Eagles, eagles and more eagles

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a great day to be outside. Although at one point the temperature inland reached 18C, it barely got to 8C out at Rondeau once one was exposed to the wind coming off the ice of Rondeau Bay......there was still a fair bit of ice, and the water wouldn't have been much warmer.

I wanted to get out to the south end of the Marsh Trail at Rondeau to see what the eagles were up to. I had suspected that the nest that the one pair had been using for the last few years was no longer there. This is the very distinctive nest tree within about 200 metres of the Marsh Trail.

photo of 2014

In checking more closely yesterday, this nest tree is indeed gone. Presumably it got blown over in one of the fierce wind storms of last fall. Of course it is an ill wind that doesn't blow in something good, and those storms resulted in some memorable birds such as the invasion of Franklin's Gulls, the Sabine's Gulls, etc.

But for the eagles, it presented a problem. Fortunately they decided to move to a nearby White Pine tree that they deemed suitable and built the nest....perhaps this tree is not quite as sturdy as the previous one, but it may work. At least it doesn't have as much foliage at the top to catch the wind, so maybe it will last. Yesterday, one adult eagle was on it for awhile, with the other adult perched in a dead tree not far away.

photo of new nest, 2016

I decided to hike out to Long Pond and then to the very south end of the trail, a total hiking distance of about 8 kilometres. There were thousands of waterfowl out on Rondeau Bay, with the usual mix of divers and puddle ducks, but also including a single male Eurasian Wigeon. A wigeon with a brick red head is nice to see, but was too far away to photograph, unfortunately, so a 'scope view was all I was able to get.

A couple of Sandhill Cranes emerged from the marsh, giving their trumpet tremolo.

Land birds were beginning to build. There were several hundred Red-winged Blackbirds, not surprisingly, and all males.

A few American Robins were around....I saw probably at least 50 in the park, but only a small number on the Marsh Trail which isn't there prime habitat.

There were a few Swamp Sparrows lurking furtively in the lower cattail vegetation, but none cooperated for the camera. Same for several Song Sparrows. But the good number of American Tree Sparrows did not let me down.

A year or so ago, it seemed that a second pair of Bald Eagles had established a territory in the expanse of the Rondeau Marsh, right near the south beach at the edge of the forest. At first I wasn't certain if it was just a second nest by the known pair, as sometimes they will build one or more other nests. This may happen when one of the adults dies and a new one enters into the pair. But yesterday I saw a pair of adults in a tree within 100 metres of the nest tree at the south end, so it is apparently a separate pair. The birds are about 1.5 km from where I took this shot, so with the thermal shimmer, distance and heavy cropping, it isn't all that sharp.

Much to my surprise, I came across a third pair! I saw an adult perched in a tree at the Rondeau marsh/bay edge, where the cormorants have recently taken up nesting. While watching the one adult, another adult flew into view, went to the water's edge, then to the edge of the marsh where it picked up a stick, and flew up to a small tree and proceeded to work away with it in the largest nest structure of that tree cluster!

This image shows the two adults, at quite a distance, and if you look closely at the right hand side of the image, there is a white arrow that points to the largest nest structure. Clearly this is not the kind of tree that I would expect a pair of eagles to build a nest in, but who knows? It may just be an early attempt that will be for naught. Or they may attempt to occupy this nest and raise young. Or eventually move to a better tree before wasting too much time with this flimsy structure. I expect that the presence of the other nests in the trees, made by cormorants, may have stimulated the eagles to try it out. At any rate, it will be interesting to see if anything comes out of this apparent nesting effort.

It was during the first half of the previous century that there were typically two pairs of Bald Eagles nesting at Rondeau. That dropped to one pair by mid-century, and didn't increase back to two pairs again until likely 2014. Now it seems that a third pair is trying to get in on using this large marsh/bay complex, which would be precedent setting as far as I am aware. It certainly seems that with the increase in the area's Bald Eagle population which I described a couple of posts ago, it may not be all that surprising that a third pair is around. It would seem that there is adequate territory, as the nests are all at least two kilometres from each other. All of the pairs stuck pretty much to their nest area during the entire 4+ hours I was out there.

It is also interesting that a 7th eagle, a sub-adult, was around yesterday, too, but well away from any of the three nesting pairs.

Another reason I wanted to get to the south end of the trail was to see how the controlled burn for Phragmites turned out. I mentioned this event a couple of posts ago.

I was impressed! I haven't seen this swampy ridge this clear of vegetation ever, and hopefully the nasty Phragmites that used to be here will be less of a problem for a few years. Maybe it will give park staff a chance to attack the many other areas in the interim where Phragmites is dominant.

After leaving the park, I decided to swing around by the Ridgetown Sewage Lagoon. There was a good variety of ducks, and several hundred Canada Geese, but only a couple of dozen Tundra Swans. However at least 5 Greater White-fronted Geese were still around.

Spring is trying to get here!

Spring is teasing us, but is not here to stay yet. The waterfowl are building up in diversity and overall numbers, in response to the improving weather, longer daylight and promise of better weather to come. As Rondeau Bay and the lake become more ice-free, the birds are a lot farther out, and difficult to identify let alone photograph.

Erieau is always worth checking out. I've been looking for the reputed Harlequin Duck, but so far it has stayed in hiding whenever I am around. Others have been more fortunate, but then again some of them (Jim B, Steve C) live closer and check the harbour front more frequently than I do. So I take some solace in photographing things like American Coot, as they are comical and cooperative, sticking pretty close to the interior part of the harbour. As the ice increases during a cold spell, their movements are more limited. It seems that there are only a few remaining of the ~4000 that were around before Christmas. I saw 14 today.

They are normally plant eaters, but when they get really hungry, as I am sure they are right now, they will eat whatever they can survive on. This next image shows one picking away at some fish remains. But it didn't get much of it, as a Herring Gull swooped in moments later and took off with the fish.

 There are usually a few Bald Eagles out on the ice, feeding on fish or crippled ducks. I saw this one just north of Shrewsbury, only a few hundred metres from a possible new nest site. This bird is not quite a full adult, which normally takes 5 years. This one is likely into or approaching its 4th year.

In a healthy population, eagles will not normally breed until their fifth year, but where there are empty territories as there is now, some birds will breed at age 4. There have even been records of eagles attempting to nest at age 3, but I don't think they successfully fledged any young.

One day while I was at Erieau, I looked across to Rondeau and noticed the south end of the marsh going up in smoke. And that was a good thing.

Prescribed burn of the Rondeau marsh

As many of you know, Phragmites is a very aggressive, non-native vegetative form that has taken over many wetlands. One of the few methods of keeping it somewhat under control is by spraying an approved herbicide to kill as much of it as possible, then rolling it when it has died, followed by burning it to remove the extensive thatch so that any stems that were missed can be seen during the next growing season. These will be hit with a subsequent touch up herbicide application. It is far from perfect, but it is about the best approved option to keep it from taking over completely.  Hopefully in the next growing season or two, the natural cattail vegetation will return, and as that happens, it will be more conducive for declining species such as Black Tern to nest successfully.

Black Tern at nest

The pair of Trumpeter Swans was still around as of a few days ago. They aren't normally migratory, at least not to the same degree as the Tundra Swan which is so abundant around here these days. Perhaps the Trumpeters will remain to nest as they did historically.

A recent visit to Rondeau included a walk along the southeast beach area. I hadn't been there for a few weeks, and I was surprised to see how much more exposed this recent historical feature was.

 In looking at it from the north side, it is apparent that it is closely associated with a large slab of concrete, which is visible at the right side of the next photo. The concrete slab is all that is left of the former campground office, which was operational until about 1972/73 when late that fall and early spring, the high water arrived and flooded the campground. The campground was closed except for a very brief time in the late summer of 1985. But by 1986, the campground was closed for good. The large block of concrete was probably all that remains of a vault toilet attached to the camp office.

The South Point Trail has few birds along it at this time of year, but once the spring migrants begin to arrive it will be a priority for checking out. However the feeders at the Visitor Centre are always worth stopping by, even if only to see some of the regular winter visitors.

In thinking of Blue Jays, note that the Grapefruit League games of baseball's spring training season have now begun! And I read just today that the Blue Jays logo was considered the best logo of all the baseball teams. I'm sure that could be debated hotly, but that is way beyond the purview of this blog.

Pine Siskin

The Ridgetown Sewage Lagoons continue to attract a dozen Greater White-fronted Geese, eleven of which are shown in this next image.