Rainy Rondeau Day

Yesterday I went down to the Rondeau area, in hopes of catching up with a couple of birds, one of which being the juvenile Purple Gallinule found by Steve Charbonneau on Tuesday, at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons. This is apparently the first record for Chatham-Kent. 

It rained most of the way there, and upon pulling up to the lagoons, there was quite a bit of lightning. It was decided that standing out in the open on the lagoons with a metal tripod was probably not in my best interest. So instead, I opted to go to Erieau first. There were quite a few gulls, terns, and cormorants on tbe pier, in the trees, and on the beaches. I picked through them, but was unable to turn up anything good. I had about 250 (probably more) Common Terns, which is the most I had ever seen at once. Hardly any shorebirds, other than three Sanderlings, and a few Spotted Sandpipers. I flushed a Black-crowned Night-Heron from the base of the pier, which seemed like a really odd spot. My first for the Rondeau area.

Afterwards, the rain seemed to let up a bit, so I went back to the sewage lagoons. The sky seemed sort of threatening, so I left the camera in the car. It took a bit, but finally the Purple Gallinule made its appearance. Quite the pretty thing, even if it wasn't an adult. It hopped up onto some Phragmites and sat and preened itself. It was up high enough we were able to have it at eye level!

We checked the sprinkler cell, and found lots of Semipalmated Sandpipers, Least Sandpipers, and yellowlegs, as well as a few Baird's Sandpipers, Pectoral Sandpipers, and Stilt Sandpipers. 

Afterwards, I went to Keith McLean. The birders from the lagoons also ended up there! It was raining, so again no camera!

The water is quite high, so we couldn't go too far back. We heard a Common Gallinule, which made it a two gallinule day. There was also a nice Baird's and Stilt Sandpiper together feeding quite close to us. 

I was joined by Ezra Campanelli, and we walked along the road to where my target bird was seen feeding. It took a couple minutes, but soon the Red Knot was spotted! A beautiful juvenile. Knots are probably my favourite bird! There was also a gorgeous juvenile Short-billed Dowitcher. 

Ezra and I then headed into the park. I didn't really know what to do, so we decided just to do South Point Trail and see what we could see. On the way, we decided to hit the beach access off the VC. There was a Red-headed Woodpecker there upon parking, which was nice. We noticed a large flock of loafing gulls and terns, so we started our way down the beach to see what was with them. The reoccurring theme of the day was that there were no good gulls to be found! As we walked back, we came across a group of three Ruddy Turnstones. They were a FOY for Ezra, and one we had hoped for, so that was a success. 

Next up was South Point. Not too much to be seen. We went out to the beach at the lighthouse, and along the way I caught a ribbonsnake, a lifer for the both of us. 

Again, we saw a huge group of gulls, so we went after them. Nothing to be seen! We ended up walking up to Dog Beach, where we cut in and walked back to the car along Lakeshore. Ezra had to leave back to Hamilton, so we parted ways. By this point the skies had cleared (finally), and I had noticed some cool plants along the walk, so I decided to retrace our steps, and see what I could see along the way. 

One of the highlights was this. I am pretty sure it is Yellow Flatsedge (Cyperus flavescens). It is an S2 in Ontario, and considered rare in Chatham-Kent.

Another highlight was Small-headed Rush (Juncus brachycephalus). I admittedly am not super good at rushes, but I am pretty confident in this ID! 

At one point I noticed a number of caterpillars feeding on Small-flower False Foxglove (Agalinis purpurea parviflora), which turned out to be Common Buckeyes. I had seen a number of adults of this species as well.

The host plant.

I also saw a Five-lined Skink. Always a treat. This is a juvenile, note the blue tail.

A photo dump of some of the other plants I saw.

Trailing Fuzzy Bean (Strophostyles helvola)

Northern Evening Primrose (Oenothera parviflora)

Redwhisker Clammyweed (Polanisia dodecandra)

Seaside Sandmat (Euphorbia polygonifolia)

Tumbleweed (Salsola tragus)

Cylindrical Blazing Star (Liatris cylindracea)

Golden Sedge (Carex aurea)

And of course, the mystery prickly pears (Opuntia sp.) of Rondeau. They are not native to the park, and I don't think anyone really knows for sure their species or origin! 

I cut inland, and went to the washout. Very little bird-wise, so here are some more plants :-)

Matted Spikerush (Eleocharis intermedia)

Blunt Spikerush (Eleocharis obtusa)

Straw-coloured Flatsedge (Cyperus strigosus)

I pished up a storm on the way back, and got a bunch of vireos (Red-eyed, Warbling, and a Philadelphia), a couple warblers, and some flycatchers. I am pretty sure I had a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, but it managed to hide behind the leaves!

Just before leaving, I head a Black-bellied Plover calling out towards the lake from the South Point parking lot. A bit unexpected, but welcome!

Overall, a very successful day in Rondeau, despite all the rain! 

Rondeau Roundup

Yesterday I went to Rondeau with a group from Nature London. Despite it being a "slow" day, I don't think anybody was disappointed!

We started the day with a quick drive down Lakeshore Road, looking for the White-winged Dove, a bird that has somehow evaded me for the past four years. No luck!

We met up with the group, and then went and explored Tulip Tree Trail. Some highlights included Common Loon (flyover), Hermit Thrush, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Tufted Titmouse and Winter Wren.

Hermit Thrush

After about an hour on the trail, I took my group on a little walk down Lakeshore Road. There were plenty of Brown Thrashers.

I stopped to talk to the owner of the "pink house", who said the White-winged Dove had just taken off, but was likely at the "yellow house", a little bit down the road. I lost a lot of my group, as they didn't want to walk down the road all that way, but I kept treking (sprinting)...I had to see that bird!

Eventually I got to the "yellow house" and....nothing. Darn. But just as I was about to turn around I spotted a dove fly up from the ground behind the house. A dove with a rounded tail and white on the tip of the tail. Could it be? It all happened so fast, but it definitely warranted a closer look. It wasn't on the stovepipe, and it wasn't on the roof, so where did it go?

"WHO COOKS FOR YOU!"

Ahhh!!! It was the White-winged Dove!!! I quickly found it in a tree not too far from the house, where it offered great views. After a little while it flew north, where I refound it high in a tree.

After the dove excitement, the group went to South Point Trail (they tried and failed at seeing the White-winged...good thing I went when I did!). Plenty of small woodland birds were around.

Hermit Thrush

White-throated Sparrow

House Wren

Eastern Towhee

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Most of the group turned around where the path was really flooded, but three of us kept going, seeing what we could find. There were a few sparrows near the beacon.

Field Sparrow

We managed to find our first (!) warblers of the trip...a distant singing Yellow-rumped and at least three Pine Warblers.

Pine Warbler

Not too much of interest was out near the washout except for a Horned Grebe and an Eastern Bluebird.

After South Point, we went up to the campground to check out a Snowy Owl which my friend had texted about. It didn't take too long to find it up in a tree. Kind of a bizarre place for it!

Maintenance was fairly quiet, but we did see a Carolina Wren and my first Spring Azure of the year.

Carolina Wren

Spring Azure

Marsh Trail was the last stop for the group. Not much of note except for a Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Blake notified me of a Wilson's Phalarope over at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons, so I made a stop there after Rondeau.

It didn't take long to find her in the sprinkler cell. Female phalaropes are more brightly coloured than the males, and this female was no exception. Quite the bird!

There were some other shorebirds around, such as both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs.

Lesser Yellowlegs

I found a group of Pectoral Sandpipers and a Wilson's Snipe in a wet spot to the north of the sprinkler cell.

Pectoral Sandpiper

A few other birds around the lagoons as well, including Purple Martins, Savannah Sparrows, Eastern Meadowlarks, gulls, ducks, and blackbirds.

Bonaparte's and Ring-billed Gulls

Wood Ducks

Eastern Meadowlarks

All in all a super great day in the Rondeau area!

On a side note, I saw this stunner in London today. Not often we get a Prothonotary Warbler up this way! This is day three for this bird...I wonder how long he'll stay.

Early Spring(ish) Birding

This past week has been quite something in Ontario!

Last Sunday I visited the Rondeau area to have a look around. I stopped into Ridgetown on the way, and was rewarded with some Snow Geese and Greater White-fronted Geese.

Snow Geese

Greater White-fronted Geese

Rondeau itself was pretty quiet, but I was able to find a few things here and there, including my first of year (FOY) Eastern Phoebes and Rusty Blackbirds of the year.

Horned Grebe

Lesser Scaup

Red-winged Blackbird

Downy Woodpecker

There was a flooded field just north of Shrewsbury which was quite productive. I managed to find my FOY Dunlin and Lesser Yellowlegs.

Gadwall

Green-winged Teal and American Robin

Dunlin

Lesser Yellowlegs

Last stop was the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons.

Plenty of ducks and Bonaparte's Gulls!

Ruddy Duck

Bonaparte's Gull

Just before I left, this Eastern Meadowlark popped up.

Fast forward to yesterday. I managed to get out to the landfill before the ice storm hit to look for some of the reported gulls. Although I missed the Glaucous Gull, I did see my FOY Lesser Black-backed Gull. I managed some far off record photos.

I also came across my FOY Greater Yellowlegs, as well as a Lesser Yellowlegs.

Greater Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Hopefully this weird weather clears out soon!