Shorebirds galore!

 Tis the season when shorebirds are probably at their peak numbers, as they make their way southward. They are always looking for places to fatten up so as to continue their journey, and sewage lagoons are high on their preferred sites when the water levels allow for shallow feeding. Such is the case right now at places like the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons.

Birders and bird photographers have been fortunate that these lagoons have been accessible for about 4 decades or so, with a permit.

I've been there a couple of times in the last few days, and there are always other birders there, for good reason. The diversity of shorebirds is quite good. With a bit of patience, one can get 15 species of shorebirds or more in a single visit. 

Here are some of the less common ones I've been able to photograph recently. 

Certainly one of the highlight species is up to three American Avocets, not quite as colourful as when they are in their breeding plumage, but very striking and distinctive nonetheless.

Red Knot is quite a rarity. In fact it is legally Endangered. This one is in its non-breeding plumage, so does not show the red an adult would have shown earlier in the season. It has been present for several days, and is one of the reasons so many birders have been around. It is fairly large and chunky, but can easily be missed, as some have found out. It took me at least a couple of visits in late August before finally seeing it.

Lesser Yellowlegs are fairly abundant now.....

...unlike its larger cousin, the Greater Yellowlegs, where only a handful are present. This one looks a little bedraggled compared to some.

This Red-necked Phalarope has been a crowd-pleaser as well as it is not common. In fact it is considered 'Special Concern' in Ontario due to its rarity.

Related to the Red-necked Phalarope is the larger Wilson's Phalarope, shown next. It is more of a western species, but fairly regular both spring and fall. In fact has even nested at these lagoons in the past.

Stilt Sandpiper, next, with its slightly droopy bill, is also fairly regular both spring and fall......

.....as are Short-billed Dowitchers. The stage of them changing to autumn plumage can vary, as these two birds show.

And finally, for this post, is White-rumped Sandpiper. It is a regular but uncommon migrant. It is a bit larger than the similar looking and much more common Semipalmated Sandpiper. A couple of key characteristics to look for are the slightly longer wings, which at rest as in this one, extend a bit beyond the tail, and in good light and a close look, there is almost always a bit of pale orange at the base of the lower mandible.

The next post may feature late summer orchids, which I have been on a successful hunt for. The photo at the top will give you an idea of some success I have had!

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Wonderful Waterbirds

 It is that time of year when birds are on the move southwards. Fortunately there are some great places in Chatham-Kent which attract these migrants, enabling them to replenish their energy reserves before making the next leg of their journey.

There is no question that the high water levels in the Lake Erie region, and elsewhere, have caused problems for humans living near the water front. But for water birds, it has been great. For example the flooded fields of the Keith McLean Conservation Lands just outside of Rondeau Prov Park, is being well used by many species of water birds.

For birders, shorebirds are of particular interest right now, as the many thousands of shorebirds that nested in the arctic or sub-arctic regions are now making their way south. Many will fly right over and beyond, but there are always a few that touch down locally at least for a little while.

At the area I refer to as Lake McLean at the KMCL, there are sometimes as many as 150 or so individuals of a dozen or more species at any one time. So far in the last 2-3 weeks there have been about 20 species observed, some quite common and others much rarer. The latter ones always garner a bit of extra attention from birders.

The first few shown next are some of the regular ones, but still nice to see.

Greater Yellowlegs

This next one, Lesser Yellowlegs, is almost always more abundant than its larger relative.

The smallest regular shorebird is the Least Sandpiper, below. It is a first year bird.

Quite a bit larger is, in spite of its name, this Short-billed Dowitcher. There have been 1-5 of them at KMCL over the last few weeks, and a single member of its close relative the Long-billed Dowitcher has just been reported in the last few days.

A more slender appearing shorebird, often associating with the dowitchers, is a Stilt Sandpiper.

At least a couple of Stilt Sandpipers have been seen on a regular basis.

A shorebird that always gets the attention of birders is this next one, a Red Knot. This is a juvenile bird, so it doesn't show any reddish coloration that an adult in breeding plumage does. It looks a bit like a chunky dowitcher with a short bill (but not to be confused with a Short-billed Dowitcher :-)

It has been around for several days, and while it moves around quite a bit along the shores of Lake McLean, it can actually appear relatively tame. This next photo is a full frame shot, no cropping whatsoever. At one point I could barely get the full bird in my camera's frame. It is a seriously declining species in North America.

A somewhat more regular migrant, but not often seen on mud flats, is this Buff-breasted Sandpiper. It has a slightly warmer colour tone than many of the grayer shorebirds. It wasn't quite as tolerant as the Red Knot, and all of these images are greatly cropped. Fortunately the light was excellent at the time.

Along the lake shores, one is more likely to see this next shorebird, the Sanderling, as it scurries along the shoreline searching for tidbits of something at the water's edge.

Regular water birds in places like the KMCL include Great Egret.....

....and of course Great Blue Heron. This particular individual was exhibiting some territorial behaviour, as indicated by its upturned bill and fluffed feathers and strutting along in the direction of another one, just to the left of this photo. The one shown here was apparently trying to encourage the other one to leave, which after a few moments, was successful in doing.

The big news of the last day or so was the appearance of a young Purple Gallinule, found by Steve Charbonneau at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons. It is quite a rarity in Ontario, although it does show up somewhere in southern Ontario from time to time. This is the first record for it in Chatham-Kent as far as I am aware. It is a skulking type, and since it is most likely to occur at the muddy but vegetated edges of wetlands, those areas are often difficult to access and view, so it may be more regularly occurring than records would indicate.

As a young bird, it exhibits the warm brown colours, not the purple that it will look like in its later breeding plumage. This next photo shows the breeding plumage, a bird I photographed on May 6, 1984 at Tremblay Creek Conservation Area in the north east corner of adjacent Essex County.

In addition to the warm brown, which the regularly occurring relative Common Gallinule doesn't show, is the pale bluish shield at the top of its beak.

At one point one could see the Purple Gallinule and a Sora in the same field of view.

With shore and water bird migration in full swing and which will continue for the next few weeks, one can only imagine what else might show up!

Some of the even rarer migrant birds of the Rondeau checklist area

Before I get to the mega/ultra rare migrant birds of the Rondeau checklist area, there is still a group of birds that are merely quite rare, and in fact I expect a number of relatively keen birders of Ontario have seldom if ever seen them. As in the past post, the ones on this list below are based on my opinion, not on any official list. Some will be on the Ontario Bird Records Committee (OBRC) list of birds requiring documentation.

This first species could arguably be in the previous post. It wasn't that long ago when seeing one in southern Ontario was quite a noteworthy event, and it still is to some extent. However the population in Ontario has been expanding from its more limited northwestern Ontario range, and in the last year or so has been documented nesting on one of the islands in the western end of Lake Erie. Both of these birds were photographed in the Erieau area.

Harlequin Duck is still quite rare, although once in awhile one or more can be found staying around for a few weeks such as these two that were off the tip of Rondeau and quite visible from Erieau in the winter and very early spring of 2016.

 Hudsonian Godwit is a pretty impressive large shorebird, only seen occasionally on migration. It nests in the north as well as the northerly prairie provinces. It is most frequently encountered at sewage lagoons later in the summer as post breeding birds are more likely to wander. It could also be included in the previous post of rare migrants, rather than in this post.

The Hudsonian Godwit's larger relative, the Marbled Godwit, shown next, nests regularly in the lower part of the prairie provinces and is not as commonly seen here in southwestern Ontario. The species is very seldomly seen in the Rondeau area. This bird was one I photographed from a kayak at Mitchell's Bay on September 24, 2013.

Staying with the shorebird group, the Black-necked Stilt is a western species found most often in the vicinity of prairie potholes. It seems they are most often seen in southwestern Ontario during the spring migration when they get blown off course. They don't stick around for long, however. There have been a few records over the years, and the pair shown next was photographed at the Keith McLean Conservation Area just outside of Rondeau in 2019. Most records are at sewage lagoons, but the high water and excellent shorebird habitat at KMCA was beneficial for birds and birders last year.

 A rare shorebird due to the decline of its migration and wintering habitat is this next one, the Red Knot. The one shown in the foreground of the next photo is an immature bird I photographed from my kayak along one of the sandy islands at the south end of Rondeau on Sept 27, 2012. It has a chunky body like a dowitcher, but with a relatively short bill. That is a Black-bellied Plover in the background.

 A small shorebird that may be more common than reports indicate is this next one, a Western Sandpiper. It migrates late in the season, and without careful study, could be passed off as the much more common Semiplamated Sandpiper. It was photographed at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoon in mid-November, and I had one on the Blenheim/Rondeau Christmas Bird Count at a mud flat at the south end of the marsh trail a few years earlier.

 Barred Owl might seem to be an odd one for this category. Nonetheless although it is not rare in most of Ontario, it is quite rare in the very southwestern part of Ontario. It shouldn't technically be classified as a migrant, although this one moved well south of its normal Ontario range and wintered at Rondeau. There hadn't been a record for Rondeau for more than 20 years until Josh, my birding partner, and I encountered this one on the 2018 Christmas Bird Count. It stuck around for a couple of months around the northern part of the park where the local squirrel population kept it well fed. Numerous birders attempted to track down this individual, and were mostly successful in finding it.

 Black Vulture used to be a considerable birding highlight in Ontario, but in the last decade or so this species has been seen in the eastern end of Lake Erie/western end of Lake Ontario on a fairly regular basis. I am only aware of 3-4 records for the immediate Rondeau area. The first one I came across was feeding on the carcass of a Virginia Opossum, so this generally southern species of vulture probably felt quite at home feeding on a familiar carcass. This bird was seen just northeast of the park boundary, but only for a couple of days. I photographed it on March 3, 2009.

 Bohemian Waxwings are more common in the Boreal forest region, and seldom have any need to come as far south as the Rondeau area. I have only seen them here on a couple of occasions in the winter. This bird was photographed along the McGeachy Pond trail, on Dec 3, 2016.

 Cave Swallows are somewhat erratic. If they are going to be encountered in Ontario, it is most likely to happen in the mid to late autumn when the weather conditions help them along. For awhile they were on the OBRC list requiring documentation, but for a short time were taken off due to the regularity of them being seen in the autumn. Their occurrence has dropped off so one again the OBRC is requesting documentation. This bird was photographed flying over Erieau on Oct 31, 2010, where a few had been seen the day before and they spent the night under the docks of the fish tug harbour area.

 Eurasian Collared-Dove shouldn't really be called a migrant. It was introduced from Europe a number of years ago and has been gradually expanding its range in North America. Nonetheless, it has only been recorded in the Rondeau area on a couple of occasions. This one was photographed at Rondeau along the southern end of Lakeshore Road on September 24, 2017.

 Fish Crow has sort of the same story as the Black Vulture, above. A small population of this more southerly crow has become established in the Niagara peninsula area and a bit beyond. On occasion the species will show up elsewhere. I only know of a couple of records for the Rondeau area. This one I photographed at the south end of the South Point Trail on May 29, 2011.

 Laughing Gull, shown here in the lower middle of the photo, is quite irregular. The bird here is a first year bird which showed up with a large group of summering gulls out along the south beach of Rondeau, back in the early 1980s. It is scanned from a slide, so not the best clarity, and it does blend in with the gravel beach making it even more difficult to see clearly. There are a few records for this species over the years.

 Neotropic Cormorant has been showing up a bit more in the last few years. One might get caught up with a movement of the very abundant and larger Double-crested Cormorant, and end up well out of its normal range. It is more abundant along the southern and eastern shores of the Atlantic. There are at least 3 records for the Rondeau area. The one shown here, on the left of the two Double-crested ones, was in the Rondeau/Erieau area off and on for a few days in May of 2019. I photographed it on May 23.

 Townsend's Warbler is a western species that occasionally gets blown way off course. For some reason Rondeau is a place where it is most apt to show up in Ontario, as there are 5 records, more than any other location in Ontario. I found the park's first one in the spring of 1983, near the west end of the old Dillon Trail. Only a handful of birders who were in the park got to see it, as it was before any kind of bird alert was available and cell phones were non-existent. Word of mouth was the only way to advertise its presence. All of the records are either in the early spring or the late autumn. The one shown here I photographed on Nov 11, 2017 in the Bate's subdivision just north of the park. There were a lot of birders that came to see it, and since it stayed into December, a lot of birders arrived again to get it on their winter list. The bird even stayed around long enough to be added to our Christmas Bird Count list.

 Townsend's Solitaire is a species that is relatively common in the montane region of western North America. On occasion, one ends up heading east rather than southward or northward on their migration. There have been very few records at Rondeau, but when it shows up, will be found either in spring or fall. This one was photographed along Lakeshore Road just north of the Visitor Centre on April 30, 2010. It was first recorded about a week earlier at the south end of Lakeshore Road, but was not seen during the in between days.

Even rarer birds will be featured in a future post!