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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Recent Birding Highlights (spoiler alert: Blue Grosbeak)

 Mid-summer birding is relatively slow, but steady. There is always something around!

In the last little while, I have been at the Campbell Line conservation area. I was hoping to see or hear Dickcissel, but didn't on this occasion. But there were lots of Bobolinks, a species that is designated as Threatened under both the Canadian and Ontario Endangered Species Acts.

family group

female Bobolink

A Solitary Sandpiper was hanging out at the edge of one of the ponds. It isn't a species that breeds in this part of Ontario, so presumably it is a failed nester and is gradually making its way southward.

A white-tailed deer took exception to me being in its territory, snorting a few times and charging off somewhere else. A closer look reveals a lot of things like deer flies settled on its back.

A stop at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons didn't turn up anything unexpected, but I managed to get a few photos of some things. Spotted Sandpipers are to be expected, but they don't often cooperate for a photographer.

There are lots of damselflies and dragonflies there. This Eastern Amberwing caught my eye, so I thought I would capture its photo. It isn't a really common species, but is certainly widespread.

A short visit to the Keith McLean Conservation Lands turned up a few shorebirds, and the highlight there was to come across 4 Short-billed Dowitchers. Shorebirds in general are starting to show up as they return from their breeding grounds hundreds of kilometres farther north.

The Mitchell's Bay North Shore Trail is one of my favourite spots to visit along Lake St. Clair. It is a privately owned wetland, with a publicly accessible trail. There are lots of prairie type wildflowers established along the trail, although due to the aggressiveness of the non-native Phragmites, sometimes drastic measures have to be taken to eliminate, or at least reduce the Phrag, and let the other species have a chance to show their beauty. The trail is well-groomed.

As I was going out, I noticed this deer coming down to the water for a drink. It didn't see me at first....

...but then it did. And then it reacted like a typical fawn....

...crouching down and trying to stay hidden. An adult would have bounded away immediately, but this one was born this year, as you can see by some lingering white spots, and the initial crouching is fawn-type behaviour. As soon as I was a little farther away, it did take off and out of sight.

At the end of the trail, on this slightly elevated berm, is a picnic table. I typically sit and watch the sometimes numerous gulls and terns, the Mute Swans and other waterfowl and sometimes some shorebirds. I often see a pair of Sandhill Cranes hanging out, and this time it was no exception.

They flew in from somewhere inland, and proceeded to meander around this wetland habitat, and nicely within view of me at the picnic table with my telephoto lens. I am not sure if they are generally accustomed to people, but as long as I moved slowly and carefully, they didn't seem to be all that concerned.

There is a lot of Pickerelweed here, and I liked this photo with the Pickerelweed in fine flower providing a backdrop for the crane.

Certainly the bird highlight of the last few days was to catch up to a young male Blue Grosbeak. It was first reported by Paul Pratt, on the north side of Tilbury. It is not a species seen that often in Ontario, and given that it has been seen daily since about July 5, makes one wonder just how long it had been here. The location it is at is not one that is regularly covered by birders, so kudos to Paul for being out exploring and coming across this bird.

Fortunately it seems to be settled into this area, being up and visible frequently and calling for a mate. I first heard it not from the grassy field where it would be expected, but from a grove of trees on the other side of the road. I couldn't see it at first, but heard it call.

It then appeared on some wires over the grassy field. Unfortunately with all of the wires, it wasn't always easy to get a good photo, and the sun light wasn't at the best angle at the time of day I was there, so although this was one of the first photos I got of the bird, it was at best, a record shot.

And fortunately it kept moving around to different perches, singing as it went. At least this next one had better light and fewer wire obstructions.

It went back over to the grove of trees on a couple of occasions, and on one of them at least it was partially in view, and with a better angle of light.

I got a few more, and as I was thinking about moving on, the bird flew down onto some Phragmites in the ditch right along the side of the road, enabling me to get some fairly close, unobstructed photos, with better light.

It was certainly a great way to cap off this outing.

I doubt if this bird will find a mate, and who knows how long it will persist before moving on. I don't think there has ever been a successful nesting of this species in Ontario, but I am aware of an attempt by a pair of Blue Grosbeaks to nest in Chatham-Kent. It was back in early June, 1995 when a pair of them appeared along the Lake Erie shoreline a bit west of Blenheim. The semi-open shrubby/woodland habitat attracted them, and they proceeded to go through the normal courtship activities. There were several of us who kept a close watch on this pair, not quite daily, but several times a week. We observed them doing mate feeding, copulation and carrying nesting material. Unfortunately they were intent on an area that was private and inaccessible, so we could only watch from the road. Had they gotten to the point of likely incubating and even feeding young somewhat definitively, we likely would have tried to obtain permission to get access and a better look. We did eventually see both the male and female with food, but not always going to a specific spot. Perhaps the young were out of the nest and being fed in various spots? A bit later the female was not seen, and this was following a fairly severe storm that went through. There was some damage to the vegetation so perhaps the nest or young or even the female were harmed. Or perhaps a marauding racoon came along and did what racoons do. At any rate, the male was still seen in the area, occasionally singing, even into early September. And somewhat surprising, the male reappeared in 1996 and stayed for several weeks, but there was no evidence of a female this the second year. I got a few photos at the time, but with inferior equipment to what I have today. This is a scanned photo of one of them.

I was hoping that by keeping detailed notes of my numerous visits I would be able to write up a report to Ontario Birds, describing the first confirmed breeding record for Blue Grosbeak in Ontario, but it was not to be.

 

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The 41st Christmas Bird Count at SCNWA

 In what has become a tradition, the St. Clair National Wildlife Area Christmas Bird Count was yesterday, January 1. While we used to pick that date as waterfowl hunting had ceased by January and would make access to the several private hunt clubs more likely, in recent years the hunting season has been extended. As a result, some of these private marshes are no longer accessible, but it varies from year to year. This year we had a little better access than some years.

This count began in 1981, organized by the regional wildlife biologist of the Canadian Wildlife Service of the day. Beginning in 1988 I became the coordinator/compiler of the count. Since I live within the count circle, it made sense and works quite well.

On January 1, 2021, about 16 (mostly) regular participants started out early in the day. Some were out well before daylight, trying to document screech owls during the relative quiet hours before the storm. The day started off not too badly: cloudy and just below freezing, with a light east wind. By shortly after day break, the wind had picked up, still from the east, but increasing to around 18-30 km/hr. And then it went downhill from there. By early afternoon, it was 30-50 km/h, still from the east, and with a bit of rain, mixed with ice pellets and freezing rain. Several folks, especially those who had traveled a bit of distance to be here, decided it was time to call it a day. Smart move, as the conditions did not improve much, if any.

A frequent winter sight at SCNWA

The main part of my territory included some of the most productive area of the NWA. Even in the coldest weather, there are a couple of spots that never seem to freeze, and there is always quite literally a ton of birds. I decided to carry my camera and telephoto lens, along with my 'scope and binoculars, as even with the very poor weather conditions for photography, one never knows when it will come in handy. I'm glad I did, in spite of the extra weight.

 This first photo shows a very small segment of the concentration of waterfowl. The Tundra Swans are obvious, but there are also Mute Swans, Canada Geese, Mallards and American Black Ducks.

 Overall in this extensive open patch of water, I counted/estimated over 550 Tundra Swans, 12 Mute Swans, 1250 Canada Geese, 7 Snow Geese, 2300 Mallards and 300 Am Black Ducks. There were also 4 Cackling Geese, 5 Greater White-fronted Geese, 5 Northern Pintail, an American Wigeon, 3 Green-winged Teal, 27 Northern Shoveler, a Redhead, 17 Ruddy Ducks and a single Hooded Merganser, plus a Pied-billed Grebe and an American Coot. At least those are what I saw, but with so many ducks being obscured by the larger geese and swans, who knows what else might be there? I spent at least an hour slowly scoping back and forth as more and more birds became noticeable.

A more spread out group of mostly swans

A cluster of the Northern Shovelers

It was quite awhile before I noticed the Greater White-fronted Geese, as they were hidden behind the swans most of the time. Even at an equivalent of almost 90 power, the birds are not all that clear, but you can see the small brown geese with the orangey bill and white patch at the base, three of which are shown next.

As is often the case, Snow Geese hang out here, mixed in with the other geese. This next photo shows the seven birds: 5 white ones and on the far right, two of the 'blue' colour phase.

There is always a steady stream of birds coming and going for various reasons. While I was in this part of the NWA, I had no less than 4 Bald Eagles flying about, and that got the attention of the waterfowl. On a couple of occasions, an immature eagle flew right overhead and not that high up. This next photo was hardly cropped at all. It isn't a great shot, but that is what happens when shooting a predominantly dark bird against a very white/gray sky.

Here is the group of Snow Geese that got up and left at one point due in part to the eagles.

As I was nearing the westernmost end of the dyke trail, I was startled by a noise around the bend. It was a White-tailed Deer, that instead of turning around and heading back the way it came, decided to try and cross the partially frozen canal beside the berm. As it hit the ice, it skidded across to the other side, with feet flailing in every direction. Once it got to the other side, it quickly scrambled up the bank and disappeared. Meanwhile, the other two that were with it made a smarter decision with, I'm sure, less risk. They retreated and paused briefly a couple of hundred metres down the trail, to consider the threat.

Upon returning to the parking lot, I decided where to go next. On the way out the lane way of the NWA, a Great Blue Heron decided to fly along beside, and then in front, of me. This first photo is through the front window of the truck.

Another rear view of the heron.

I normally have 2-3 smaller areas away from the NWA to check out, but there was nothing of note at any of them. I drove along the north side of the river, as birds, and especially waterfowl, are on the move there as well. The most common species was Common Merganser.

Male Common Mergs

Female Common Mergs

On the other side of the river, presumably watching for some erring waterfowl, or a dead fish to float by, was this immature Bald Eagle.

Snowy Owls are always a highlight at any time, and I wanted to make sure that there were a few reported. I went to the part of the count circle where I knew there had been several, and was not disappointed. I saw 8 altogether, but all well out in a field. This first one hardly ever had its eyes open, as it rested in a worked up field of corn stubble.

This one was sitting in about the only patch of snow left in the field.

In spite of the less than ideal weather, the count tallied 89 species, with one group yet to report in. The only new species for the count was Trumpeter Swan, perhaps a bit overdue. Our highest ever was 93 species, and we have only exceeded 89 species four times in 41 years, so I think everyone is overall pleased with the results in spite of the weather. 

One more count to go, for this season.