Water is where the birds are

(A milestone blog post: #400)

This roller coaster weather of intense cold followed by the January thaw, then more cold and then a February thaw is likely making it challenging for winter birds, especially those that rely to some extent on open water. But for birders, going to an area with open water is the best place to find birds.

Lake Erie is mostly frozen over, at least in most places. There are few areas where one can gaze out across the expanse and see nothing but ice. To get an idea of how much of Lake Erie is currently covered in ice, check out this link. 

Here is what it looks like from Erieau in the last few days. No Purple Sandpiper there!

But in the channel between the lake and the bay, there is enough flow of water, as well as a large number of waterfowl, which keep a portion of it open, and the birds are really packed in.

There is quite a good variety of ducks, geese and swans.

 Canvasback and Redhead are fairly abundant.

 There are actually at least two open spots, maybe another one or two around the corner and out of sight. Ducks are regularly flying back and forth between them.

Greater Scaup did not seem to be very plentiful.

Gr. Scaup (L), Common Goldeneye (R)

 Common Goldeneye were well represented.

American Black Ducks actually outnumbered the usually abundant Mallard.

The outlet for the water treatment plant in Chatham, just downstream from the Keil Drive bridge over the Thames River, is a reliable place to see waterbirds during the coldest weather, since there is always at least some open water.

Amongst the ubiquitous Mallard, one can usually find something else.

Common Goldeneye

Northern Shoveler

Wood Duck and Mallards

 There is usually a Belted Kingfisher that hangs around as well, although is not seen all the time and is very skittish.

There are some things that can still be found across the snowy landscape, and in fact are more easy to see against the white backdrop.

Not a Snowshoe Hare!

More interesting mid-winter birds

An assortment of interesting birds continues in spite of the cold and snow and that we are now into the middle third of official winter. A short while ago I went up to northern Chatham-Kent to check out the open water along the Chenal Ecarte. This is the channel, also referred to as The Snye, between Walpole Island First Nation and the mainland. There is a good flow of water, and the bridge connecting Walpole with the mainland tends to block some of the ice, leaving some open patches downstream. It was there that I wanted to look, as less common water birds may be found. Last year I had a Horned Grebe. On this day, I had two Pied-billed Grebes.

There was the usual mix of Mute Swan, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck as well as Mallard, Canvasback, etc.

 I couldn't see the closest part of the channel due to the density of Phragmites. So I went to the Walpole side and there were two Pied-billed Grebes, a little distant for a good photo, but you take what you get.

 After a few moments both of them started drifting over to the side I was on and came right up close.

It is nice when birds cooperate!

I ventured southwards again, on the lookout for Snowy Owls among other things. Just west of Winter Line and between Mallard and Marsh Lines, I noted two Snowies but about half way between the two roads so binoculars were needed to even see them. As is often the case, they will sit on the ground beside a marker or tuft of grass. This photo is cropped to probably at least 35X.

At the Rivard Line pumping station there is open water. And as is sometimes the case, a Belted Kingfisher may be hanging around looking for a small fish to chow down on. They always seem to be skittish, and this one certainly fit the bill. I'm not sure if it is just by accident or design, or if it means anything at all, but in my experience it seems the kingfishers that attempt to linger in the winter are almost always females.

Yesterday I decided to go out to Rondeau since it was a nice day for a walk, if nothing else. There were a few birders hunting in the campground for the Barred Owl. Garry S arrived and we started out from the parking area. Almost immediately we came across a Hermit Thrush, my first of the year. It was actively skulking and then feeding, but we got a few shots of it nibbling on European Guelder Rose (sometimes referred to as Highbush Cranberry, but it is the European variety and not nearly as tasty to birds as the native variety) and bittersweet.

We continued on, checking for the owl in likely trees in the north part of the campground when another birder came along with news that he had been given details of where the bird was situated. It was supposedly at campsite 187, and he even had a rough diagram indicating what tree the bird was in. However something didn't seem quite right, as the diagram didn't seem to fit the situation as well as it should, and there certainly was no owl to be seen. The three of us kept spreading out trying to find the elusive owl. Eventually Garry and I wandered north of the campground, went along Centre Street and then Lakeshore Road but without success. Just as we returned to the campground, I got a text from Blake indicating the owl was at site 182. A few minutes later we were at site 182 and without too much trouble, located the owl right where it was supposed to be (and the diagram fit). Unfortunately for us photographers, it was partially hidden by branches of the red cedar tree it was in, but it was in partial sun and out of the wind, so the bird no doubt was looking out for its own interests rather than any photographers in the area. But we made the best of it.

With finding the owl accomplished, we went our separate ways, and I headed for the Visitor Centre to see what might be hanging around the feeders. The feeders themselves were not well stocked, but there were birds in the area. There was the usual mix of about a dozen species, but I didn't get many photos. I did have a cooperative male Northern Cardinal, that I have no problem trying to photograph when I get the chance.

But I concentrated on capturing photos of one or more of the pair of Pileated Woodpeckers that were working various pine and oak trees in the immediate vicinity.

I got a few shots before they both took off south of the Visitor Centre, and I decided to head off elsewhere. Outside the park, I wanted to check the Stefina Line area, where a Wilson's Snipe is often seen in a creek that never freezes up totally. I had one there in December but it has been really elusive in the last few weeks. It was seen on Friday, but earlier on Saturday several people, including myself, had stopped by in the morning without seeing it. Maybe mid-afternoon would be different. And it was. The light had softened but there was still a lot of contrast. The first shot was with the bird quite close to the road.

 After a few minutes it decided it needed some distance, and promptly headed southwards, ending up almost to the bend in the creek. This next photo is taken at about 14X

I meandered along various back roads hoping for a Northern Shrike, but without success. Since I was eventually in the Ridgetown area, I stopped by the sewage lagoons. The ones on the south side of the road were completely frozen. Those on north side of the road were almost completely frozen over except for a small open are where the water flows in from the treatment centre. A few days ago there was one Canada Goose and one Tundra Swan. On this day there was only the Tundra Swan, looking healthy enough but presumably weakened from illness or injury.

Birding in the lull between the storms

As one of our favourite bloggers would know well, the weather of the last weekend was kind of challenging for even getting out of the house, let alone birding. So the last couple of days was a relief, just before the next cold and snowy weather arrives.

The Thames River is quite iced over now, and that means it is time to check the warm water outlet of the water treatment plant, just downstream from the Keil Drive bridge at the west side of Chatham. Sure enough, there was an opening in the ice of about 10 metres by 50 metres, with lots of ducks on the ice around it, or in the water. When it is about the only open water anywhere along the river, occasionally other ducks will stop in, such as Wood Duck, any of the three mergansers, Redhead, Ring-necked Duck or Green-winged Teal. I've even had an immature Black-crowned Night-Heron there. But on this day, it was mostly Mallards, with a few Am Black Ducks, and a gaggle of geese. The only other species of waterfowl was a Northern Shoveler.

 The ducks must have been getting hungry. You don't often see Mallards going after fish, but I guess they will snack on whatever comes along. The challenge is to keep it once you catch it. This female Mallard caught it and got chased out of the water by another couple of Mallards. Once on the ice, there were several others waiting to pick up the chase. I lost track how many times this fish changed beaks before getting eaten.

 The shoveler was often partly obscured when it had the side profile I wanted.

Northern Shoveler, upper right

 Another waterbird was in the area. This female Belted Kingfisher was reluctant to leave the area of open water, not surprisingly, but never landed less than about 50 metres away from me, so this is a greatly cropped photo.

There are still a handful of ducks at Erieau, but with some construction going on where the fish tugs are, they were seldom very close.

Canvasback

All of the snow we've had lately means the plowing of roads, resulting in some nice scrapes in the grass right alongside the road. This is quite attractive to small birds. It was not unusual to see a dozen or more Dark-eyed Juncos mixed with Am Tree Sparrows and a few other species, including Song Sparrow, Fox Sparrow and quite a few Chipping Sparrows. Chippies are certainly not common winter inhabitants, and some winters it is difficult to find even a single one. The roadsides between Rondeau Prov Park and Morpeth were definitely the place to be looking for them in the last day or so. As many as 13 were seen on one occasion. I never saw any more than 6, but anytime a vehicle went by, and especially a snow plow, the birds scattered quickly and were sometimes slow to return to the road side.

Rough-legged Hawks have been few and far between for the winter so far. But this last storm has brought a few into the area. I was following one along the road for a little ways, hoping to get a good flight shot showing its telltale white banded tail and black wrist spots. I got a flight shot, but it was not worth keeping. The bird landed at the top of a White Pine, and I got this photo. It isn't all that different looking than any other large buteo type hawk in this situation and pose.

 Fortunately as it took flight, it showed the typical underwing pattern.

Not far off was this large flock of Wild Turkeys. Turkeys have been a little hard to pick out on the landscape these last few weeks, with no snow cover. This flock was about half a kilometre from the road, and without the snow, I might have missed them altogether. It totalled at least 35 birds, about half of them on one side of the wide hedgerow and half on the other, with an unknown number in the hedgerow itself.

A Ph. D. student from Trent University is using eBird data to assess the usefulness of eBird posts in determining the overall population size in Ontario. It is nice to be able to contribute a bit of data for the research.

As I was approaching Blenheim, I noticed first one, and then another, Turkey Vultures soaring. They weren't high up, but both were moving towards the southwest, probably heading to their over night roost. I got a couple of quick shots, of a black bird against a very bright grayish-white sky....certainly not the ideal conditions for photographing them.

Winter gulls are often worth looking through. There haven't been many along the lake these last few weeks, but landfills and the immediate vicinity often attracts them. The Blenheim Landfill is handy for this purpose, and a couple of days ago when I was driving by there was a good sized flock in a field nearby. They weren't all that close to the road, but I managed to scan through the myriad Herring Gulls and a surprising number of Great Black-backed Gulls to find a couple of less usual species. There was at least one Lesser Black-backed Gull, which I did not get a photo of, and at least one adult Glaucous Gull, which I was more successful at. Before I was able to check the flock more intensively something spooked the gulls and they all took to flight, landing in the same field but a lot farther back.

Glaucous Gull facing, just right of centre

Yesterday birders had several Glaucous Gulls here in the mid-day period. I swung by there about three hours later, but there was not a gull to be seen. That's the problem looking for things that have wings :-).