Spring slows, but there are still things to see

 There is no question that the current cooling of the weather has slowed the unfolding of spring, and that is the way it should be. Things, especially plants, were way ahead of themselves, and would risk a severe set back if they continued to develop and got hit with a significant frost in the next few weeks. It happens, as we have had snow even in the second week of May in recent years.

Nonetheless, there are still things to see and enjoy with a little bit of effort. I was at Rondeau earlier in the week, hoping to see the Black Vulture that treated birders on the last weekend. I spent a lot of time checking every vulture I could find, from the north end of the park to the south end. I saw black vultures, but not 'the' Black Vulture.

I also stopped at Mel's place, where the White-winged Dove that has graced the park with its presence over the last several years, is most apt to show up any day now. I didn't see any sign of the target species, but noted this next one on an adjacent lot. Rock Pigeons are not often seen in the park, as they are more often hanging around rural areas, especially farm yards.

Given the bright sunny day, there were a couple of Carolina Wrens advertising their territory.

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are scattered far and wide in the park, but not always conducive for a good photograph.

Along one of the trails, this Northern Ribbon Snake was slithering by. It is a Species At Risk, and prefers swampy forest habitat, of which there is plenty at Rondeau. I am more likely to see them swimming on the water of a slough rather than through the leaves.

It looks a lot like an Eastern Garter Snake, but has more vivid black and yellow stripes, as well as a rusty brown stripe along the edge of the belly scales. Also it has a white dot right in front of the eye.

Wildflowers continue, such as Bloodroot.....

....and Spicebush, a shrub that is dominant especially in the damper areas of the park. In other words, it is almost everywhere!

This is a great time of year to explore Sinclair's Bush, about half way between Rondeau and Blenheim. Spring wildflowers are fairly diverse and abundant, but certainly are not at their peak quite yet. 

Early Blue Cohosh is one of the earliest, and is out nicely right now.

Yellow Trout Lily is abundant. Their mottled leaves are everywhere, although only a small percentage of plants actually put up a flower.

The petals open up, and curl back, on bright sunny days, but on cloudy days, will almost close right up.

A much less conspicuous wild flower is Wild Ginger. Usually you just see the green leaves poking up through the dead leaves of last year......

....but if you pull away some of those dead leaves, you will see this flower that rests on the ground. It doesn't need to be seen by the flying pollinators that most plants attract, as this species is pollinated by beetles and ants, that spend most of their time at ground level.

Always a pleasant sight to see is Dutchman's Breeches.

Closer to home is the Thamesgrove Conservation area, along the Thames River at the east side of Chatham. The birds were not unusual, but I kept an eye open for flowering plants. I found Common Hackberry, a Carolinian tree species that is abundant along the river.

Several patches of Lesser Celandine, a type of buttercup that is a garden escape but still quite attractive, were here and there.

One of the highlights is to see the White Trout Lily in flower, a close relative to the Yellow one featured above. The white version is relatively uncommon in Chatham-Kent.

In other news, I got a new camera body to add to my equipment. It is the Canon EOS R6, a mirrorless full frame camera, which will also crop to 1.6X. With an adapter, I can use all of my existing lenses. It is a bit different than the two cameras I have had for several years, a Canon 5D3 and 7D2, and will require a bit of experimenting and adjustment to get comfortable with the new layout, features, etc. But so far it has been a relatively smooth adjustment. I haven't ventured into the more challenging photo situations that I do regularly with my other bodies, but have played around with it at home. Here are a few shots I've taken right from the kitchen window.

I'm looking forward to putting it through some more rigorous photography to see what it is really capable of. One of the things I am looking forward to trying out is low level photography. This camera has a tilt screen, so instead of lying on the ground, I can remain somewhat upright and tilt the screen to see the subject and get the right composition. As I become less and less able to kneel at a low level and get back up quickly and easily (a condition that many seniors eventually have to deal with :-), it will make low level photography less problematic, I hope.

Roaming around south Chatham-Kent

 There have been lots of nice days to be out lately. Other things pop up so I don't get out every day, but in spite of the current lock down, I've managed to check out a few places.

Erieau, both the town site and nearby McGeachy Pond CA and Rail Trail sites near by have been some of my target places. The Bonaparte's Gulls have arrived in fairly good numbers for the time of year, and the marina at Erieau is a great spot to get a close view with photo opportunities. While the Bonaparte's are plentiful one always can hope for something a little less common. The Bonies are in various stages of plumage development, and this first one is looking pretty well complete in its breeding plumage.

Forster's Terns have arrived, pretty much on schedule. They can be hard to photograph, as they dipsy-doodle around and not always in the best light.

Horned Grebes are fairly abundant. These next shots show the variability in plumage as they shift from basic winter to alternate breeding plumage.

Killdeer have been back for awhile, and are well into the nesting cycle. When I pulled in to a parking spot to look over the marina, I no sooner turned the vehicle off that this one came right up to me squawking. Clearly I knew that a nest was likely near by, so I didn't move or even get out of the truck for awhile.

The adult put on quite a show, trying to lure me out of the area with its broken-wing act.

I eventually got out and walked carefully so as not to step on any eggs. I figured I had either parked right over top or had driven over the nest, so wanted to look around to see. After a bit of gull and tern shooting, I discovered this nest with one egg, and carefully moved the vehicle and left.

A subsequent trip two days later indicated that the nesting process had continued with now three eggs. I parked along the roadside since I knew where the nest was, and didn't want to upset the adults any further. They were a lot less concerned on this visit. But with the nest right in the middle of a parking area, it might not remain undamaged to completion.

Along the McGeachy Pond trail there weren't many birds to see close by, but there were several hundred birds of various species out on the lake, including at least 100 Red-breasted Mergansers and 150 or more Bonaparte's Gulls, all diving after what I presume was a school of fish swimming below. There were a few Ring-billed Gulls mixed in, as well as a Little Gull, but I couldn't get its photo.

There were a few logs along the trail that had turtles busy soaking up some sun. Most were Blanding's Turtle, the larger turtle with the yellow throat and considered Rare in Ontario, and a few Midland Painted Turtles, the two smaller turtles to the right of this next photo.

The Rail Trail is often worth a visit, and the light for photography is usually better later in the afternoon. There were several pairs of Northern Shovelers near by.....

 

.....and lots of Blue-winged Teal.

Several Canada Geese were quietly resting....

...and then all of a sudden, there was a mass exodus of many of the ducks. Before I discovered what the confusion was, the ducks had noticed this adult Bald Eagle approaching overhead and not all that high up.

Teal in flight

Gadwall

 The resident Mute Swans did not seem to be bothered, however.

Female Mute Swan on a nest

Around home we don't have a lot of bird action, but sometimes it pays to keep an eye out the window. Unfortunately with the window facing east, the light isn't the best for early birds, but you do what you can. We have had 2-3 Red-breasted Nuthatches hanging around for several days....

.....and three female Brown-headed Cowbirds sat on a nearby limb for a few minutes.

A recent stop at the Keith McLean Conservation Area resulted in seeing much the same species of waterfowl as what I had noted at the Rail Trail. But a couple of Great Egrets were present, although decided to get up and leave to a more distant part of the wetland complex.

Getting to Rondeau is always worth the time, although on occasion one wonders where the birds might be. There are often a few spring wildflowers to check out, including:

Carolina Spring Beauty

Cut-leaved Toothwort

Colt's-foot (not native)

Other things aren't surviving quite as well. This little Northern Brown Snake was attempting to cross the road at the designated crossing on Lakeshore Road for the Tuliptree Trail. Unfortunately it lingered too long, or the driver did not see it, or both. It will now likely be a meal for some scavenger.

Yellow-rumped Warblers are arriving in small numbers, and a few other warbler species have shown up in ones or twos. It won't be long, hopefully, that there will be 25-30 species seen in a single day!

I had this male Eastern Bluebird hanging out in what appears to be a good territory for it. I didn't see its mate, but will keep a lookout for it to confirm nesting for the current Breeding Bird Atlas.

There is no question that the bird highlight of the last few days has been the sighting of a Black Vulture initially along the east side of the park. I was otherwise occupied, doing some gardening things at home so wasn't able to get to the park to see it. However I have seen this rarity a couple of times before, including one inside the park back in 2000, and the one below, just outside the park.

March 15, 2009

Maybe this one will stick around for a few more days to greet the birders who are exploring the area.

Spring continues to emerge slowly, in spite of the ups and downs of weather

 The spring weather continues with its typical ups and downs. A little bit of sun, a little bit of rain, a little bit of warmth and a little bit of snow! Sounds like a typical spring for southern Ontario. Some warmish sunny days in late March had many folks anticipating a good push of birds arriving, and although some did arrive, not a lot. They are on their own schedule and most have a long way to go to get here. 

On April Fool's Day, we even had some snow that with the wind, created almost whiteout conditions for a little while. This is the view out our kitchen window after the worst had passed through.

But as is often the case, if you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes!

A day or so earlier, I had been to Rondeau, and while there weren't a lot of birds to see, while scanning the lake for loons and other waterbirds, I noticed this adult Bald Eagle wrestling with something along the water's edge.

It had been picking away at a fish. I don't know whether it was washed up, or whether it caught it floating on the water. After a few minutes, however, it decided to move on with it, and it headed southward more or less towards its nest. Perhaps it was taking it to feed its mate.

In my travels that day, I also saw the usual early butterflies out sunning in some sheltered spots.

Eastern Comma

Mourning Cloak

A bit later that day I headed to Erieau. There had been lots of Bonaparte's Gulls arrive, and since there were brisk southerly winds, there were 150 or so in the protected marina.

Several Horned Grebes were swimming by, showing some change in their winter garb to look a bit more like their breeding plumage.

While I was standing at the dock, this Common Grackle came almost right up as it was searching for some easy pickings from the water's edge.....

.....and this Muskrat swam right underneath me, oblivious to my presence until a slight movement I made caused it to dive quickly. It surfaced a short distance away and just sat there in the water watching me, trying to assess my threat status. After a few minutes it continued on its way somewhat warily.

At one point as I glanced behind me I saw this Brown Creeper swoop in to the base of a tree a very short distance away. It was quite busy in its search for sustenance, and basically ignored me. I hardly had to crop this image at all.

Yesterday I meandered through parts of the former Dover Twp, northeast of Chatham. There wasn't a lot to see, but I noticed the eagle nest near St. Clair NWA had the pair of adult eagles at or on the nest. And just south of the NWA, I came across this Great Egret standing across the ditch in this field of winter wheat, giving a nice green background. 

Various plants are in growth mode. I saw this Bloodroot in flower at Paxton's Bush.

Before I left home today, I had two, possibly three, Red-breasted Nuthatches stop by and search for tidbits in one of the trees outside the living room window. The light wasn't ideal, but you take what you get. It is always fun to see these in action, and are most often seen on migration in our area.

 

A bit later, while on route to Keith McLean Conservation Lands (KMCL), I stopped at Sinclair's Bush, and saw this sedge out in flower. It isn't all that showy, as sedges seldom are, but they do have flowers. I believe this is Plantainleaf Sedge, a common species here.....

...and nearby a population of Pawpaw trees were starting to show some bud development. It is a rare species, and at least historically, Chatham-Kent has had the most populations of anywhere in Ontario.

A bit later, I ended up at KMCL. It was quite windy, and most waterbirds were not all that close to photograph. There was the usual mix of waterbirds, as well as Bald Eagle, Great Egret, and such. I did see quite a few Blue-winged Teal, about 18 or more, the most I had seen so far this year.....

...and while on the lookout for either a Greater or Lesser Yellowlegs, shorebirds that had been reported there recently, I saw a smaller shorebird on the far side of the eastern pond. I got a few shots, and managed to get them processed and cropped to be at least identifiable. The camera/lens combination, along with the resulting image being greatly cropped, resulted in this photo at the equivalent of about 130 X, so it isn't great, but shows enough detail to be identified as a Dunlin. It is a bit early, but not totally unlikely.

At present, the shorebird habitat at KMCL isn't nearly as good as it has been the last 2-3 years, but with the forecast rain off and on over the next week or two, maybe that will change. Fingers crossed!

Happy Easter everyone. Here is one of my all-time favourite Easter songs here.