Spring Birding Bonanza

 It has been awhile since my last post. Life continues to be a challenge in various ways, but fortunately I have been out and about these last few weeks, with a good variety of exciting birds to try and track down, as well as to watch for the arrival of normally expected ones.

Certainly one of the bird highlights of recent weeks has been the presence of a beautiful male Tufted Duck hanging out at Erieau. It is native to northern Eurasia, but as it is a bit migratory, it can show up elsewhere.

 This is actually the second one I have seen in the Rondeau checklist area. The first one was back in 1983 when I had one off the east beach of Rondeau, a day or two before the Christmas Bird Count in December. However it was the only time it was noted by anyone at the time. The one in the photos above remained in the Erieau harbour area for several days, allowing many birders from Ontario and beyond to have some excellent views.

Upon returning from Erieau to see this Tufted Duck, a male Yellow-headed Blackbird had been seen just before the village, and I stopped and got this highly cropped photo.

 It isn't super rare, as they do nest regularly in some of the cattail islands in Lake St. Clair, and I have been out in my kayak getting some fine shots of them perched on the vegetation. Nonetheless, they are always fun to find away from their usual nesting area.

Another extreme rarity was the occurrence of a Crested Caracara. One had been seen in southern Essex for a day or two, and then it disappeared. Then one was seen in Chatham-Kent, presumably the same bird, where the word got out and a dozen or more birders were able to see it. However only the two birders who first encountered it got some very nice photos. The bird then moved to the edge of a nearby forest, where it remained for an hour or so before moving on. Due to the distance, and the presence of some branches in front, it was hard to get good focus. The photo that follows was taken and cropped to the equivalent of about 100X, and was the best I could get.

This is the first one I have seen in Ontario, although I missed seeing one that quickly flew over Pelee Island back in May of 1994 even though I was on the island at the time. I have seen them in southern Texas and in Costa Rica years ago.

When the bird left this perch, it flew southeast, and right over the farm at Guilds where I was raised. It would have been a yard bird had I still been there and seen it! When it left, the birders present headed out in various directions to see if it could be re-found. It wasn't, but someone did discover a Townsend's Solitaire coming to some berry bushes in the front yard of some former high school classmates of mine. Fortunately there were enough berries to keep it around, and when I went out the next day, managed to get some photos.

It does show up in the area from time to time, although the last time I saw one was in April of 2011 at Rondeau.

Another couple of rarities have also been seen in recent weeks, although I haven't been out to see them. One species, a Varied Thrush which is a western species, was only seen by one other birder, and fortunately photographed, in spite of the quick arrival of several other birders who were not successful. This species has shown up before, and I remember seeing one coming to a feeder in the Cedar Springs area back in 1979. Another somewhat unusual bird was a female Harlequin Duck, another western species that does show up in the Great Lakes area on an almost annual basis, and one or more have been seen in the Erieau area periodically over the last few years.

Who knows what will turn up next? And that is a reason that birders like to get out to scour areas to see what might be around, especially during the early part of the migration season when things periodically get off course. Maybe my next post will have a few more to show!

But there has been a steady arrival of the expected species, which are always nice to see, and also to photograph, if only to capture the intrigue and beauty of the natural world around us. Here are a few of the ones I have managed to photograph in my recent outings.

 American Tree Sparrows are typically most abundant in the winter, and are infrequently seen this far south by this time of year. Some may linger, as did this one. 

Belted Kingfishers are present near quiet water, on the lookout for a meal. They will breed in the area.

Brown Creepers can occasionally be fairly abundant as they are passing through to points farther north. They are constantly on the move going up a tree trunk hunting for insects, and are often hard to photograph.

Waterfowl are plentiful, and some like this Blue-winged Teal, are more abundant these days. Some may remain to nest.

Female and male Blue-winged Teal

Warblers are one of the highlights of spring migration. I saw this Yellow-rumped Warbler, my first warbler species of the year, just a day ago, along the road near St. Clair NWA. 
 

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are fairly regular right now, but will be diminishing as May rolls around.

Turkey Vultures are frequently seen. Some even will remain in C-K for the breeding season.

Northern Flickers are increasing in number, and some will remain to nest.

Hermit Thrush is one of the earliest of the Thrush family to arrive, and will be continuing to their more northerly breeding grounds so as to be almost entirely gone from the southwest by mid-May.

Great Egrets can be seen in some areas, especially those wetlands adjacent to Lake St. Clair, as they nest in some of the high quality wetlands in that vicinity. 

The following two owl species are year round residents. This first one, the Eastern Screech Owl, can sometimes be seen in a hollow in this American Beech tree along Bennett Ave in Rondeau. It has been somewhat irregular there this winter.

Great Horned Owls are more often heard than seen, and their nests aren't always easy to find. This one nests regularly in a woodlot at the edge of Chatham, and although its nest site varies from year to year. can sometimes be found. I didn't see this one at first as the adult blends in well from a distance, but noted the round, whitish fuzzy head of the young moving around at the edge, which gave it away.

There have been a few non-bird highlights in recent outings. I saw my first Mourning Cloak butterfly a few days ago. It was just flitting along the trail, so I didn't get a photo, but used one from my archives to show here.

I did manage to see and photograph this Spring Azure. Some butterfly specialists have lumped the Spring and Summer Azure into one species as they are difficult to separate and their seasons overlap. Apparently one needs to have a specimen to look at under a microscope to see how the wing scales overlap. However given that the season at Rondeau is delayed due to the lake effect of the cold water, keeping the temperatures at the park several degrees cooler than the mainland, this is about as early as one could expect, and so I choose to call it a Spring Azure.

 

 

If you would like to subscribe, or unsubscribe, to Nature Nuggets, send an email to: prairietramper@gmail.com 

 

 

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks....a first for Chatham-Kent

For those in tune with the bird rarities in Ontario of late, it is no secret that the occurrence of two Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks this past Saturday was the highlight. More on that shortly.

Earlier on that day, many birders had been drawn to Rondeau to seek out the Lark Sparrow and Clay-colored Sparrow that were in close proximity along Lakeshore Road. Due to all the rain of the previous 48 hours causing some water issues in our basement, I didn't get to Rondeau until mid-afternoon. The Lark Sparrow had last been seen about 30 minutes before I got there, but I did catch up to the Clay-colored Sparrow, and got some decent record shots.

After awhile, it seemed that the Lark Sparrow was not going to show, and then came the message via Ontbirds, that two Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks had been seen right along Talbot Trail just west of Port Crewe. If the pavement hadn't been wet, I think we would have seen a cloud of dust along Lakeshore Road as vehicles made a very quick exit to go after the ducks, just in case time was of the essence. I couldn't go immediately, as I felt the water issues in our basement needed to be checked on, just in case. But after I got home, and realized that things were under control and not deteriorating, I considered going out to look for the ducks. When an early evening Ontbirds update indicated they were still there, I realized I had time to make it out there. So off I went. And there they were, as advertised, but a little farther away from the road then they had been earlier. The big telephoto lens came out and I got a few pics. Several more vehicles arrived, and the birds actually came closer to the road. By this time it was between 7:45 p.m. and 8 p.m., and sunset was quickly approaching, not that with the misty rain and heavy cloud cover one could even see the sun, so it was definitely challenging for photography. Here are some of the shots I got, after a bit more tweaking than usual.

Most of these were taken at an ISO of 6400, definitely higher than I like. But it was that or nothing, so it was an easy choice.

I had seen Fulvous Whistling-Ducks, their relative, along the south beach of Rondeau back on September 26, 1979. But these whistling-ducks were a first ever for me. This species has been seen in Ontario from time to time, and it seems every few years there is a very small influx of them. I hadn't gone looking for them elsewhere before, and these two birds, if accepted by the Ontario Bird Records Committee, will be the first for Chatham-Kent. They were a one-day wonder, and were not seen again after, although who knows if they might show up again somewhere else.

Yesterday, April 22 was Earth Day, and I was out at Rondeau for awhile. The weather was terrific, with sun, warm temperatures and light winds. There were quite a few birders out enjoying the great weather even though the birds were not terribly abundant. The White-winged Dove was quite cooperative, and most birders who tried for them got great looks. This male bird is attempting to build a nest again, on cottage owner Mel's car.

The South Point Trail was wet, but not nearly as wet as it was in May last year. Probably about 20% of the trail has water on it, varying from about 2-15 cm. Good waterproof footwear is a must.

Along the side trail that goes to the lighthouse, it is quite wet as well, and there were a few Green Frog tadpoles wriggling around in the water over the trail.

With the sun and warmer temperatures that day, there was the most butterfly activity that I had seen so far this year. I had four species, including a couple of Eastern Commas, several Red Admirals, a single American Lady and about a dozen Spring Azures, but only got photos of the latter two.

I stopped at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons and while there was a good variety of ducks and grebes, there was nothing unusual, and most of the ducks were a long way out so I didn't bother trying to get photos. Rumour had it that someone had been there recently with a shotgun, so that may have made the ducks a bit more wary than usual for the time of year. The sprinkler cells had just a tiny bit of water in them, presumably left over from the deluge of precipitation a few days earlier. The only shorebirds were Killdeer. Hopefully that will improve soon. There were several Savannah Sparrows on territory, allowing me to get a few photos.

Spring is over for another year

Today is officially the beginning of summer! And now the days begin to get shorter.....

Over the last precious few days of spring, I have enjoyed a few forays around various parts of Rondeau. The summer visitors have not yet arrived in great numbers, so the trails are relatively quiet. So quiet, at times, that other forms of wildlife are found using them. Many birds have been busily nesting, and I have had some success photographing a few of them, but that will be the subject of another post.

Six-spotted Tiger Beetle

A walk around Tuliptree Trail on Thursday turned up both male and female Prothonotary Warbler at the usual spot. They delighted us with close views, but were constantly on the move searching for caterpillars. Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Scarlet Tanager and Wood Thrush were all calling or put in a brief appearance as well.

Along the South Point Trail, there were lots of butterflies flitting about in the sun. Lots of Spring Azures (difficult to separate from Summer Azures for the most part, but according to the reference books, it is still more likely to be the flight period for Springs rather than Summers, and given the lateness of this spring, I will defer to calling them Spring Azures) plus various other species.

Spring Azure

Hobomok Skipper

Little Wood Satyr

Northern Crescent

The extra dark line on the right wing of the Northern Crescent is a shadow from a grass stem just above the butterfly.

The highlight lep for me was to discover a Pipevine Swallowtail, along the Lighthouse Trail offshoot of the South Point Trail. This species is considered fairly rare in Ontario. It was busily feeding on puccoon, but never actually lit on the plant. Instead it semi-hovered as it sipped nectar, so getting a good shot was next to impossible. I did manage the following record shots which show the single row of orange spots on the underwing, in a slightly iridescent blue patch, and the lack of much colour on the upper wing other than very dark bluish black. The butterfly being backlit didn't help my photographic efforts.

Another highlight was getting some decent shots of a Painted Skimmer, a species which is not common in southern Ontario, but seems to be seen regularly in various places this year.

As I continued out along this trail to the lake, several Killdeer and Spotted Sandpipers voiced their dismay at my presence. No doubt they had a nest or young nearby, but I didn't go looking.

Killdeer

Some other hikers who ventured out along the lake beyond the washout reported they saw several large Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtles just off shore. June is the prime month for turtles to come ashore to lay eggs, and the softshells of the Rondeau area favour the sandy beaches for their egg-laying.

Back along the South Point Trail, I noted an immature male Common Whitetail.

Common Whitetail

A very large American Toad was along the trail. It never moved while I was in the area, and even the occasional cyclist didn't seem to bother it much.

The lush growth of this Carolinian Forest Zone was evident throughout the forest. Vines in particular are taking advantage of some of the extra light available due to the death of ash trees from the effects of the Emerald Ash Borer. Virginia Creeper and Poison Ivy are particularly adept at climbing and making use of the supporting structure of such dead trees. Although such vine growth can sometimes shade out and even kill some living trees that are not shade tolerant, the good news is that such lush growth of these vines results in a profusion of berries which will provide nourishment for warblers and other songbirds as they return on their southward migration later this season. Some warblers such as Yellow-rumped Warblers may linger well into the winter if enough berries are available.

Virginia Creeper