Notes from the St. Clair

Hello. Does this thing still work?

Yesterday I birded Sarnia and along the St. Clair river, with the intention of seeing what was around. I didn't take any photos (save for one bird), so I will recycle some old ones.

The day started off not so nice, with rain and quite heavy fog. Not too much of note along the way, but we did have a Snowy Owl in the usual location, as well as a Rough-legged Hawk. The roughie was in the same spot as the one we had last year, and looked to have the same patterning, so it could be the same bird as pictured below (from 2019).

We toured around Point Edward a bit, looking at the lake at a few different locations. Not too much to be seen. The usual Long-tailed Ducks, which always seem to be flying around, never settling. Had a few White-winged Scoters to shake things up as well. 

Quite the contrast to last year at this time. The only ice to be seen was on the rocks.

NOT like this (2019)

Off of Canatara Park, there was a sizable raft of Redhead, I estimated numbering around 1800. They were on the American side, but whatever...Also seen was a Great Black-backed sitting a distance out with an adult Glaucous Gull right beside it. Perhaps two of my favourite wintertime gulls.

There were more birds in the marina and Sarnia Bay than I expected, but nothing too much out of the ordinary. A few Great Black-backs and an adult Glaucous were among the Herring Gulls. I did see a Long-tailed Duck, which I think might be the first time I have seen one in the bay!

Heading downriver, we stopped a few times to sift through the gulls. There were easily a few thousand Herring Gulls present, as well as some more interesting things mixed in. Guthrie Park was good, as it always seems to be, and the gizzard shad die off attracted the gulls en masse. Along with about 2000 Herrings, I picked out a couple Iceland Gulls, some Glaucous, Great Black-backeds, and a Nelson's Gull, which is a hybrid between Herring and Glaucous Gull.

Great Black-backed Gull

At the OCF outflow down near Sombra, there were quite a few Great Black-backs, as well a some Glaucous and a pretty little first cycle Iceland Gull. A Belted Kingfisher also made an appearance. 

Final stop was the Sombra waterfront. As usual, lots of Redhead, but the star of the show was a Ring-necked Duck x Redhead hybrid, which has been coming back for a few years now. This is the first time I have seen this hybrid.

All in all a good day. Back to exams...

Late January Along the River

Yesterday I went on the Nature London trip to Sarnia and the St. Clair River.

We headed out in the morning, and saw the Snowy Owls in the usual location.

Not too long after, we faced heavy snow squalls. The decision was made to cancel the trip and turn back. I of course, was determined to continue and see what we could see, so we my vehicle continued on towards Sarnia. Turned out to be a good decision because only five minutes later things cleared and it was blue skies and sun!

A highlight of the day was this beautiful Rough-legged Hawk on Michigan Line. 

Also saw another Snowy Owl further down the road.

We stopped briefly into Wawanosh Wetlands, though as usual not too much was there.

Next up was Canatara Park in Sarnia. There was a calling Carolina Wren, but not much else. I found this little fungi, Hysterobrevium mori, on the fence in the children's farm.

We went to eat lunch and watch the lake at the Point Edward Lighthouse afterwards, which proved fruitful. We found many Long-tailed Ducks, Common Goldeneye, mergansers, and a couple White-winged Scoters.

Long-tailed Ducks

The ice was quite impressive!

The Sarnia Bay was completely frozen, so no gulls or ducks there! After that we began the trek down the St. Clair River. Our first stop was Guthrie Park, which was productive.

Canvasbacks

Great Black-backed Gull

Canvasback

Common Merganser

Just as we were leaving, I noticed two Coyotes out on the ice. One wonders what they were doing. Perhaps they were trying to cross from the island (Stag Island) to the mainland, or maybe they were trying to hunt waterfowl.

One last stop was Cathcart Park near Sombra, where there is often an assortment of waterfowl and other things.

Bald Eagle

Three species of swans were present. Mute, Tundra, and a single Trumpeter.

Mute Swan

Trumpeter Swan

Overall, a fun, but cold, day along the river. It is amazing how the accumulation of ice can make or break a day. Gulls were very limited today. I only saw Herring and a few Great Black-backs!

Some Sarnia Stuff

Today was the annual Nature London outing to the Sarnia and St. Clair region. I would say today's outing has been of my better days birding in the area!

We started off the day with a nice male Snowy Owl just outside of London.

It was fairly quiet on the drive to Sarnia, however we picked up Snow Bunting (my first of 2018...finally!), Brown-headed Cowbird, Horned Lark,  and Northern Harrier. Closer to Sarnia we checked out a creek along the road, which revealed Mallards, Common Mergansers, Northern Pintail, American Black Ducks, and a Gadwall.

Next stop, Wawanosh Wetlands! Just before leaving the car, I glanced at my camera. I decided against bringing it because I reasoned we wouldn't come across anything worth photographing. About five minutes later I regretted that decision...

We were happily looking at Canada Geese and Herring Gulls when I heard a high-pitched honk. I looked up, and saw a large flock of geese flying 50 feet overhead. It took me a moment to realize that I was looking at GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE!

The group was treated to great views of the geese, although they were gone almost as fast as they had arrived. I texted Blake Mann about the sighting, and he was able to later track down the flock just north of Wawanosh. He also managed some photos!

Next stop was Canatara Park, where we promptly saw Tufted Titmouse, Red-bellied Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, and Black-capped Chickadee. There were also some goats.

I was playing around with some filters, and I thought this turned out good.

Onto to the beach! We found Greater Scaup, Redhead, Canvasbacks, Long-tailed Ducks, Bufflehead, and a White-winged Scoter.

Greater Scaup

White-winged Scoter

Common Goldeneye

Further down we got on a distant eagle, which turned out to be a Golden Eagle!

Golden Eagle

We headed to the marina, where we managed to see tons of gulls, including Great-black Backed, Glaucous, Iceland, Herring, and Ring-billed.

Plenty of ducks were out on the bay as well, including Common Mergansers, Redhead, Canvasback, scaup, Ring-necked Duck, Common Goldeneye, American Black Duck, and Bufflehead.

American Black Duck

This male Wood Duck has been hanging around for a while. I heard it long before I saw it!

We drove down the St. Clair towards Sombra, stopping along the way whenever we saw something interesting. Redheads numbered in the thousands, and Canvasbacks and Long-tailed Ducks could also be found in the hundreds. We found a few other ducks in smaller numbers such as Hooded Merganser, Common Merganser, Red-breasted Merganser, and Common Goldeneye.

Redhead

Common Merganser

Bufflehead

Mute Swan

Long-tailed Duck and Common Goldeneye

On the way back home, we saw a few raptors such as Red-tailed Hawks and Rough-legged Hawks. We also happened across five Snowy Owls within 10 minutes!

I'm off for exams this week...I'm sure I'll be out again soon!

Sarnia and the St. Clair

Today was the annual Nature London field trip to the St. Clair River.  We met this morning at 7:30, and started the day by heading to the traditional Snowy Owl spot. I spotted one on top of a hill on the way, however only the cars behind us got to see the bird as the rest of the group didn’t notice us stop, so they kept on driving.

20 minutes later we came back with everyone else, but the owl was nowhere to be seen.

The drive to Sarnia was quite uneventful in the beginning, but as we neared our first destination, things picked up. One of the channels held hundreds of waterfowl, and we managed to pick-out such birds as American Black Duck,  Northern Pintail,  and a Black Duck x Mallard hybrid among the geese and Mallards.

European Starlings

Canada Geese

Wawanosh Wetlands didn’t yield the Northern Shrike we were hoping for, but Downy Woodpeckers kept us entertained.

Upon leaving the wetlands, we picked out a Green-winged Teal in one of the channels leading out of the Conservation Area. It’s a great bird for this time of year.

We couldn’t find much in the way of birds in Canatara Park. We were counting on seeing the Eastern Screech Owl that usually overwinters in the petting zoo, but it wasn’t to be.

Long-tailed Ducks and Mergansers could be found on the lake and under Bluewater Bridge.

Long-tailed Ducks

The marina is usually the best bet to finding something good, and it didn’t let us down today. Despite us only finding 3 species of gulls (and one HERG x GBBG hybrid), we found most of our waterfowl here, and a couple other goodies such as two American Coots, and eight Cackling Geese swimming in a line, a lifer for many of those present.

American Coot

Cackling Geese

After lunch, we headed back to the marina where we found a small raft of Redheads close to shore with Canvasback, Greater Scaup, and a Ring-necked Duck mixed in.

Ring-necked Duck

American Black Ducks provided better views than earlier in the day.

Heading down river, we were awarded with decent looks at various ducks. The only new waterfowl species we added were White-winged Scoter and Mute Swan.

Redheads and Scaup

Common Goldeneye and Herring Gull

Mute Swan

Sombra wasn't as spectacular as we thought it would be, probably due to the snow moving in. I didn't take any photos here as it was pretty boring.

We bid farewell to half the group, then some of us went down Bentpath Line. Instead of a Short-eared Owl at the solar farm, we found a nice female Northern Harrier.

46 (give or take) Wild Turkeys were a nice surprise. Sure beats the groups of 3 or 4 we see around London! There was a group about this size along the road last year was well.

Our first Rough-legged Hawk of the trip was spotted about 20 minutes later.

Our first and only Bald Eagle soon followed. The trip leader was pleased.

Snow Buntings are always a joy to come across, and we observed a large group on Nauvoo Rd.

The group tried the Snowy Owl spot one last time before calling it quits. We quickly located one on a telephone pole.

"I'm Outta Here!"

All in all, it was a "slow" day, but it was filled with great birds.

Trip List:

Cackling Goose

Canada Goose

Mute Swan

American Black Duck

Mallard

Northern Pintail

Green-winged Teal

Canvasback

Redhead

Ring-necked Duck

Greater Scaup

White-winged Scoter

Long-tailed Duck

Bufflehead

Common Goldeneye

Common Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

Wild Turkey

Northern Harrier

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

Bald Eagle

Red-tailed Hawk

Rough-legged Hawk

American Coot

Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

Rock Pigeon

Mourning Dove

Snowy Owl

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

American Kestrel

Merlin

Blue Jay

American Crow

Horned Lark

Black-capped Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

White-breasted Nuthatch

European Starling

Snow Bunting

American Tree Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Northern Cardinal

Common Grackle

House Finch

American Goldfinch

House Sparrow

Total: 51 species