Dickcissel, Wilson's Phalarope, BC Night-Heron, Least Bittern, Tiger Beetle and lots more!

I thought it was time to change the header, giving the Red Squirrel a rest. It is still around the park, but Prothonotary Warblers are one of the most sought after species to find. I got many photos of this cooperative male earlier in the spring. 

I've been out to various places in Chatham-Kent over the last few days. It is a great time to be out before more of the hot, humid weather is here to stay, with summer being just around the corner in spite of quite a few recent days giving hints of things to come.

Going to Rondeau is a regular destination of choice for me as readers will know. What is a little more appealing in the warmer weather is the effect of breezes off the water keeping things a bit cooler. And now that the spring birding frenzy of May is past, the trails are a little quieter.

A small type of plant that catches people's eye is first: it is American Cancer-root. 

Certainly not a rarity, but special in their own way is the species shown in the next two photos. It is the Brown-headed Cowbird, a species not everyone can appreciate due to their laying eggs in other bird's nests. I wrote about this in a previous post entitled "Bison Birds". 

Male

Female

More to people's liking is the Cedar Waxwing, next.

On the sunnier days of spring, before it gets too hot, the Common Five-lined Skinks are out and about. The first photo is of a first year skink, sometimes called a Blue-tailed Skink for obvious reasons.

A female skink is next.

Eastern Kingbirds are regular nesting species here.

I came across a Green Heron along Tulip Tree Trail. Sometimes its crest is raised.....

...but more often it isn't.

Of course Tulip Tree Trail has many Tulip Trees, and they are in flower now.

Little Wood Satyr butterflies are flitting about along trails...

...and a much smaller little creature is the Six-spotted Tiger Beetle. They are quite plentiful along most trails, but often are flighty so don't give a good view. This one enabled me to get quite close even with my macro lens!

A little farther north of Rondeau, I encountered a colourful bird hanging out at a sizeable grassy field. It is a Dickcissel, generally considered an uncommon species but which has been increasing in the last few years.

Inhabiting the same grassy field is this more common Savannah Sparrow.

Continuing a little farther north again, this time at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons, there has been somewhat of an invasion of a fairly rare bird: Wilson's Phalarope. On one occasion when I was there, I came across 10 birds, all of which seemed to be mated pairs. This first photo shows a pair, with the female on the left and male on the right. In this species, the females are more colourful, and it is the male that does most of the work on incubating the eggs!

On another occasion, they were very cooperative for my camera, and I got this great close-up of a female.

I had hoped that at least one of the pairs might have stayed to nest, but as of the last couple of days, it is apparent that all have left. I remember back in about 1980, there was a pair that nested at the lagoons, and I got a photo of the male on the nest. Maybe next year.....

With the significant changing of the water levels of the sprinkler cells, it is less attractive for shorebirds, and at my last visit I had a mere 3 Semiplamated Sandpipers, a single Least Sandpiper, and the occasional Spotted Sandpiper, along with a handful of Killdeer.

Semipalmated Sandpiper

For any regular, or even periodic, birders checking the lagoons, you might have seen this truck working away. It is a special vehicle owned by Republic Services, and it was on site to suction off some of the oily sheen that was covering one of the lagoons. It so happens that my son is with Republic Services, and travels widely across southwestern Ontario in particular providing environmental clean-up services at various industrial sites, etc. He was operating this truck, and he told me he was going to be there for several hours, so I stopped by and saw him in action.

Continuing northwards again, I have been to St. Clair NWA on several occasions, as it is a great place to see and hear nature in action.  Black-crowned Night-Herons used to be a bit more commonly seen, but for some reason they are less numerous now. I did manage to get this photo of one flying relatively close by on one evening.

 Sandhill Cranes are fairly regular fly-overs, sometimes giving good photo ops.

June is egg-laying time for many turtles, so I wasn't surprised to see several Common Snapping Turtles roaming about the trail looking for a place to dig a hole and deposit their eggs.

Great Egrets are scattered about...

...and there are at least a few Least Bitterns inhabiting this NWA. They are much more often heard than seen, so I felt fortunate to get this photo of one as it flew by and disappeared into the cattails.

White-tailed Deer are periodically seen right on the trail...

...and on once occasion I saw this doe and her two fawns roaming along the edge of one of the more distant islands.

 

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Birds, birds and more birds....'tis the season!

 While I haven't been out enough to maximize the number of birds around, I have been out and managed to get a good representation of the masses of birds that have arrived, or are in the process of arriving.

Certainly one of the recent highlights was the one-day wonder of an American White Pelican that showed up along the Erieau Marsh Trail. I managed to get a variety of photos, with it swimming, resting and even in flight as it took a quick aerial tour of the area in front of me.

I had this Belted Kingfisher come by, and while it was hovering before diving for a fish, I caught it.

A couple of Semi-palmated Plover were roaming on the far muddy shore.

 Not a bird, but a pair of what appears to be two female Snapping Turtles wrestling around. I'm not sure what they were up to.

Also not a bird, but an unusual sight was to see these two Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtles along the muddy edge of the marsh trail. They are an endangered species, but there seems to be a reasonably healthy population in the Rondeau Bay area.

They are sometimes called the 'pancake turtle', and when they flatten themselves out, it is easy to see how they got this name.

Northern Map Turtle (l) and Midland Painted Turtle

 This Eastern Kingbird popped into view for a few minutes.

I spent a bit of time roaming beyond the normal birding hotspots, partially to follow up on an unusual sighting in Chatham-Kent. Fellow blogger Quinten Wiegersma reported this Common Raven nest a bit north of Thamesville. It isn't in the greatest spot for viewing, let alone photographing, but there it was, a nest on the side of a silo.

At least one head of a young raven was showing from time to time.

Not nearly as unexpected as a Common Raven, this pair of Osprey had set up a  nest along a fairly busy road, and railroad, between Prairie Siding and Longwoods Road that leads to Tilbury. This species has at least attempted to nest in C-K in the past, but I don't recall any confirmation of success. This nest is easy to keep tabs on, so perhaps it will be successful in spite of the busyness of the immediate area.

While roaming about, I noticed this pair of Wild Turkeys near a wooded area.

I haven't been to Rondeau as much as in past years, but hopefully that will increase a bit in the near future. And those times when I have been out, the birds have been somewhat scarce. But I haven't done too badly, considering the amount of time spent. I have managed photos of the following:

Hairy Woodpecker

This next one is probably a Least Flycatcher. At least it has the general characteristics of one, but it wasn't singing, so Empidonax flycatchers are sometimes difficult to determine with absolute certainty.

 Lots of vireos are around, such as this Blue-headed one.

A Northern Flicker was busily digging out a nest hole.

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are relatively common.

Of course Song Sparrows are fairly plentiful almost year round.

This Veery posed nicely on a fallen log.

White-crowned Sparrows are sort of plentiful, but not for long....

...as are Yellow-rumped Warblers.

Green Herons are often only partially seen....

...and sometimes one can get a relatively unobscured view and photo.

Along one of the Mitchell's Bay trails, I had this Eastern Bluebird in my sights....

...and Great Egrets are often quite cooperative for the camera.

This Greater Yellowlegs was squawking its disapproval of me along the trail.

A walk through nearby Paxton's Bush on the north side of Chatham is close to home, and a pleasant walk when it isn't too crowded.

Great Horned Owls returned this winter, and this youngster was sitting up nicely.

This family of Mallard ducklings were quite content along the trail. Mother Mallard was very close by.

The Black-billed Magpies continue to occupy a territory not far from Shrewsbury. It  isn't clear what  stage of nesting they are at, as initially they were seen carrying nesting material into the upper part of a spruce tree, but more recently they seem to have begun nesting in a White Cedar. At least they are persisting, and only time will tell if they are successful.

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