Barred Owl and more early January adventures

 A Barred Owl has taken up residence in Shrewsbury, across Rondeau Bay from the park, at least for a few days. I first heard about it the day after it had been originally seen, but couldn't make it out due to other commitments. Then it disappeared for a few days, only to be re-discovered by Steve C, who put the word out. I had been at Rondeau at the time I received his text, looking for loons and other waterbirds flying by the east beach, but abandoned that activity to go over to see the owl.

It was still there, and remained relatively unconcerned for the next little while.

 At first it was advised to remain in the vehicle so as to not cause the bird to flush, since it was not too far off the street, so I and others did just that. However after awhile, a service truck came along and backed into the driveway immediately across from the owl, and the workers got out and started to do their thing. The owl moved its head a bit, but that was about it. Then some other birder/photographers came along, started walking up and down the street, talking fairly normally, and still the bird didn't seem to mind. At that point I, and another birder/photographer, decided to get out of our vehicles and get into a slightly better position to minimize the small branches and such, that were making focusing difficult. The bird continued to roost quietly, moving its head from time to time but otherwise seemed nonplussed.

It kept an eye on people, but nothing more. The background for the photo was a bright, but bland sky which made getting a good shot of a relatively dark bird, a bit of a challenge. Fortunately a bit of processing can make a big difference!

Barred Owls are definitely uncommon in this part of Ontario. I have only seen or heard two others in Chatham-Kent, and the most recent record was one that I found, along with my birding partner Josh, on the Dec 16, 2018 Christmas Bird Count at Rondeau. That caused quite a stir amongst many of the other CBC counters that day, and it was fortunate that we found it relatively late in the day, as many birders 'finished up their territories early' so as to scoot over to the park and join in this discovery. That bird remained in the vicinity of the north end of Rondeau for at least a couple of months, as I last saw and photographed it in late February of 2019.

A couple of days prior to seeing this bird, I participated on the Skunk's Misery CBC. It was not a very good day weather wise the day started off misty/foggy and by mid-day had started to rain. The woods were almost eerily quiet, although once in awhile one would come across a mixed flock of birds. Near the entrance of one trail, I came across this:

 

It was a reasonably fresh death, as there were some fresh truck tire tracks backing up to where the carcass was dumped. I didn't examine it for a cause of death. It was possibly a road kill, and the carcass was just hauled off and dumped here. Presumably the local coyote population will make short work of it. A bit earlier in the season and there might have been some Turkey Vultures arriving for a bite.

Photography wasn't all that great that day due to the weather, and the lack of birds. I did manage to get this photo of an adult Bald Eagle as it was perched in this tree along a small creek. The photo was taken at about 18X and then greatly cropped to at least 45X.

I have been playing around with my recently acquired mirrorless camera lately, just to see what it is capable of doing. It is a big adjustment in some ways, at least to me, compared to the DSLRs that I have been using extensively for the last 15 years, but I can see some of the advantages. The Barred Owl shots above were all taken with my mirrorless camera body, in combination with my non-mirrorless telephoto lenses. I am considering expanding my mirrorless camera equipment to include a highly regarded crop sensor model.

I was out near St. Clair NWA the other day to try the camera on some other subjects. Both were taken from quite a distance under cloudy conditions, and the second one featuring Snow Geese was taken from a distance of about half a kilometre, and greatly cropped.

Back in the Rondeau area a day or so ago, I returned to the east beach hoping for some less common waterbirds flying by, which I had abandoned previously to see the owl. I managed to see both Common and Red-throated Loons, but too far out to attempt a photo. Red-throats are becoming more reliable in late autumn and early winter. At one point not too many years ago, they were quite a novelty. I'm not sure why their migration patterns have shifted, but it is nice to see them more regularly. Here is a photo I got from a couple of years ago, from a distance.

Elsewhere in the park, not far off from a large group of geese on the bay was a family group of Trumpeter Swans. They are becoming more regular these days, as they continue to expand their Ontario range. At first I was a bit skeptical of this identification, but a closer look showing the large, all black bill, the wide black area at just in front of they eye, less of a curvature at the gape and the young bird showing quite a bit of gray/brown at this time of year, along with its more extensive black on the bill, all suggested Trumpeter.

It was fairly mild, and this Eastern Chipmunk was out scrounging around. You don't often see them out in January!

Along some of the other trails I walked along turned up more blown over trees exposing upturned tree roots, and the accompanying pit.

Some of the pits, especially if they are in a bit lower location than others, will quickly fill in with water, and be an important feature for frogs and salamanders before long. What is detrimental for one species can provide huge benefits for others!

I also went out to the south end of the park, and while most of the lake was now free of ice, there were some rather large ice mounds right along the shoreline. It was a windy day, with brisk winds coming out of the southwest, resulting in some interesting splashes from the waves as they pounded against the immovable ice.

After leaving the park, I headed over to Erieau. This next photo shows what the south beach looks like from there, with lots of dirty mounds of ice piled up along the shore, and the waves hitting it. It would not have been a good day for a bird count out here!

And another view from the Erieau channel, looking past the harbour entrance lighthouse to the open lake, completely free of ice now.

Winter is often noted for its widely varying weather, and this year is continuing that trend. What will the next few weeks bring?

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Birds of Chatham-Kent, then and now, Part 1

 I mentioned in my previous post about a new series, comparing some of the birds of Chatham-Kent in the early part of the previous century, to their current status. The historic status will be based on an unpublished manuscript entitled "The Birds of Kent County, Ontario" by A. A. Wood (1948). Wood did most of his analysis between 1938-1948, but also relied to a fair extent on the writings, diaries and published articles by numerous well known southern Ontario birder/naturalists prior to that. His bibliography included 92 different sources from authorities such as W. E. Saunders, Jim Baillie, Thomas McIlwraith, George Stirrett, Ed Sandys and J. Macoun, among others. Most of his additional sources occurred around the turn of the century, although the earliest information he incorporated goes back to 1862.

Wood included information on 271 species of birds, plus at least a couple of dozen species which were considered hypothetical at the time, such as Red-throated Loon and "Little White Egret", currently known as Snowy Egret. I will present them in the order provided in Wood's manuscript, so they will not be in the current checklist order.

In going through this manuscript, I have tentatively identified about 70 species where he writes a few things of interest, or where the situation at the time is notably different from now. Clearly dealing with potentially this many species will require several installments, not just this post. So stay tuned if you are interested!

Common Loon

 From Wood: this is a regular spring and fall transient, stopping for a time on large bodies of water. A few non-breeding birds remain on the lakes throughout the summer. Many are caught in the fisherman's gill nets at great depths. They have nested sparingly in some of the marshes along Lake St. Clair.

Now: not a lot has changed, although the numbers are likely lower now than they were then. I'm not sure if many are caught in gill nets these days. Nesting has not likely occurred anywhere near CK for many decades.

Red-throated Loon

 From Wood: Hypothetical, although there were two reported on Lake St. Clair in the 1940s, and it was listed as a bird of the Rondeau region.

Now: certainly some significant differences. Spring-time records are not all that common in the Rondeau region, but in the last few years, they have become much more abundant than Common Loon, especially in late autumn. On some days, more than a dozen were reported flying past Rondeau's east side in just a few hours of observation. The most recent Blenheim/Rondeau Christmas Bird Count tallied a record 304 individuals on Dec 15, 2021! Time will tell if this trend continues.

Horned Grebe

From Wood: A common spring and fall transient and frequent winter visitant. Breeds abundantly at St. Clair flats.

Now: still a common, but not abundant spring and fall transient, and may be rarely seen during winters of open water. I found it interesting that it was considered an abundant breeder at the St. Clair flats. The St. Clair flats essentially include the large marshes and islands of Lake St. Clair. And that it bred there to me is not all that surprising, given that this is mainly a mid-western species commonly found in prairie type habitats and wetlands there. Since a good part of the former Dover Twp, as well as much of Walpole Island, have or at least had, strong similarities to prairies and wetlands of the mid-west, it is not surprising at all. These areas are known to attract other more western bird species as will be noted elsewhere in this series.

Here is a photo I took of a Horned Grebe nesting in a wetland in southern Saskatchewan back in 2018. It was right along a quiet back road, and I used my vehicle for a make-shift blind.

During the first Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas (1981-1985) there were two possible breeding records in southern Ontario: one in the marshes of Walpole Island and the other in the marshes of Rondeau. There were no records at any level of breeding during the second OBBA (2001-2005).

Double-crested Cormorant

 An interesting species that has undergone significant changes in its abundance over the decades.

From Wood: A regular spring and fall transient along the Great Lakes.

Now: interesting that Wood does not mention anything regarding breeding or abundance. Certainly at one point early last century, it was fairly abundant, and since it was believed to be a significant predator of the desirable fish species by both commercial and sport fishermen, it was persecuted heavily. By the middle of last century and into the 1970s, it was quite rare, and in fact was being considered as a candidate for the newly enacted Endangered Species Act of Ontario! I posted a blog about that in more detail, which you can see here. Certainly things have changed a lot since the 1970s. The species did not make it on to the ESA, as shortly after that consideration, the numbers began increasing, slowly at first and then quite rapidly. It is now a major, even problematic, breeding species in many, many corners of the Great Lakes and beyond, and is present here in the south throughout the time of year where there is open water.

Great Egret

From Wood: this beautiful bird, from the far south, visits the area regularly in the fall but is very rare in the spring. Occasionally a straggler stays until the middle of October.

Now: It is not uncommon in the spring, and in fact nests in various places in Ontario. There is a sizeable breeding colony at Walpole Island, with other colonies up as far as Georgian Bay. Numbers can build up in the autumn, due to post-breeding birds and their progeny. They can gather in large numbers at times. Here is a photo of an overnight roost of them at St. Clair NWA, when low water appealed to them. I took this just before daybreak at the very end of September, 2012. There was upward of 100 birds here.

I suspect that a few weeks before this date, the egrets would roost over night in various other wetland areas, but as the waterfowl hunting season got underway, they would have chosen less disturbed areas. The water levels have not been low enough at the NWA since to allow for them to gather like this. If the autumn and even early winter is relatively mild, with open water, egrets will stay much longer. One or more have been recorded at or near the mouth of the Thames River in January twice in the last 5 years. This next photo shows two of three birds photographed there on Jan 23, 2021.

Black-crowned Night-Heron

From Wood: Considered a common summer resident in localized areas, with the only mentioned breeding colony in an artificially constructed wetland at Bradley's marsh at the mouth of the Thames River.

Now: this species is certainly not common, and in fact may not be nesting anywhere within Chatham-Kent. The closest confirmed nesting colony that I am aware of is at Walpole Island, although there may be some nesting going on at some of the cattail dominated islands in Lake St. Clair off of Mitchell's Bay. It is a little more likely to be seen at some of the larger wetlands along Lake St. Clair later in the season as birds disperse from their nesting colonies.

Some may persist well into a mild winter, as this next photo suggests. It was taken on January 21, 2012 near Erieau. One or more have been recorded on the early January SCNWA Christmas Bird Count on three occasions.

Tundra Swan

From Wood: the 'Whistling Swan' is a plentiful transient, with a few dozen to a few hundred seen and on occasion, up to 1100 have been observed in the spring.

Now: it is interesting that Wood does not mention anything much about them being present in the autumn, and even in the spring, 1000 birds or so was notable. Now, it is quite an abundant species in both spring and autumn. Perhaps it is due to the change in agriculture resulting in extensive corn stubble and winter wheat fields available. At any rate, seeing several hundred to several thousand in a day is not uncommon during either season, and at times there are well over 10,000 birds present at some localities in CK. The peak of the autumn migration would be in late November and early December, but there has been almost 11000 swans counted on one of the early January SCNWA Christmas Bird Counts. Over the last 4 years, there has been an average of more than 9250 swans seen on each of the Blenheim/Rondeau CBCs in the latter half of December.

American Black Duck

From Wood: The Black Duck is a common summer resident; the most abundant breeding duck in our area. Some years several thousand spend the winter in marshes, associating with Mallards.

Now: it is anything but common as a breeding species in Chatham-Kent. Historically it was as it occurred in forested wetlands and adjacent areas. With the opening up of forested areas and converting them to farmlands, etc., Mallard quickly took over as it was a species that thrived on the more open mid-western type habitats. There are a few recent breeding records of the Am Black Duck in CK and in general, in southwestern Ontario. However Mallards continue to be by far the most abundant duck species. In winter, the ratio of Mallards to Am Black Duck is much closer, although still leaning heavily towards Mallard. On a couple of occasions on the SCNWA CBC, we have had approximately 45000 Mallards, but the greatest number of Am Black Ducks on that count is about 7600.

Redhead

From Wood: A regular spring and fall transient, where rafts of one to two hundred may be identified. Nests were located on rare occasion near Mitchell's Bay.

Now: much the same as from Wood, although it is likely that up until recently, it was more often found as a breeding species in the vicinity of the Lake St. Clair marshes. During the second OBBA, there were 7 atlas squares in that area with breeding evidence. However there are likely fewer now, as the highly invasive and non-native Common Reed (Phragmites australis) has dominated much of the suitable habitat along the main channels. There are several channels passing through the bird's-foot delta that makes up Walpole Island First Nation. As mentioned, there used to be a lot of excellent nesting habitat for various species of waterfowl including Redhead. But now, with the spread of Common Reed, this is what most channel edges look like, and are virtually useless for many of those species.

Lesser Scaup

From Wood: considered an abundant spring and fall transient and rarely remains to breed, with at least a couple of nesting records mentioned from the Lake St. Clair area.

Now: still considered fairly abundant at times, both spring and fall. There are a few breeding records from the second OBBA atlas squares adjacent to Lake St. Clair. However as is the case described for Redhead, the most suitable habitat along the main channels have deteriorated greatly, so it will be interesting to see if the third OBBA, just beginning the second of five years of data collection, will show any change.

Bufflehead

From Wood: a rather common spring and fall transient, with reference by some of his sources indicating that there are a few breeding at St. Clair flats.

Now: not much change as it is a rather common spring and fall transient. However there has been no evidence in recent decades of this species breeding anywhere within the marshes around Lake St. Clair, and that is consistent with both the first and second OBBAs.

Oldsquaw (now known as the Long-tailed Duck)

From Wood: considered to be a rather common spring and fall transient, and winter visitant. However a somewhat disturbing series of events a few decades earlier was included in the description. Every year fishermen catch dozens or hundreds in their nets. One source reported that in 1917, there were 12 tons of the birds (~1500 ducks to the ton) conveyed to a fertilizer factory.

Now: while Long-tailed Ducks are seen fairly regularly off of the lakeshore of the Great Lakes, by no means are they considered a common species at any time of year. For the Blenheim/Rondeau CBC which began in 1939, the maximum number of birds recorded on the day of the count was 80 birds, back in 1958. Some years it is not recorded at all, and over the last 15 years has averaged only 13 birds. For the SCNWA CBC, it has only been recorded twice since that count began in 1981.

Ruddy Duck

From Wood: A regular but not abundant spring and fall transient, but also includes a reference to an 1882 publication indicating that a few breed in the marshes.

Now: it is definitely a regular spring and fall transient, with fairly high numbers at times. On occasion well over 100 birds can be seen in one or more rafts off the shores of Rondeau. On other occasions, sometimes several hundred can be seen congregating in some of the larger sewage lagoons in CK. Both of the first and second OBBAs had several atlas squares with breeding evidence for this species, although mostly at the Probable level and very few at the Confirmed level.

This next photo shows a fairly typical number of Ruddies at a local sewage lagoon. On occasion there can be several times the thirty-five shown as present.

This concludes Part I of this series. Part II will not be far off.

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Rondeau/Blenheim Mega Christmas Bird Count

 Yesterday, Dec 19, 2021, was the annual Rondeau/Blenheim Christmas Bird Count. It started way back in 1939, making this the 83rd count.

We've come a long way since the start. Only 42 species, and a little over 3000 individual birds were tallied back on the first one. Of course the number of birders, not to mention the quality of optical equipment and other birding materials has increased immensely. I don't have the exact number of participants in those beginning days, but typically they numbered in the low teens, and participants often worked in groups. So not a lot of the total count circle was likely covered very thoroughly. The number of species often ranged from the low 40s to occasionally approaching 60 species in the years up to about 1968. 

I started participating on this count in 1969, at the invitation of some really keen birders who were seasonal staff members of the Rondeau Prov Park Naturalist group. Therefore the count yesterday was my 52nd. For the first few years, I participated with my dad and a neighbour, and we covered woodlots, creek systems and farmland within a few kilometres of home. But it was interesting to note that beginning that year, the number of species jumped to the mid-70s and except for an occasional year when nasty weather was a factor, has not been below 80 ever since. It wasn't just because my dad and I joined, although I like to think we helped; I firmly believe that the organizers of this count got a lot more serious in the number of birders participating, and put a lot more effort into the count. And that level of interest and organization has held steady over the decades, resulting in this count being one of the premiere ones in Ontario, at least going by the species totals.

Snowy Owls were always a highlight, and were the exception rather than a regular species during the first few decades.

As organization and efforts persisted, we finally broke the 100 species barrier in 1994, and with the exception, again with poor weather or for some reason fewer birders being available, we have seldom gone below 100 species ever since. It seemed that 115 species was the plateau, a number we reached on three separate occasions, with the first time being in 1997, and from then on we were greatly disappointed if we managed to 'only' account for fewer than 110.

And that brings us to 2021. We didn't just nudge the record of 115 species a bit higher, we smashed it big time. As of today, with a couple of people yet to submit their findings, the number stands at a staggering 123 species! No, that is not a typo: 123 species of birds were observed yesterday. New species for the count included Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Least Sandpiper.

Of course there were a good number of experienced birders. Most years we have between 20-25 birders, and this year it was about the same. This count is often in the running for the highest number of species of any Ontario count, and that is likely part of the reason why birders from well beyond Chatham-Kent decide to include it on their CBC events.

The weather cooperated as well, which is always a critical factor. It was cold, but no snow or ice really hindering anyone, and it wasn't raining. The northerly winds brought birds down nicely.

Beginning in the mid-1970s when I became the permanent park naturalist, my territory shifted to inside the park. For many years, it meant starting owling before day-break, then heading out to the south beach and walking out to Erieau, roughly 8 kilometres round trip, carrying 'scope and tripod, binoculars, some basic camera gear and with lots of winter gear because that trek is wide-open. About half the time I would go out by myself, although I enjoyed the company of others when available. There have been some serious wind and ice conditions, sometimes raining, but always worthwhile. 

 

This is what it can look like, once you get past the jungle at the beginning. A great spot for birds and birding!

After completing the south beach part of my territory, I would drive up to the north end of the park, drive part way down the marsh trail, and then walk or bike several more kilometres there. It was typically an exhilarating, but exhausting day, and often with some very unusual birds. I have had about 33 species of waterfowl, and 11 species of shorebirds somewhere on that route over the years. Highlights included Harlequin Duck, American Avocet, Western Sandpiper and Red Phalarope among others.

South end of the marsh trail

 My territory shifted a fair bit this year. For various reasons, I thought that someone with a lot better eyes and ears, not to mention stamina, should cover the south beach area. It can be rather challenging at times due to lots of downed trees and ice along the shoreline even getting to the open beach area. So although I drove to the south end of the western side of the South Point Trail, that is as close as I got. From there I set up at an open area and did a lake watch for about 1.5 hours. Then Jim B, almost 30 years younger, came to pick up his 'scope, etc., and he did the south beach.

My lake watch proved worthwhile, to be sure. I got the usual open water ducks and gulls. But the highlight was a massive movement of loons, mostly Red-throated. There had been a few reported along the east beach from time to time over the previous few weeks, but with the weather change over night resulting in brisk northerly winds coming off of Lake Huron well to the north, the loons were on the move. In that hour and a half, I counted an amazing 234 Red-throated Loons! And probably missed some as many were a long way out, and likely beyond my 'scope views. I also tallied 7 Common Loons, a good number as they typically pass through earlier. These photos of Red-throats were not taken yesterday, but were taken in a previous December.

 

 

Observers along the east side of the park saw good numbers of Red-throated Loons as well, and likely some were the same. But the timing of our respective lake watch periods did not always overlap, so undoubtedly there were well over 300 Red-throats that passed through the count circle. Our previous high was a mere 70.

Eventually I decided to go north in the park, as I was getting cold standing on the lake shore with brisk northerly winds, and fully expected there would be a different diversity of birds in the other habitats. I checked out the lake side at the north end. No loons of any kind that I could see, but there were at least a couple of hundred Ruddy Ducks floating around a little way offshore. Here are a few.

The woodlands can be fairly quiet, but there are things around. I didn't catch up to the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher on this day, but have seen it other times. There was a good variety of the expected species, although this Ruby-crowned Kinglet is considered rare for the time of year. Most of these next ones were taken during the count.

There were lots of Northern Cardinals.....

....and a few White-throated Sparrows.....

....and House Finches.

 Black-birds were noticeable by their absence, at least in my area. I did see a single Common Grackle hunkered under a lawn chair at one cottage lot.

And sometimes you see other forms of wildlife, such as this well-known Rondeau inhabitant.

At one point as I was in the woods south of the log pond, I decided to try 'pishing' for birds, which worked a bit. But then I decided to give some Eastern Screech Owl calls, and that got some birds more stirred up, anxious to find this owl and harass it. I got a mix of White-breasted Nuthatches, Black-capped Chickadees, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Golden-crowned Kinglets, and even two Hermit Thrushes coming to check me out, thinking I was an owl. 

This Eastern Screech Owl is fairly reliable this time of year.

I ended the day with 45 species for my area, about average and not a bad total considering I didn't have any marsh habitat.

One count done, three more to go.

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