Another cattle egret, a snake, a millipede and more

 If the forecasts are accurate, we will be experiencing another blast of winter in the next few days. Fortunately I was able to get out to a few places, including Rondeau, to continue some exploring of late November and enjoy some lengthy walks. I hadn't caught up to anything out of the ordinary regarding birds.....just wasn't in the right place at the right time. But there were a few of the expected species that paused long enough for my camera.

American Goldfinches are present most of the year, but many from farther north have been migrating through in good numbers over the last week or so. 

Dark-eyed Juncos are quite common, and at least some will be around all winter.

Of course Downy Woodpeckers are present all year.

I always look forward to seeing Fox Sparrows in late autumn. This vividly patterned sparrow likely will be present in very small numbers over the winter, but are often hard to find.

Northern Cardinals are another year-round species, fortunately, especially for those with winter feeders....

...as are Red-bellied Woodpeckers. They have been busy storing some of this year's abundant acorn crop in crevices in trees, in case feeders don't meet their needs.

Wild Turkeys are permanent residents and get a little more bold in wandering around open areas in the autumn when the park is quieter, looking for acorns.

There are often a few other creatures out and about. Of course Eastern Gray Squirrels are also looking for acorns and such. I enjoy watching their acrobatics, etc. This one is suspended by its two hind feet while the two front feet are handling something it is nibbling on.

It is getting late in the season for cold-blooded creatures, but just yesterday I came across this Eastern Garter Snake sitting at an open spot along the trail.

Another cold-blooded creature is this Common Pink Flat-back, a type of millipede, roaming across Gardiner Ave.

Certainly a bird highlight of recent days is yet another Western Cattle Egret, seen by many on several occasions at the Keith McLean Conservation Lands. I have seen it on at least three different days from the road, but on one occasion I decided to park there and try and get some decent photos. Here are some of the results.

This is the second time I have seen one in the last month or so. It may be the same one that moved over from its previous spot just north of Erieau where it disappeared from after a few days. Unfortunately for this individual, some recent observers have reported that it was seen to be limping, and wondered if it could be captured and taken to a wildlife rescue place. I'm not sure if that is possible, as when I got these photos, it was walking okay but more importantly it could fly quite well. So unless it ceases to be able to fly, and can survive for a bit longer given the wintry weather forecast, it will probably not be rescued. It is a juvenile, and is clearly well beyond its normal range, so it might just be a victim of its unfortunate wandering well beyond safe habitat.

In addition to Rondeau, I have been meandering around parts of the former Dover Twp, which is actually closer to home, and I always enjoyed exploring St. Clair NWA. However the NWA is closed for trail repairs until early January, so my exploring in Dover is more random elsewhere. But there have been things of interest even though the Gray Kingbird featured at the heading, is long gone somewhere. 

Tundra Swans are becoming more numerous, but often are feeding so far away from the road I didn't bother trying to photograph them. This small group was a bit closer.

 This Red-tailed Hawk remained on the pole long enough for a photo or two. While the species is a year-round resident in C-K, there are lots migrating through from their more northern range.

Sandhill Cranes are hard to find these days. However I came across a couple at the edge of a corn field just north of Mitchell's Bay on one occasion, where I was able to put my long lens with teleconverter to use to capture this one digitally.

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Mid-autumn things, and a taste of winter

 Autumn, and especially October, is my favourite time of year. The weather is usually quite appealing, not hot and humid, and there are still lots of things to enjoy out in the natural world. And of course October is the month that I got to marry Marie, almost 50 years ago, and that was a significant reason to be thankful.

I enjoy watching the change in colours, as the autumn season winds down. Here is a progression over the last few weeks, from one of my preferred vantage points.

October 8

The next one is a bit brighter, sunnier day.

October 28

And finally, on a partly cloudy but mostly clear sky day.

October 31

I was out a couple of days ago, but it was quite windy and many of the leaves were off. I don't know what it would look like today, Nov 9, but this is what it looked like out my kitchen window!

It probably wasn't quite so white at Rondeau, as the lake effect would have kept the weather slightly warmer, and any snow that fell would not have lasted long.

A bit earlier, there were some sunny and moderately warm days, which can be interesting. Some butterflies were still flitting about. Nothing rare, but nice to see as the season winds down. I had 6 of the first one...

Eastern Comma

...but only a single of this next one.

Mourning Cloak

Some fungi were still developing. This first one, Destructive Pholiota, had fruiting bodies earlier, but they dropped off, or got knocked off, so they tried again.

Oct 28

Nov 4

Pear-shaped Puffball

Other things I took the opportunity to photograph, include:

Hickory Tussock Moth caterpillar

Marbled Orb Weaver

Next is the leaf of a rare orchid known as Puttyroot. It is in the later part of the autumn that the leaf appears, and will stay like this all winter, until the flowering stem appears in late May/early June. At that point, the leaves dry up and aren't normally visible when the plant is flowering.

Next is Silky Parchment, another type of fungus.

Wooly Bear Caterpillars are seen quite regularly.

There is still a good variety of birds to be seen at times, flitting about the shrubbery or whatever, seeking sustenance from the berries. White-throated Sparrows, shown first, were quite abundant in dogwood thickets where the berries of Gray Dogwood, or sometimes a non-native rose can be found.

American Robins are migrating in good numbers, and can be found feeding on the berries of Red Cedar.

There was a fairly good crop of acorns this year, so these next three species are all taking advantage of them.

Blue Jay

This Red-bellied Woodpecker is trying to stash an acorn in a tree limb, planning on feeding on it later in the winter.

Wild Turkeys are scattered about, and feed on acorns as well.

Yellow-rumped Warblers are undoubtedly the most common warbler persisting in the area these days. A small number may stick around all winter.
 

Enjoy any remaining autumn colours....they won't be around much longer!

A mix of rarities and more common things to enjoy!

 One of the birding highlights in recent days was to hear about a Western Cattle Egret hanging out with a few black angus cattle a bit north of Erieau. I had been out at Keith McLean Conservation Area on the lookout for migrating raptors with the favourable winds, when I got the word, so I headed over to look. Sure enough, there it was, but it was flighty, moving from one group of cattle to another before it finally got up in the air a little higher and headed towards Rondeau Bay.

A few days later, this past Tuesday to be exact, an even rarer bird got the attention of many, many birders, at the KMCL, a Mountain Bluebird. More on that a little later.

In between these bird highlights, I was out and about looking for whatever I could find. The sometimes breezy winds from a northerly direction was promising for raptors, and I spent a bit of time at the Morpeth Cliffs area. There were a few raptors on the move, but most were very high up and difficult to see against the almost entirely blue sky. My hope was to see a Golden Eagle or two, as this is prime time for their migration, and several of the hawkwatch sites had reported then regularly. Even though I had been on the lookout for them at other times over the past few weeks, today was to be the day. I had two fly over, way up high. This photo of one of them was the lowest. Fortunately my camera/lens combination latched onto it with good focus, and this is what I ended up with.

Both birds were almost impossible to see with the naked eye, up against the brilliant blue sky. Binoculars were a necessity. After I got the photos processed, and greatly cropped, these were the best of the bunch, and after all was said and done, they are shown here at the equivalent of about 100X magnification!

There were some sunny warmish days to go out wandering around Rondeau on occasion, so out I went. Birds were not always that plentiful, but there are always other things to see and photograph.

During the sunniest period and sheltered from the wind, there were often a lot of dragonflies flitting about. They were all of the Autumn Meadowhawk species as near as I could determine, and their pale/yellow legs were telltale. It used to be called the Yellow-legged Meadowhawk, and perhaps is still referred to as such.

Common Buckeyes were still around, and sometimes paused long enough for a close approach with the camera.

As there were still the occasional dandelion flowers quite visible, they attracted several of this next critter, the Common Drone Fly. It is not a native species, but has become quite abundant at times.

Eastern Black Squirrels are quite common, as usual, especially where there were a few oak trees around, as they were searching for acorns.

Another butterfly is this next one, a Fiery Skipper. It is typically more of a southern species, and arrives in Ontario in the later summer. Some will stick around for quite awhile!

Another butterfly I caught up with is this Question Mark.

There were a few birds to be found, and some allowed me to get some worthwhile photos. Blue Jays are migrating through in good numbers, with some searching for sustenance to carry them on their journey.

No doubt some will stick around all winter, as usual.

Dark-eyed Juncos are fairly common. Here are a few having a bath in a shallow puddle.

Red-bellied Woodpeckers are permanent residents now. They were extremely rare up until the 1980s or so, and have since became well established here in southwestern Ontario.

Rusty Blackbirds are not as plentiful as they used to be, but still migrate through in decent numbers. This one was feeding on a seed of some sort on the ground.

Mushrooms have not been plentiful compared to some years. The quite dry spell we have experienced over the last few months made all the difference. But a few have appeared. This first one is a type of puffball, and may be the Pear-shaped Puffball.

Next is the Orange Jelly Fungus...

...followed by Shaggy Mane.

Some days have had some quite brisk east winds. This first image is of the waves along the east beach of Rondeau.

I went over to Erieau hoping for some impressive wave action hitting the pier and splashing over. This next one is one of the better ones, but overall it wasn't as impressive as I was hoping. Maybe a different day...

This next photo shows one of the better ones I took in late October of 2021. Some of the waves and spray almost obscured the lighthouse!

Getting back to the Mountain Bluebird. It was first seen this past Tuesday, and I got word from Steve Charbonneau who was the one who found it, in the very early afternoon. I am not on Discord, the birding app that keen birders who like to chase the latest notable birds are on, and since Steve is aware of that, informed me directly (thanks, Steve!). However it just didn't work out for me to scoot out to the Keith McLean area to catch up to it that afternoon. It was apparently feeding quite readily in a good spot, and since this species is fairly hardy even in poor weather conditions, I thought it might still be around on Wednesday. A lot of others were hoping for that outcome as well. There were lots of people who saw it on Tuesday, and even when I went out on Wednesday, I could barely find a spot in the parking lot. Unfortunately no one reported seeing it at any time on Wednesday. Perhaps the strong wind forced it to take shelter, and it might have been around and was even amused by the number of people roaming around with 'scopes, binoculars and camera gear. However it was not reported. Hopefully it might still be around at an accessible location not far away. This species has been considered long overdue for the Rondeau checklist area. But so far I cannot add it to my Rondeau list. I have seen it on two occasions in southern Ontario in the past, as well as on a few trips to the western part of the country. The first time in Ontario was one I saw on a Christmas Bird Count on Pelee Island, back in the '90s. The second one was one I heard about in southeastern Lambton, so Marie and I went searching. We successfully tracked it down and photographed it, just a short distance from Chatham-Kent. We caught up to it on January 20, 2012.

January 2012 provided another good photo op for an uncommon species, this time for White-winged Crossbill. There have been a few migrating through so far this autumn, and on one occasion I thought I heard one or two, giving their high-pitched rattle calls, but could not find it perched anywhere. It was probably passing through quickly and vocalizing. At any rate, here is a photo I took of one at Rondeau on January 25, 2012. It was part of a flock of a couple of dozen feeding in this spruce tree.

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