoughts and ideas are floating about in my mind, and I have started to itemize many, but I need to get them organized before jumping into it, so stay tuned!

 

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A western visitor and more local denizens

 The highlight of birds in the past few days was the presence of an Eared Grebe. Although this species does show up in various places in Ontario in most years, it is largely a species that breeds in the western half of the continent and roams a bit farther afield on fall migration. It is not reported in Chatham-Kent every year. This individual was at the Keith McLean Conservation Area, in one of the ponds which were established a year or so ago. I watched it for awhile, and it would pop up at one end of the pond, then disappear and show up at the other end. On occasion it would be across the pond from me. It never came very close, so there are all heavily cropped images.

A bit of time at nearby Rondeau turned up a few interesting things, as usual. I went part way out the newly refurbished Marsh Trail. It was nice to get back out there after it being in such significantly deteriorating condition over the last couple of years. Kudos to the Rondeau Waterfowlers group for getting this done.

I didn't photograph a lot on this visit, but did see a Merlin perched on a dead limb a long way up......

....and this Song Sparrow that perched for a short time, showing that it was missing its tail.

Along some of the uncut grassy areas in various parts of the park, mostly on the east side, there are some of these orchids showing up. They are just getting underway, as the latter half of September is when they are in their prime. It is the Great Plains Ladies' Tresses (Spiranthes magnicamporum), a rare orchid in Ontario, but fairly regular and sometimes common at Rondeau. There are other members of the Spiranthes genus to be found, but most of them occur a bit earlier in the season in similar grassy areas, and not all at Rondeau.

I spent a bit of time on one promising day at the Morpeth Cliffs, a well-known local spot to watch the hawk migration in the fall, especially when the winds are primarily from a northern direction. I managed to see at least a couple of hundred raptors on the move in the hour and a half I was there, but they were mostly way up high, and difficult to even see without binoculars let alone identify them. I did see various species, such as Bald Eagle, Broad-winged Hawk, American Kestrel, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, Northern Harrier and of course, Turkey Vulture. There could have been others. My photos were hardly worth taking, as the birds were so high and the camera had difficulty locking focus on. Here are a couple of my more successful ones, greatly cropped, such as they are:

I went over to the Erieau Marsh Trail, but only photographed these next two subjects. This hatchling snapping turtle was crossing the path. A cyclist had just come through moments before, and fortunately did not run over the little critter. He wasn't moving, so maybe he was still in shock. I picked him up and put him on the far side of the path, in the direction he was going.

A Double-crested Cormorant gave me a photo op.

The shorebirds continue at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons, although I haven't spent much time there as the species mix remains fairly constant. In my limited time there, I got these shorebirds:

Greater Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Greater in the back, and Lesser facing the camera

Stilt Sandpiper

A Northern Harrier cruised by a couple of times, and I managed to get some decent photos showing the facial features as well as the white rump. This would appear to be a female, or possibly a youngster.

Checking out the Mitchell's Bay North Lakeshore Trail often provides some nice photo ops, especially for heron types, and occasionally for others. A recent venture to that trail resulted in the following:

Great Blue Heron

Several Great Egrets were around in various locations, some of which provided some good photo settings for me.

There were two Green Herons, which always seem to be skulky, and did not pose in good light.

Double-crested Cormorants were quite abundant, but mostly well out on the Lake. This one liked the quiet water of an inner channel......

...at least until it thought I was getting too close.

Checking out St. Clair NWA can be worthwhile almost any time, but getting photos that I am happy with don't always happen. Here are a couple from my most recent visits. Two Sandhill Cranes landed a little way away, but in some fairly thick cover, while another half a dozen flew in and landed elsewhere.

An Olive-sided Flycatcher was perched at the top of a dead branch, and against the bland sky, was not the kind of photo I was hoping for. Maybe next time.

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