Rare, Regular Migrant Birds of the Rondeau Area

In my last post I featured quite a few rare types of birds that are known to breed, or have attempted to breed, within the Rondeau Provincial Park Checklist Area.

This post will feature some of the rare but regular migrants that have not yet demonstrated any evidence of breeding. While the previous post required some evidence of breeding to be included, I don't have as clear-cut a definition of rarity. Therefore this list is somewhat subjective.

Generally anything included here will be out of regular breeding range and always an extra highlight to see. Undoubtedly an observation would be posted on a rare bird alert of some type. However they are almost 'expected' rarities, in my opinion, as they occur most years, or at least likely once every 4-5 years. I didn't go into all the Rondeau records to see if a species fits that definition exactly, so take this definition with a grain of salt. If you don't see something on this list that you think should be included, it might be on the next list if I felt it was a bit rarer, or it may be because I don't have a good enough photo yet :-).

They will be featured more or less alphabetically rather than in any checklist order.

First up is American Avocet, a striking large shorebird that shows up briefly every year or so, typically at sewage lagoons, flooded fields, or sometimes along the shoreline.

Next is Cattle Egret, not a species that is considered native to North America, but arrived as a result of major storms bringing a few of them across the Atlantic in the middle of last century. They show up irregularly, and have bred in southwestern Ontario on occasion. The closest places are at Fish Point on Pelee Island back in 1976 where breeding was confirmed (I saw the nest), and another time at Walpole Island in the early 1980s where it was in breeding condition near some appropriate habitat, but never confirmed.

 Eared Grebe is a common nesting species in the innumerable wetlands of the prairie provinces, but only seen in the Rondeau area from time to time on migration.

 Eurasian Wigeon usually appears in the spring and/or fall when huge numbers of puddle and diving ducks show up on places like Rondeau Bay. It can be a challenge picking one out amongst the thousands of ducks at those times of year, especially if there are a lot of Redheads. They often are only well seen through a 'scope. This particular individual was at the Keith McLean Conservation Lands in 2019, on 'Lake McLean'.

 Franklin's Gull is pretty unusual, and I almost put it into the rarer category. However there are enough records over the years to indicate it fits here, at least during those years when masses of the smaller Bonaparte's type gulls are passing through.

 Along with large numbers of geese, one might find the occasional Greater White-fronted Goose. They are seen almost annually, but are sometimes harder to find when mixed in with large numbers of the larger Canada Goose.

 Henslow's Sparrow used to be more regular than it has been. It is an Endangered species in Ontario, and it is doubtful that any nest in the province now.

 Nelson's Sparrow is a regular breeding species in the far north, and when it migrates is very challenging to find. It is a very furtive sparrow and it probably passes through annually in small numbers. It occurs primarily in the fall and may linger, presumably when the urgency to reach their wintering ground isn't quite as strong as it is to head north in the spring.

 Purple Sandpiper is typically a very tolerant shorebird, enabling one to get some good photos. However it doesn't occur all that regularly, and can sometimes go undetected for several years in a row. Usually when it does appear, it may do so for only a very few days.

 Red Phalarope is another shorebird that nests in the far north, and is seen very irregularly in the Rondeau area. Both of these shorebirds definitely get a lot of attention when word gets out that they are around.

 Red-throated Loon was always considered a fairly rare migrant. However in the last few years, they have been documented much more regularly in the fall and early winter on western Lake Erie, and can be seen from good vantage points along the Rondeau shoreline. It was first recorded on a Rondeau Christmas Bird Count back in 1981, and not again until 4 years ago. On the 2018 count we had a huge number flying through conservatively estimated at 70 individuals.

 Ross's Goose was considered a real rarity in eastern North America not that long ago. But the numbers have recovered recently, in part due to the major increase of the similarly looking Snow Goose population in the northeast. It was first recorded on a Rondeau Christmas Bird Count in 2001 and we have had it on 5 other CBCs since then.

 Snowy Egret is a species much more common south of the border, and erratically seen in Ontario. Most often they appear in mid to late summer, when post breeding wanderers may show up and stick around for a few days, depending on the weather and the feeding opportunities.

Trumpeter Swans aren't really a migratory species in the sense that most of the rest of the birds on this post are. They have never nested in the Rondeau area that we know of, and it is only in the last couple of decades where they are seen somewhat erratically.

 Western Kingbird shows up periodically, which follows a general pattern that some members of the flycatcher family are known for. You will hear more about that in the next post or two. There are a few records for the Rondeau area, but several years can go by in between records, and they don't stay long.

 Worm-eating Warbler is one of those southern warblers that gets a lot of attention when one is reported. They appear most often in early May when the weather conditions are such that a strong warm front comes up from south of the border. In the last few years, however, it seems that one of the dominant wind directions in early to mid May is from the east or north east, which holds back good movements of the more southern specialties like this warbler.

That is it for this post......come on back for a future one which will feature what I consider to be much rarer migrant species, with another post featuring mega rarities at some point after that.

A GREAT Day at Rondeau

It was a great day at Rondeau, for a number of reasons: it was cooler and much more comfortable to be out than the hot hazy humid days of late and the rain held off. But for birders, it was the report of a Great Kiskadee, a first occurrence for Ontario and Canada. This flycatcher's normal North American range is in southern Texas and Mexico, and many points a lot farther south. There are various extralimital occurrences, however, including as far north as South Dakota, Kansas and Tennessee. All of the North American records are hundreds of kilometres south of the Canadian border.

The word got out yesterday, September 7, when a local hiker captured a photo of an unusual bird along the Marsh Trail. After being uploaded to iNaturalist, it quickly got circulated amongst the birding community that a Great Kiskadee was present. A few birders arrived in time late yesterday to get a brief look at it before it went to roost for the night. This brings the Rondeau area bird checklist total to a respectable 366 species.

Today the Marsh Trail was almost literally crawling with birders as early as 6:30 a.m. It is likely that over the course of the day, at least 150 or more birders from far and wide ventured down the trail in search of this mega rarity. Fortunately all of the action was within the first 200 or so metres down the trail, making the effort to get to the precise location minimal. Not everyone saw it, unfortunately, as it only showed itself for a few moments at a time, and spent the majority of the time out of sight, but apparently not entirely out of hearing, so I'm told. With the brisk ENE wind and my less than ideal hearing, I didn't hear it clearly enough to be certain of its presence. But I did see it on two occasions, about an hour and a half apart.

For my first view, the light was flat, and against the bland sky it made capturing much detail of the bird extra difficult.

The second view was more distant, but with a better background it showed up a lot more clearly, although branches interfered with the focus so several of my photos had to be deleted.

There were many huge smiles of relief amongst those that saw this bird, of course.

During the extended periods in between the times this bird popped up, there was a good variety of other resident and migrant birds to be seen. Other species which made the birding GREAT were Great Egret.....

.....Greater Yellowlegs probing around in the washed up vegetation along the edge of the trail:

and Great Crested Flycatcher, although I didn't get a photo of the latter species.

There were vireos, grosbeaks and warblers, among others. I got 12 species of warbler in just this short distance, which was a greater diversity of warblers than some days in May!

There were several Palm Warblers.....

...and a cooperative Cape May Warbler.

It was great to see so many birders, some familiar and some not familiar, and the camaraderie was excellent. Several fellow bloggers were present, three of which were photographed together on Dwayne Murphy's phone, taken by Rondeau staff member Pilar Manorome. It can be seen here.

After leaving Rondeau, I decided to check out the Keith McLean Conservation Area to see if the young Snowy Egret was still around. It was, along with one of its GREAT cousins.

Snowy Egret

Just to complete this post with the GREAT theme, there was the occasional Great Blue Heron around as well.

 With all of the rarities that have shown up in Ontario so far in the last few weeks, what will be next???? What could be better than a Canadian first, as well as being fairly bright and colourful?

Birding fun at the Keith McLean Conservation Area

The Keith McLean Conservation Area (KMCA) is often worth checking out. This place has a bit of history for me, since there was a time quite a few years ago that Marie and I lived right across the road from it, when Keith was still living there and farming. Since he passed away a few years ago, it is nice that the property has been turned (at least partially) into a naturalized area for vegetation and wildlife.

With the very high water this spring, along with a partially flooded field, several of us had commented that if this keeps up, it will likely attract something rare as the season goes on. Of course in the spring, it had several Willets and American Avocets stop in for a visit.

The flooded field is perfect for waterfowl and shorebirds right now. With a little bit of searching, one can find up to a dozen species of shorebirds. In the last couple of days, one of the highlights has been a Red Knot, a species we used to see regularly on migration to and from its high arctic breeding grounds. For various reasons, the species has declined significantly and it is now an endangered species. The last time I saw one was several years ago on a sandy island at the south end of Rondeau Bay. So it was nice to hear of one that showed up at the KMCA.

When I got there this afternoon, it had not been seen for several hours. There were four other birders there while I was there, and none of us had seen it. After the others left, I decided to check a slightly different vantage point. The usual viewing spot was right across the small bridge that crossed the creek. While watching birds come and go, it was apparent that some birds found another spot just out of sight from our normal vantage point. I decided to go along the field edge before crossing the bridge, where I could get a look into one of the little alcoves. Sure enough there were some shorebirds there, including the Red Knot! It had undoubtedly been there all along, busily feeding.

It was a long way away, and I could only see it reasonably well with the scope at high power. I took a few shots with my camera gear, hoping I was aiming at the right bird and had it reasonably in focus. This photo, showing a Killdeer on the left and the Red Knot on the right, with various ducks in the foreground, is probably at the equivalent of about 75X.

The other highlight was a Snowy Egret, which Steve Charbonneau found today and put the word out. It was never very close, but seemed to be unconcerned with the few birders viewing it from across the wetland. All of these are highly cropped as well.

 This next photo shows a bit more of the yellowish legs, with black on the front part of the leg.

This next one shows the yellowish feet. In good breeding plumage, the legs are black and the feet are bright yellow.

A shot comparing the much larger Great Egret on the right with the Snowy on the left.

There were other birds of course including this Stilt Sandpiper.

A couple of Belted Kingfishers were foraging in the area. They are always so skittish, so any photo of them is a challenge. This one is hovering just before it plunged into the water below. I think it came up empty.

With post breeding wandering birds, who knows what might turn up next. So far there have been some awesome herons in southwestern Ontario in the past few days, including Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Little Blue Heron, Reddish Egret and now Snowy Egret. Any guesses as to what might be next?