Cattle Egret, Purple Sandpiper and more common birds to enjoy

 Undoubtedly the highlight bird for me in recent days, is the presence of a Cattle Egret. There has been the occasional report of one somewhere in southern Chatham-Kent over the last couple of weeks, but this one stuck around for at least a few days, giving many birders a successful outing.

It wasn't always easy to find, and usually it was patience that made it successful. The bird could be quite well hidden for great lengths of time, and then all of a sudden be seen in flight heading to one of its preferred feeding areas. As far as I know, it was either at the edge of a pasture with cattle, or more likely to be in a hay field with rather short vegetation, or on occasion, even on a lawn nearby. On more than one occasion, a Northern Harrier that was hunting close by gave the egret cause for alarm, and it would fly off to another spot, but given that the hay field was large enough, would stay within sight of the road side where birders congregated.

I saw this egret on several occasions as I was going back and forth from home to either Rondeau or Erieau, and came across several birders while doing so, all of which happily saw this bird.

At Rondeau, there was always something to see and photograph, although at times one had to be at the right spot at the right time, or cover a lot of area. I did not go after the very distant Western Grebe that was present off the east beach on the weekend. I have seen this species at a much closer range, several years ago, and got some satisfying photos at that time. I haven't caught up to a Red-throated Loon this fall yet either. Maybe on one of the coming days. But the influx of one of my favourite sparrows, the Fox Sparrow, has been fun to see. It seems they often travel in small bunches, and this is prime time to see them. I counted approximately 15 in a couple of bunches along the Black Oak Trail a few days ago. I find that they often respond well to 'spishing', and come in quite a bit closer to investigate.

Cedar Waxwings continue to be fairly common, at least where there are berries of Red Cedar to be had.

On one sunny and not too cool day, a couple of Eastern Commas were still flitting around along the more sheltered part of a trail.....

.....and it seems the local Eastern Screech Owl has returned to one of its regular tree cavities. It is the first time I have seen it there in several months.

At Erieau a few days ago, the highlight was a Purple Sandpiper. As many as three had been seen a couple of days earlier, but when I checked out the end of the pier, there was only one that I could find. The bird was back lit, so it required a bit more processing to get it to this condition.

It is a fairly regular occurring shorebird in very small numbers, but not always easy to catch up to. Depending on the year, one may even overwinter in some relatively out-of-the way location, such as the far reaches of the south beach of Rondeau. They are discovered fairly regularly on the Christmas Bird Count if there is adequate coverage of such area.

There are some good mud flats at the Keith McLean Conservation Lands, which has attracted large numbers of some species of shorebird. Dunlin is the most abundant by far at this time of year, with sometimes several hundred birds being reported.

Much less common is Semipalmated Sandpiper, a little smaller and with a shorter and straighter bill.

Here is a side-by-side view of those two shorebird species.

A stop at St. Clair NWA can be rewarding for bird photos. The Tundra Swans are on the way back, and will number in the hundreds or even thousands in the near future. Some will likely even stay the winter, depending on the open water and field conditions. They are often seen at a distance.....

....but some may fly right overhead!

There are lots of ducks at the NWA, including Ruddy Duck, shown next..

...and Northern Shoveler, the less colourful female of the pair which is next.

American Coots are plentiful.

Again, the presence of many Fox Sparrows were indicative of the time of year....

...as were American Tree Sparrows.

An American Goldfinch decided to check me out from this grass stem, rather than fly away like its fellow goldfinches did. It is clearly in its non-breeding plumage.

The Mitchell's Bay North Shore Trail can be worth checking out, depending on the light and the wind. Here, as in many lake shore areas, are exposed mudflats, and with the above freezing temperatures, are popular with shorebirds. As is often the case, Dunlin is by far the most abundant shorebird. There were well over 100 of them on my most recent visit, often seen in flight....

...and occasionally landing fairly close by.

This next one was not part of the larger group. It seemed to prefer hanging out by itself, although it didn't look quite the same as the others, and may have suffered a slight injury.

A single Greater Yellowlegs was in the same area....

...as were several Killdeer.

This adult Bald Eagle was noted at the lake edge, surveying the lake itself.

A visit down the Thames River towards Jeanette's Creek turned up several Great Blue Herons....

....and Great Egrets. Will some stay for at least the early part of the coming winter and be counted on the upcoming Christmas Bird Count? It has happened before, so stay tuned!

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Scouting around for the next bird counts

 One Christmas Bird Count is over, as you will note from my my most post. The final number of species was 124, a full 9 species better than our previous three bests. And there were at least a couple of count week species that were not seen on the count day, but either 3 days before or following the count day. One of the ones we always hope to get is Purple Sandpiper, a somewhat rare species this late in the season. One was found on the Erieau pier a couple of days later, and I went out yesterday to see if I could find it.

It wasn't immediately visible, and I concluded it had moved to a more sheltered spot given the windy and wavy conditions. After a few minutes I moved on to look across the channel over towards the south beach of Rondeau, scanning the ducks for a possible Harlequin Duck. But no Harlequin. I was prepared to move on altogether when I decided to again, scan the sheltered side of the pier, and there right out at the end of the pier was a dark little bird looking just like a Purple Sandpiper. I quickly returned to the spot and ventured out on the pier. All was okay for the first little way, but it was windy. Then I got to where some water had splashed over the pier, and it was very much frozen and quite slippery. So with lots of extra caution, I got closer and managed a few photos, one of which is shown above. I put the word out and a few others came by over the next hour or so, and by that time the bird had moved closer to the base of the pier, giving closer and safer views.

Over the last few days or so, I have been scouting around elsewhere in Chatham-Kent, just to get an idea of what might be around for the upcoming bird counts. For example I had been roaming around the former Dover Twp, to see how many Snowy Owls might be around. There have been a few, but most often are seen well away from roads. This next photo shows one near the top of a tree, about a kilometre from the road. Even after taking it with a long telephoto lens, and greatly cropping it so that it is the equivalent of about 45X, it still is pretty small.

I have occasionally seen one on the rooftop of a house......

....and just a few days ago, I was scooting down a nearby road and saw something white on a pump house nearby another road. A look through the binoculars confirmed that it was a Snowy Owl, quite close to the road. I immediately turned around and drove carefully by so as to not disturb it.....

....and it cooperated quite nicely. The amount of white in the feathers would indicate it is likely an adult male. I got lots of photos, and decided that since the Rufous Hummingbird was long gone and it is now Snowy Owl season, it was time to change my header, which made it an easy decision when this bird cooperated so well.

Also in Dover Twp have been lots of Tundra Swans, although the numbers may be dwindling slightly from their peak of a few weeks ago.

They are often scattered about in fields if there is a bit of corn stubble left for them to forage in, but the St. Clair NWA is a more reliable spot to find them at any time of the day.

There has been a dozen or more Snow Geese around, as this next photo shows. There are two Snow Geese and on the far right, is the 'blue' colour form of a Snow Goose.

A good mix of ducks is usually visible, although not always easy to photograph. Given that it is hunting season, waterfowl are a bit nervous this time of year when a human is anywhere close by.

Ruddy Duck trio

Sandhill Cranes have been around in fields, but again, well away from the road.

Sometimes when you catch them a little closer, and the light is good, one can get a better photo.

I was out near the mouth of the Thames River a couple of days ago, hoping to see something as unusual as a Great Egret or two. Three of them were quite unexpected almost exactly a year ago, and I managed to get some quite good photos. On this visit, however, there were none to be seen, and I only saw a single Great Blue Heron, a much more likely species. Again, perhaps the hunting season spooked the birds and some others may have taken refuge in a safer spot.

An adult Bald Eagle was perched on a grounded bit of driftwood a few hundred metres out into Lake St. Clair.

It was a really windy day, as you can tell by the white caps and the flags flapping straight out at Mitchell's Bay.

Even though the Rondeau/Blenheim bird count is over, I often spend a bit of time there as well. On one occasion I was out looking for a couple of specific tree species for a tree identification book I am helping with, when I noticed this adult Bald Eagle land atop a White Pine. I only had to take a few careful steps to get the branches out of my focus to get these next two photos.

I came across a nice showing of this late season fungi, known as Splitgill Mushroom.

Red-bellied Woodpeckers are scattered here and there in the woods....

...and a few small flocks of House Finches are often seen, especially at the north end of the park.

I had stopped by the Keith McLean CA to see if I could catch up to the Nelson's Sparrow and Least Sandpiper which were on the bird count. It was very windy, and if they were around, they were hunkered down in a more sheltered spot.

Squirrels are continuing their busy life, gathering and storing nuts and other goodies to tide them over the winter. Some are more curious than others. Maybe it was sizing me up as a nut???

And finally, and much more importantly, I wish for you a Merry Christmas! It is the season when so much activity is going on, along with the additional world chaos, causing much distraction from the real meaning of Christmas when Jesus came to earth in human form to be the Saviour of the world, for anyone who asks Him. So peace be to all of you in these busy, and often stressful times. 

Here is one of my favourite Christmas hymns, sung by one of the most impressive gospel vocalists of these last few decades. The pitch and range she has is about as good as it gets. You can listen and watch this hymn here. It is an older, live recording in front of an audience, so not studio quality, however. Listen until the end, if you like super high notes!

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