Wintry landscapes, lots of ice, and a few birds

 I managed to get out to the southern part of Chatham-Kent a couple of times, but the birds were not all that plentiful. There was virtually no open water along the east beach, although small open spots well out had a few waterfowl. The ice formations were attractive, however.

 The east beach was attractive to a few Bald Eagles. I think I have seen at least 2-3 on every time I made it out.

 There were some scenic parts of the woodland, even though the birds were almost non-existent.

However at a couple of feeders at the north end of the park, there were often at least some bird activity. A Carolina Wren isn't very common in the winter, but on occasion they can be found visiting a feeder under the current wintry conditions.

Here a Black-capped Chickadee and Downy Woodpecker were putting up with each other on opposite sides of the feeder.

I went over to Erieau, hoping there were two or three open spots in the Lake's ice to appeal to at least a few ducks, but it wasn't to be, at least unless a change in the wind caused some openings.

For something different, I went up along the St. Clair River as there is usually enough movement in the river to create some openings.

There was a small group of swans well out on the ice, and resting so it was hard to tell what species they were. I had some Mute Swans elsewhere. The bit of gray on some of the plumages suggest they were likely Tundra Swans, which isn't surprising, although a few Trumpeter Swans have also been seen. However getting a look at their beak would have been really helpful

One of many Redheads was constantly diving for something. I didn't see that it caught anything for its efforts.

Others seemed to be content to mostly just swim around.

These are a few Mute Swans, easily identified by their bill.

A few Common Mergansers were in the area....

...as were Common Goldeneye...

...and Canvasback.

I also spent a bit of time roaming around the former Dover Twp. There was no shortage of American Crows.

At St. Clair NWA, now that it is open to hikers again, there were a couple of dozen American Tree Sparrow feeding on the open grassier sections of the trail.

This Beaver lodge is, I think, new. I don't recall seeing it along the usual stretch of trail I hike along, but with the NWA being closed from October to the end of December, there was time for them to build one.

 The view of the NWA from the observation tower is rather bleak. Not much interest there for birds at the moment, but come spring....I will be there regularly!

 At a usual spot that has several Wood Duck nesting boxes, Eastern Screech Owls will take up one as a wintering residence, peaking out to capture some of the sun's warming rays.

This next item is what is probably the result of a Poplar Vagabond Aphid causing some deformation on the outer buds of a Poplar tree.

Where there is a bit of open area in a field, you can sometimes find a few Wild Turkeys. There were at least 40 birds gathered in this open space.

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Late winter explorations and hints of spring

 Spring is teasing us a bit more lately. I've been out exploring a few places around Chatham-Kent, intermixed with things going on at the home front.

I often have stopped in at the warm water outlet along the Thames River right at the downstream side of Chatham. The cold weather had kept the opening in the ice quite small up until a few days ago. There has been a periodic change of water bird species, but not a lot of diversity this late in the season. One of the things I always look forward to in a cold winter is the great photo ops of even some of the more regular species.

Of course the ubiquitous Mallard is the most abundant....

...and the female Bufflehead continued for awhile.

The numbers of Redhead has varied from 1-10.

Canada Geese are always somewhere around Chatham in winter, numbering in the several hundreds. There seems to be a constant movement of small groups from one location to another, and this provides some great photo ops.

Pied-billed Grebes are seldom very common in winter, but this one has persisted for weeks now.

With the recent warm spell and moderate rainfall, the Thames River drainage has resulted in a significant change. The once frozen over Thames River is completely open, with only a few scattered bits of ice clinging to the shoreline. Therefore waterbirds are widely scattered, and unless there is a prolonged cold spell (I hope not!!) that will put an end to photography at this location.

Hints of spring are showing up on the landscape. Killdeer have been reported in various locations over the past week or two. Red-winged Blackbirds are always a good sign, although given their general abundance over the next few weeks, will cease to be as much of a novelty as they are now. I saw more than a dozen along a shrubby corridor not far from one of the larger marshes in Chatham-Kent a few days ago.

American Goldfinches were frolicking in a nearby cedar hedge. Some of them were looking a bit more colourful than they were a few weeks ago. They are a far cry from their vivid breeding plumage, but any change is a nice hint of what is to come.

A quick check of a Wood Duck box at St. Clair NWA resulted in seeing the resident Eastern Screech Owl show itself.

 Horned Larks are fairly abundant, scattered far and wide along roadsides and fields.

I stopped in at the cemetery along Owen Road, where there are numerous cedars amongst the hardwoods. A Red-breasted Nuthatch, not an abundant species this winter, was there to greet me and posed politely for me.

I've only been to Rondeau on a couple of occasions lately. House Finches are fairly common in certain localities.

But the birds can be quite few and far between at this stage of the winter. On my most recent visit, yesterday, I wanted to take advantage of trekking along the west South Point Trail. Trails in general have been tricky lately, as the snow packed surfaces have turned into very uneven ice, making hiking a bit of a challenge. So with the recent mild weather and rain, a lot of the ice was gone, and the walk to the south end of the park was quite enjoyable, although the birds were few. The ice formations along the lake can be interesting and photogenic.

A bit of milder weather and the brisk winds that March is known for will spell the end of these types of features in fairly short order. There were a few open water spots barely visible with the binoculars, and a few rafts of waterfowl were scattered about, mostly scaup and Redhead, along with some Common Mergansers. But the bird highlight was to see at least 6 Bald Eagles perched on some of the ice mounds well out in the lake, while two more, both adults, soared overhead.

FYI, I am planning a short series featuring some changes in the birds of Chatham-Kent over the last century or more. I have an unpublished manuscript by A. A. Wood, entitled The Birds of Kent County, Ontario, which he prepared back in the 1940s. It was based on his research of notes and articles from birders over the previous 75 years. In reading some of the descriptions, I found it interesting to compare with today. So stay tuned!

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Shoreline Ice and Some Late Winter Birds

 Shoreline ice can be dramatic and provide some really scenic photos, but it is usually short-lived. Marie and I used to live along the Lake Erie shoreline, in Rondeau Prov Park. In years when the temperatures got consistently low, there would be at least a covering of ice, sometimes as far as the eye could see. It might be only a few centimetres thick, and those were the best of times. I can remember listening at night, when a gentle wind would blow creating some slight swells of the water underneath. The ice would tinkle and groan, breaking up slightly with the ice plates creaking against one another. Then if a strong enough wind eventually occurred, and for long enough, those jagged ice plates would pile up along the shoreline, creating some dramatic sights. Here are a few of the best images I remember taking.

Most of the first set of photos were taken in March, of a fairly cold winter. This next photo shows a scene from about a week ago, taken just off the east beach by the Visitor Centre. While the first set of photos were taken with a short lens, even a wide-angle lens since the ice plates were right on the shoreline, this next one was taken with a telephoto lens since the shoreline ice was not as impressive.

In fact the ice right along the shoreline was fairly typical: slushy ice that had been washed ashore and piled higher and higher, but always fairly rounded and mounded. It is easy to walk along unlike the jagged ice plates shown above, but hardly as photogenic in my opinion.

At the right time, both of the season and the day, there can be some quite impressive sunrises along the shoreline. This next photo shows a sunrise photo I took several years ago near McGeachy Pond, just outside of Erieau.

As mentioned in previous posts, if there is open water, chances are you will find water birds, and that has continued to be the case along the Thames River at the west end of Chatham. The usual suspects continue, especially Mallard and Am Black Duck. A couple of female Hooded Mergansers are still hanging out there.

The three Wood Ducks are down to two males.

A nice surprise was to see this American Coot in the water at one point with a fish in its beak....

...and other times just standing around on the ice.

An even nicer surprise was to see this beautiful male Northern Pintail floating around on the water.

With the warmer weather and the run-off from melting snow being directed into the rivers and streams, I expect the small open water at the Thames that has been so attractive to waterfowl will get much more open quite quickly, and the ducks will disperse to many other spots.

In other wanderings of the past few days, I came across several flocks of Tundra Swans in the vicinity of the Ridgetown lagoons, as well as near Lake St. Clair.....

I got this very distant photo of a Rough-legged Hawk in the vicinity of Bear Creek/SCNWA. It isn't a great shot, since this is taken and cropped to about the equivalent of 90X, but at least the sky and lighting worked well....

...unlike for this Cedar Waxwing, part of a flock of at least a dozen feeding on the berries of Red Cedars along the road by the Stefina Line pasture. I was shooting almost directly into the sun. Cedar Waxwings have not been very plentiful this winter, but a few have shown up in the last week or so.

This Eastern Screech Owl shows up in this cavity at Rondeau from time to time, but I only see it about once in every 6-8 times checking.

I was on the lookout for a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, which has been seen periodically in the Rondeau campground even throughout this winter, but I haven't caught sight of it yet. This Red-bellied Woodpecker was not too interested in getting its photo taken.

With the generally snowy landscape, Wild Turkeys are more easily spotted, usually close by a woodlot for a quick escape if necessary.

And with the current warming trend, it is just a matter of time before things like American Woodcock will be present, but maybe only detected by their distinctive, nasal 'peent' heard off at the edge of a woods.