Some warmer season niceties

 The ups and downs of the early spring days can be rewarding. At least with the periodic upswing, migrating birds are on the move, and a greater variety of fauna can be appreciated.

I have been to Rondeau on a few occasions, in between rainy days. One of my purposes is to get a fair bit of exercise instead of hanging out and being relatively immobile at home. Some days the camera gets a bit of a workout; other days, not so much. 

In some of my earlier posts, it was plain to see that there was massive amounts of ice on the lake, but it was gradually disappearing. And then there was none.

There is becoming a nice mix of fauna to see. No native spring wildflowers yet, but that won't be long. Wood Frogs are making a bit of noise in the larger ponds of the sloughs.

Tree Swallows are back, swooping after some insects.

A few flies and things are buzzing around, such as this Narrow-headed Marsh Fly

Mourning Cloaks are by far the most numerous butterfly, although I did see one or two of the Eastern Comma type ones but just in flight

There has been at least one Lesser Yellowlegs hanging out in the good shorebird habitat at nearby Keith McLean Conservation Area.

Golden-crowned Kinglets are fairly common.

On occasion, one may see an Eastern Garter Snake out sunning.

Brown Creepers are becoming more numerous, although they hardly ever sit still for a photo! I've even had several show up on trees in my yard at home.

A nice surprise is to see and photograph this American Red Squirrel, which has been hanging around the maintenance area for several years. It is very active, and photos are hard to get. In the case of this one, I had a hard time focusing on it as there was not only a chain link fence to look through, but also branches of a few shrubs.

Other places relatively close to home have proven worthwhile to check out. At St. Clair NWA, there is often a Bald Eagle flying around, but the bland skies don't make it easy to get a good photo of.

On one occasion as I was along the main trail, this Canadian Beaver was swimming by quite close at hand. You don't often see them in the middle part of the day, but there it was.

Sandhill Cranes are almost a guarantee, somewhere either in the NWA or nearby fields.

The Mitchell's Bay trails are worth checking out. Again, Bald Eagles are almost a guarantee, and I often see 4 or more within view, but not always within a good photographic distance. This one is about a year old, due to the brownish back.

Great Egrets are back, and I always look forward to photographing one or more. This first one shows it had recently grabbed what looks to be a small frog.

At other times, they are just busy watching to see what is going on.

There is some great habitat for shorebirds, due to the lower lake levels. This Greater Yellowlegs was a first of the year for me, a little way out from the closest point at which I could observe it.

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Nesting season begins, as do some spring wildflowers

 Nesting season is upon us. Of course Bald Eagles and Great Horned Owls usually are at some beginning stage of their nesting season by mid-March or even late February. I have seen eagles on their nests, presumably incubating, in at least three different sites over the last several weeks. However perhaps the biggest surprise this year is the arrival and the nest-building of a species that has never nested in Chatham-Kent that we know of, and in fact has seldom even been seen here. It is the Black-billed Magpie, as shown in the header photo and what follows.

This pair was noted almost two weeks ago, at a residence just north of Shrewsbury. I have no idea how long one or the other had been in C-K, although there was one seen and photographed a bit earlier at the NE corner of Rondeau Bay. But for some reason, this pair came along and decided a residence near the corner of Fargo Road and Bisnett Line was the place for them. They normally live in and nest in open areas, and this site met those conditions.

Normally the magpies are a mid to far western species in Canada, although a small number occur in northwestern Ontario, specifically in the Rainy River/Lake-of-the Woods area. There was one or more birds seen in Elgin and Middlesex Co last year. But here they are.

On the occasion when I saw them, they were out in the field opposite the residence, either foraging for food or looking for nesting material. There have been many folks stopping by and watching them, and some have seen the birds carrying nesting material to the upper part of a tall spruce tree. Of course this nesting activity will be closely monitored over the next several weeks to see what happens, so stay tuned. It is definitely an interesting addition to the current Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas, now entering its 4th year.

On one of the warmer and sunnier days in the last week or so, I went to Rondeau doing one of my normal things, just to meander around to see what I could find. There hadn't been a lot of new bird arrivals, but Turkey Vultures are becoming more and more visible. As is sometimes the case, several decades ago it was rather unusual to see a Turkey Vulture in C-K, but nowadays, it is a common occurrence. Even this early in the season there are a few floating around.

Killdeer are getting paired up, and hanging around a likely nesting location.

On one of the sunnier, but not necessarily the warmest of days, Wood Frogs could be heard in some of the larger and more open sloughs. Wood Frogs are about the earliest amphibian to be heard.

On one occasion as I was walking the east South Point Trail, I came across this view. At the big S bend, where the former camp office was located in the 1960s and 1970s, the former road came close to the shoreline of the lake. With the regular east and southeast winds, the erosion has continued to the point where the road, and more recently not much more than a hiking/biking trail, is almost gone right here.

looking west

same vantage point, looking north

The concrete vault that is the remains of the washroom which was part of the camp office, has been seen close to the shoreline for several years. Now, as shown in the photo above, it is well away from the shoreline.

As shorelines of sandspits such as Rondeau regularly undergo changes, it is hard to say what to expect at this point in the near future.

On another occasion I went out to Clear Creek Forest Prov Park in eastern C-K. I was looking in part, for lichens (more on that in a future post), but also wanted to see if any spring wildflowers were showing. It was a bit early, I knew, but with the weather being what is has been, and that the park is a little more inland than Rondeau which results in the earlier showing of plants, I thought it was worth checking out. I saw a few things like Cut-leaved Toothwort and Yellow Trout-lily showing some development, but none in flower. However a really early spring wildflower was well along: it is the Eastern Skunk Cabbage.

When it first appears, even sometimes through the layer of snow, it will show the dark 'spathe' which is where one will find the developing flowers. Older spathes are quite dark in appearance, but younger ones apparently have more of a greenish tinge. The ones I saw were mostly older ones.

Flower developing inside the spathe

Unlike most wildflowers, the relatively large and vividly green leaves develop well after the flowering parts of the plant, and at this point are quite visible even from a little distance. The next two photos were taken in a previous year, as they are not anywhere close to this stage yet.

The leaves are quite a bit taller than the spathe, shown next.

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Egrets, Eagles, shorebirds, etc.

 On occasion there have been some fairly sunny and bright days lately. Even a tad warmish. On those days, it is always a treat to go to places where there are wetlands, especially sheltered ones. On a trip to Rondeau, with all of the sloughs and other wetland habitats, you can hear the chortling of Wood Frogs.

You can't always find them close to the trail or boardwalk. This is a photo when that was possible on one of those exceptional days a couple of years ago.

Other frogs are out as well, including Leopard Frogs. They have a tendency to wander a bit farther from the wetlands, and aren't always successful in their road-crossing efforts.

Birds have been increasing slowly and steadily. Golden-crowned Kinglets are seen in lots of places, but due to their sometimes frenetic activity, aren't always easy to get a photo of.

Brown Creepers are increasing as well, although they never seem to be as plentiful as kinglets.

I had an invitation a few days ago, to visit a private wetland complex north of Mitchell's Bay, and within easy sight of Walpole Island. Just prior to making it all the way to that spot, I decided to check out the Mitchell's Bay North Lakeshore Nature Trail. I hadn't been there for several months, and it showed a considerably different look. The main reason was that the water of Lake St. Clair has dropped from what it was over the last couple of years, leaving lots of exposed shoreline and even mud flats. I found my first shorebirds of the season (other than Killdeer) here. I got photos of Dunlin, shown first...

.....and Lesser Yellowlegs, shown next. I also saw a Greater Yellowlegs, but did not get any photos.

I also saw about 8 Great Egrets overall, but the only place they were right together was in a mostly obscured location along the lake. Here is a trio of them that I caught en route to that lake side location.

There were ducks, and I got these photos. Some Northern Pintail were going somewhere else......

...but this pair of Northern Shoveler was a little more tolerant of me.

There were also several Bald Eagles in view, but too far away for a photo from this vantage point. However at the next stage of my destination for that day, the aforementioned private marsh, I was more fortunate. I saw at least 8-10 Bald Eagles, mostly sub-adults as the adults were likely closer to their home territory. The only one I got a sort of satisfactory photo of was this one, against an overcast grey sky.

It was actually chasing another adult, hence the fierce open-mouth cry it was making. But the photo of the two of them interacting did not turn out.

There were another 8 or so Great Egrets in this vicinity, and I got a few photos. It isn't too surprising to see so many along this part of Lake St. Clair wetlands, as there is a heronry on Walpole.

There were also lots of ducks, as usual, but not all that close at hand other than these.

Blue-winged Teal

This pair of Hooded Mergansers caught me off guard, explaining why the photo isn't in great focus.

A few Northern Flickers were along the edges.

On another occasion, I decided to walk part of the berm trail at St. Clair NWA. It was sunny and breezy, but quite comfortable. I saw a couple of Bald Eagles there, but they were well off along the tree line at the lake shore.

Most of the ducks were well beyond photo range, but a trio of Bufflehead came in right in front of the tower which I was on, and seemed to be more interested in the courtship activity rather than me on the tower.

There were lots of American Coot, at least several dozen scattered here and there....

...and right along the trail was a single American Tree Sparrow.

One of the Wood Duck boxes along the main access road to the NWA often has an Eastern Screech Owl peeking out. It isn't always this visible.

I have zipped out to Erieau a couple of times of late, mainly to see if I could catch up to the Eurasian Wigeon that gets reported from time to time. I have 'scoped the water front a few times, but it always seems to turn up somewhere else. The light hasn't always been good, but that's no reason. Here is a Horned Grebe slowly changing over from winter attire to the breeding look.

 Green-winged Teal seem to be fewer than Blue-winged, at the moment, but there are usually a few around.

 

This was an overcast day, and I almost drove by this Snowy Owl, perched on this pole having just about finished its dinner. I couldn't really tell what the menu item was, but it had webbed feet.

I went again on Friday, since the Eurasian Wigeon was reported again from Erieau. But again, no luck finding it. The only European bird species I saw was this European Starling, a common species of course, and not all that popular with North American birders. But all things considered, they really are an attractive/colourful species.

Another non-native species is this Mute Swan, a species that is all too frequently found in local wetlands. This was along the Rail Trail, and clearly the nesting season has begun.

....as it has for Canada Geese.

While I was out along this trail, this sub-adult Bald Eagle came floating by, stirring up many of the resting waterfowl.

It made no attempt to pick off anything, but eventually continued out of sight.

After the eagle departed, many of the disturbed ducks returned to the shelter of the marsh, although they were still a bit skittish. This male Northern Shoveler didn't seem to mind me capturing it in all of its breeding finery.

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