Gyrfalcon success

I finally got to see the Gyrfalcon, which has been present along the Brickyard Line area south of Forest, in north central Lambton County. Marie and I had tried for it about 10 days ago, but it had only been seen briefly at about the first hour of that day. Even though a dozen or more birders were scouring the area for several hours over the course of that day, it was not reported again.

In viewing the reports over the last few days indicating the bird was still in the area, I decided to try again today, March 18. If I saw it, that would be great, but I have seen three others in Ontario over the years. I even had one already for my Lambton County list, having seen one at the south end of Walpole Island while doing a waterfowl survey in January of 1992. (Sidenote: biologically speaking, Walpole Island is much more closely related to Chatham-Kent, but politics being what they are, technically speaking Walpole is in Lambton, so I have to abide by that for listing purposes.) But that was almost 25 years ago, so I figured it was time to see another one.

As I got to the area where it was most frequently reported, I didn't see anyone else looking. After a few minutes, three ladies from London came by with Gyr on their minds. They hadn't found it yet either. We headed in opposite directions, on the lookout for it.

A short distance down the road I checked out a farm yard with a lot of spruce trees. A fairly detailed scan did not produce the bird in question, so I moved on. Same thing for another farm yard with even more spruce trees. But as I got to the long laneway, I decided to check from a different angle, and almost immediately I spied the bird. It was on the sheltered, southern side of the spruce grove, as the winds were brisk out of the northwest. But it had its back to me, so the frontal views were not to be had. However the look through the binoculars was convincing, and out came the camera. The images below were taken with the equivalent of a 22X lens, and heavily cropped on the computer. With the bird in the shade, and it being so heavily cropped, it isn't as crisp and clear as I was hoping for but I was pleased to be able to see this magnificent and rare arctic visitor nonetheless. On a couple of occasions, it turned its head enough to see the thin moustache.

 After getting a few  pics, I went back searching for the others, and showed them the bird. In spite of the brisk, cold wind, it was well worth standing around admiring this Gyrfalcon!

Endangered species habitat

Several weeks ago, I posted a few blogs about Pelee Island, including one post that dealt specifically with some of the endangered snakes. You can read about it here. 

With all of the development that has taken place on Pelee Island and is proposed to take place, some of the critical habitat elements that snakes require are at risk, placing these already endangered snakes at further risk. There are options, however, which may reduce further risk:

• one option is to buy up the island and convert it back to its natural habitat (believe it or not, that was an option that was bandied about several decades ago! It didn't get too far, not surprisingly);
• another option is to acquire some of the best remaining pieces of natural area and if possible, connect the pieces so that the snakes have a safe travel corridor along which to go to and fro; 

While acquisition of habitat, or creation of habitat might be done specifically for the benefit of these endangered snakes, in the bigger picture there may be lots of other species, some rare and some not so rare, which will be much better off as well.

If habitat is to be protected, it may be necessary to create features on it that would serve the snakes well for some critical aspects of their life cycle. There have been various efforts to create what I refer to as Critical Habitat Element Clusters (CHEC) on Pelee Island, and include:

• Hibernacula
• Egg-laying sites
• Basking hot rocks
• Brush piles

Ideally, if these CHEC are available in such proximity so that the snakes don't have to travel a long way and risk their lives crossing roads, it will save their energy and keep a lot more of them alive.

Hibernacula
Snakes are cold-blooded, and spend a good part of their lives underground, below the frost line. There are various ways to create hibernacula, but here are the basics of how we did it on Pelee Island.

A backhoe was used to dig a hole almost two metres deep.

We got large rocks to put at the bottom of the pit....the larger the better.

 The intent was that the rocks are large enough so that there would be numerous cavities at the bottom. We then placed 3 or 4 long plastic pipes (about 4"-6" diameter) leading to various cavities.

 Progressively smaller sized rock was placed on top, being careful not to damage the pipes. The smaller and smaller rock will prevent the uppermost layers of material from falling through, leaving the largest cavities at the bottom.

Fibre cloth matting was placed on top.

The top layer was fine gravel screenings.

The fine screenings at the top will become quite hard, and limit the amount of vegetative growth on the top. This exposed surface serves as a basking site when the snakes are just about to go underground in the fall, or when they begin to emerge during the first warm days of spring.

 Having several access points allows for safety: if for some reason one pipe gets plugged or collapses, there are still others to enter or emerge through.

Basking Hot Rocks
Being cold-blooded, snakes rely on the warmth of sunlight to maintain or increase their physiological activity. For females that are developing eggs inside of them, proper physiological processes are critical for them to be able to lay their eggs early enough, so the young will develop in enough time so that they can hatch early enough in the summer to be able to grow a bit before finding a place to hibernate for the winter. Timing is everything!

The top of the hibernacula can be useful for basking, as mentioned, but one can create other basking sites as well. It is important to have the basking surfaces in layers. And being elevated, it increases the time that the sun is available for basking.

First, place some blocks on the ground in an open area with lots of sun.

In our case, we had pieces of an old concrete slab available, which were perfect for our needs. By creating layers, it gives a basking snake options to choose the right exposure and temperature to its liking. If it feels threatened, it can quickly escape to a more protected part of the hot rock cluster.

Another version of basking hot rocks

Egg-laying site
Both the endangered Blue Racer and Eastern Fox Snake lay eggs. They seek out a pile of decomposing material that they consider to have the right sunlight exposure and moisture so that the eggs, once laid, will have the benefit of warmth and humidity to maximize the chances of the young being able to hatch successfully. In a totally natural setting, this could be an opening in a decomposing log. But where logs are unavailable, snakes have been known to use piles of straw, manure, or wood chips. Creating a suitable egg-laying site is really quite simple: find an open sunny area and dump a large pile of wood chips!

 Such a pile may not be suitable right at the outset, but it will gradually decompose, holding moisture and the snakes can use these piles for several years.

Brush Piles
Snakes shed their skin several times a year. During this period, their eyes cloud over as they "go into the blind". They are much more vulnerable at this time, so they seek out areas where they can hide safely for several days, until the skin is shed. Suitable sites for this period could include a brush pile. Since Pelee Island has a lot of grape growing operations, there are lots of old grape stalks being culled from the vineyards. They are robust, and should last for many years. The material was free for the asking.

 Of course one can just use good old brush and branches as well.

These brush piles may also serve as communal gathering places, where courtship and mating will take place.

As mentioned earlier, having these CHEC in close proximity will minimize the need for the snakes to travel far and wide to seek the habitat they require. This next image shows a brush pile, egg-laying pile and a hibernaculum all within sight. The basking hot rocks are just around the corner. All four of these Critical Habitat Elements are important. Just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, if any one of these CHE are not available, the survival of the population of Blue Racer and Eastern Fox Snake on Pelee Island is at risk.

We were able to create 7 of these CHEC all strategically placed in some moderate habitat that wasn't available to these endangered species before. Now this moderate habitat has become excellent habitat!

Late winter calm

It was supposed to be mostly sunny, with a hi of about 9C, but the weather forecasters have been wrong before....it never got above 4C, at least in south Chatham-Kent. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant day to be out, and the mostly overcast conditions until mid afternoon made it good for some landscape photography. The very light winds added to the appeal.

I went to Rondeau, heading for the South Point Trail first. I wanted to check on a few big trees, and of course was always on the lookout for birds. The former was satisfying, the latter was less so. The most interesting avian feature was about 800 Red-breasted Mergansers, and about 40 Commons, 'fishing' off the southeast beach area.

A few of the ~800 RBME

I always like to check a certain view along Tuliptree Trail under the cloudy bright conditions, so today was the day. I wasn't expecting much in the bird realm, and except for a couple of Hairy Woodpeckers, an American Robin and such, it was pretty quiet. But I got a few pics of this scene.

This upturned Silver Maple fascinates me. It is obviously an older trunk, with a couple of new lead branches emerging from the older trunk. As long as a Silver Maple has contact with some moisture, it seems that it never dies, even when it has been blown over. I like to mull over how many times this tree has grown up, fallen over, sprouted some new leaders that have matured, fallen over and repeated this cycle. Perhaps this particular tree is hundreds of years old, and maybe one of the original Silver Maples that got a foothold in this slough many centuries ago. We will never know of course, but it is fun to think of the cycles of nature.

On my way to the north end of the park, I noted a Bald Eagle circle over Lakeshore Road. As I kept an eye on it, I saw that it landed in a fairly open dead tree with good light. Out came the camera.

 The head is almost totally white, but it has a dark line through the eye. A close look at the tail which is especially evident in the image below, shows that it has a lot of dark feathers. Therefore this bird is a sub-adult, probably in the transition stage as it enters its 4th year.

The campground is often worthwhile checking, especially when there are no campers (that will change in a few short weeks, as the camping season opens in April). There was actually quite a bit of bird diversity, including another eagle, a Cooper's Hawk, a couple of Red-tails, lots of Am Tree Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos, a Field Sparrow, etc. Mourning Doves are busily calling....there were at least a dozen scattered about the campground.

I didn't see any warblers today, but there is probably a Yellow-rumped or two around. Ditto for Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. I did see a couple of Golden-crowned Kinglets, and the first Brown Creeper I've seen in awhile.....they aren't easy to photograph, as they are constantly in motion, creeping up a tree trunk and going around it at the same time.

The trails are fairly quiet right now, but it won't be long before trails such as this one will be busy with birders and hopefully birds as well.

These next few days are March Break, and the Visitor Centre is open 10-4 each day beginning tomorrow (March 12). So take advantage of the pleasant late winter and early spring weather forecast for these next few days and enjoy the park!

Eagles, eagles and more eagles

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a great day to be outside. Although at one point the temperature inland reached 18C, it barely got to 8C out at Rondeau once one was exposed to the wind coming off the ice of Rondeau Bay......there was still a fair bit of ice, and the water wouldn't have been much warmer.

I wanted to get out to the south end of the Marsh Trail at Rondeau to see what the eagles were up to. I had suspected that the nest that the one pair had been using for the last few years was no longer there. This is the very distinctive nest tree within about 200 metres of the Marsh Trail.

photo of 2014

In checking more closely yesterday, this nest tree is indeed gone. Presumably it got blown over in one of the fierce wind storms of last fall. Of course it is an ill wind that doesn't blow in something good, and those storms resulted in some memorable birds such as the invasion of Franklin's Gulls, the Sabine's Gulls, etc.

But for the eagles, it presented a problem. Fortunately they decided to move to a nearby White Pine tree that they deemed suitable and built the nest....perhaps this tree is not quite as sturdy as the previous one, but it may work. At least it doesn't have as much foliage at the top to catch the wind, so maybe it will last. Yesterday, one adult eagle was on it for awhile, with the other adult perched in a dead tree not far away.

photo of new nest, 2016

I decided to hike out to Long Pond and then to the very south end of the trail, a total hiking distance of about 8 kilometres. There were thousands of waterfowl out on Rondeau Bay, with the usual mix of divers and puddle ducks, but also including a single male Eurasian Wigeon. A wigeon with a brick red head is nice to see, but was too far away to photograph, unfortunately, so a 'scope view was all I was able to get.

A couple of Sandhill Cranes emerged from the marsh, giving their trumpet tremolo.

Land birds were beginning to build. There were several hundred Red-winged Blackbirds, not surprisingly, and all males.

A few American Robins were around....I saw probably at least 50 in the park, but only a small number on the Marsh Trail which isn't there prime habitat.

There were a few Swamp Sparrows lurking furtively in the lower cattail vegetation, but none cooperated for the camera. Same for several Song Sparrows. But the good number of American Tree Sparrows did not let me down.

A year or so ago, it seemed that a second pair of Bald Eagles had established a territory in the expanse of the Rondeau Marsh, right near the south beach at the edge of the forest. At first I wasn't certain if it was just a second nest by the known pair, as sometimes they will build one or more other nests. This may happen when one of the adults dies and a new one enters into the pair. But yesterday I saw a pair of adults in a tree within 100 metres of the nest tree at the south end, so it is apparently a separate pair. The birds are about 1.5 km from where I took this shot, so with the thermal shimmer, distance and heavy cropping, it isn't all that sharp.

Much to my surprise, I came across a third pair! I saw an adult perched in a tree at the Rondeau marsh/bay edge, where the cormorants have recently taken up nesting. While watching the one adult, another adult flew into view, went to the water's edge, then to the edge of the marsh where it picked up a stick, and flew up to a small tree and proceeded to work away with it in the largest nest structure of that tree cluster!

This image shows the two adults, at quite a distance, and if you look closely at the right hand side of the image, there is a white arrow that points to the largest nest structure. Clearly this is not the kind of tree that I would expect a pair of eagles to build a nest in, but who knows? It may just be an early attempt that will be for naught. Or they may attempt to occupy this nest and raise young. Or eventually move to a better tree before wasting too much time with this flimsy structure. I expect that the presence of the other nests in the trees, made by cormorants, may have stimulated the eagles to try it out. At any rate, it will be interesting to see if anything comes out of this apparent nesting effort.

It was during the first half of the previous century that there were typically two pairs of Bald Eagles nesting at Rondeau. That dropped to one pair by mid-century, and didn't increase back to two pairs again until likely 2014. Now it seems that a third pair is trying to get in on using this large marsh/bay complex, which would be precedent setting as far as I am aware. It certainly seems that with the increase in the area's Bald Eagle population which I described a couple of posts ago, it may not be all that surprising that a third pair is around. It would seem that there is adequate territory, as the nests are all at least two kilometres from each other. All of the pairs stuck pretty much to their nest area during the entire 4+ hours I was out there.

It is also interesting that a 7th eagle, a sub-adult, was around yesterday, too, but well away from any of the three nesting pairs.

Another reason I wanted to get to the south end of the trail was to see how the controlled burn for Phragmites turned out. I mentioned this event a couple of posts ago.

I was impressed! I haven't seen this swampy ridge this clear of vegetation ever, and hopefully the nasty Phragmites that used to be here will be less of a problem for a few years. Maybe it will give park staff a chance to attack the many other areas in the interim where Phragmites is dominant.

After leaving the park, I decided to swing around by the Ridgetown Sewage Lagoon. There was a good variety of ducks, and several hundred Canada Geese, but only a couple of dozen Tundra Swans. However at least 5 Greater White-fronted Geese were still around.

Spring is trying to get here!

Spring is teasing us, but is not here to stay yet. The waterfowl are building up in diversity and overall numbers, in response to the improving weather, longer daylight and promise of better weather to come. As Rondeau Bay and the lake become more ice-free, the birds are a lot farther out, and difficult to identify let alone photograph.

Erieau is always worth checking out. I've been looking for the reputed Harlequin Duck, but so far it has stayed in hiding whenever I am around. Others have been more fortunate, but then again some of them (Jim B, Steve C) live closer and check the harbour front more frequently than I do. So I take some solace in photographing things like American Coot, as they are comical and cooperative, sticking pretty close to the interior part of the harbour. As the ice increases during a cold spell, their movements are more limited. It seems that there are only a few remaining of the ~4000 that were around before Christmas. I saw 14 today.

They are normally plant eaters, but when they get really hungry, as I am sure they are right now, they will eat whatever they can survive on. This next image shows one picking away at some fish remains. But it didn't get much of it, as a Herring Gull swooped in moments later and took off with the fish.

 There are usually a few Bald Eagles out on the ice, feeding on fish or crippled ducks. I saw this one just north of Shrewsbury, only a few hundred metres from a possible new nest site. This bird is not quite a full adult, which normally takes 5 years. This one is likely into or approaching its 4th year.

In a healthy population, eagles will not normally breed until their fifth year, but where there are empty territories as there is now, some birds will breed at age 4. There have even been records of eagles attempting to nest at age 3, but I don't think they successfully fledged any young.

One day while I was at Erieau, I looked across to Rondeau and noticed the south end of the marsh going up in smoke. And that was a good thing.

Prescribed burn of the Rondeau marsh

As many of you know, Phragmites is a very aggressive, non-native vegetative form that has taken over many wetlands. One of the few methods of keeping it somewhat under control is by spraying an approved herbicide to kill as much of it as possible, then rolling it when it has died, followed by burning it to remove the extensive thatch so that any stems that were missed can be seen during the next growing season. These will be hit with a subsequent touch up herbicide application. It is far from perfect, but it is about the best approved option to keep it from taking over completely.  Hopefully in the next growing season or two, the natural cattail vegetation will return, and as that happens, it will be more conducive for declining species such as Black Tern to nest successfully.

Black Tern at nest

The pair of Trumpeter Swans was still around as of a few days ago. They aren't normally migratory, at least not to the same degree as the Tundra Swan which is so abundant around here these days. Perhaps the Trumpeters will remain to nest as they did historically.

A recent visit to Rondeau included a walk along the southeast beach area. I hadn't been there for a few weeks, and I was surprised to see how much more exposed this recent historical feature was.

 In looking at it from the north side, it is apparent that it is closely associated with a large slab of concrete, which is visible at the right side of the next photo. The concrete slab is all that is left of the former campground office, which was operational until about 1972/73 when late that fall and early spring, the high water arrived and flooded the campground. The campground was closed except for a very brief time in the late summer of 1985. But by 1986, the campground was closed for good. The large block of concrete was probably all that remains of a vault toilet attached to the camp office.

The South Point Trail has few birds along it at this time of year, but once the spring migrants begin to arrive it will be a priority for checking out. However the feeders at the Visitor Centre are always worth stopping by, even if only to see some of the regular winter visitors.

In thinking of Blue Jays, note that the Grapefruit League games of baseball's spring training season have now begun! And I read just today that the Blue Jays logo was considered the best logo of all the baseball teams. I'm sure that could be debated hotly, but that is way beyond the purview of this blog.

Pine Siskin

The Ridgetown Sewage Lagoons continue to attract a dozen Greater White-fronted Geese, eleven of which are shown in this next image.

Leapin' Leopards!

Today was by far the warmest day we've had in a long time. At one point, the thermometer registered 17C! As I was cruising around in the vicinity of St. Clair NWA, I noticed two frogs hopping with enthusiasm along the road.....they were both Leopard Frogs, the first of the season for me. I guess they decided to emerge from their winter solitude to celebrate 'Leap' year :-).

There are a few more raptors around in C-K, it seems, although nothing quite as exciting as the Gyrfalcon that has been in northern Lambton lately. Check out Blake's 'Burg Birder blog for a description of his (and Mike Bouman's) success in relocating that bird. But some nice clean-looking Red-tails are around, such as this juvenile bird that I captured on a pole today.

They are usually not very cooperative for the camera....as soon as the vehicle stops and something is pointed out the window at them, they decide its time to move elsewhere. Presumably they have been shot at with something more deadly than a camera, so have learned to be a bit more cautious when this happens.

The NWA was actually pretty quiet, other than a good number of Canada Geese and a handful of Tundra Swans, Mallards, etc.

I checked the Mitchell's Bay area. There is still lots of ice, although one can see the open water well out from shore, where there are ducks bouncing around on the waves. They all looked like divers from the distance, but the light was poor. More interesting was the presence of 7 Bald Eagles scattered around on the ice towards the south end of Walpole Island. There were only a couple of adults, the others were sub-adults. They were too far away to even bother with the camera. A nest is not far away, up along the edge of the Chenal Ecarte. I stopped along the north end of  Malcolm Road to check out the nest, and noted it is still there but I didn't see any adults nearby.

I saw three Wood Ducks in a large drain, two of which are shown here, with the other male just beyond the frame.

I hadn't been out looking for Snowy Owls for awhile, and hadn't heard of anyone else doing so either, so I checked out a few likely spots. First of all I checked along Meadowvale Line, east of Hwy 40, south of Wallaceburg. Somewhat to my surprise, I saw 7 birds, 5 of which were on the north side and the other two on the south side. Another was on the south side of Corktown Line. None were very close to the road, so photographs were record only. I had a few Horned Larks land not far from me, so I took advantage of that opportunity.

Then heading west of Hwy 40, I checked out a few other spots. Along Mallard Line between Bear Line and Winter Line, I found three more Snowies! One was being harrassed by a couple of crows. Another was a little closer to the road, and this is one of the better photos I got today. It is by far the whitest of the ones I saw today, and it may be the same one as at the top of the page, which was photographed only about 2-3 kilometres away. Eleven Snowies were more than I expected.....I wonder how many others are out there.

It isn't often that one finds Snowies and frogs on the same day in February!