Lambton Loons and Other Stuff

Yesterday I ventured further afield to Lambton county. There was been an absolutely stunning Pacific Loon in the Sarnia Bay over the past few days, and I wanted to check it out. I have only ever seen the species once prior, and it certainly did not give views like that!

My dad and I arrived early on. It was a gorgeous day, and with the sun to our backs, it really lit up the bay. A Common Loon was present upon our arrival.

After a little bit of searching, the target species popped up, quite literally!

 
With that bird out of the way, I wanted to check out Canatara Park. It was the birdiest morning I had had all year, even if diversity was relatively low. Seems like today was really good, and some nice birds popped up (including a Kirtland's Warbler, which I have never seen)! I had nine species of warblers, including my first of year Magnolia and Orange-crowned. Just to give testament to how slow the spring has been, that Magnolia literally took my breath away when I spotted it! My other first of the year was a Gray-cheeked Thrush. Almost seems early, even though its late! I haven't had a Swainson's Thrush yet.

After Canatara, I opted to head south to Sombra. I stopped in at a few places along the way. At Guthrie Park there were a couple Common and Forster's Terns. Cathcart Park proved to be quite birdy! The place was covered with Yellow-rumped and Palm Warblers, as well as many swallows. A few shorebirds in the form of yellowlegs and Spotted Sandpipers were sprinkled throughout, along with some mergansers and terns of three species; Black, Common, and Forster's.

Not too much along the Sombra riverfront, but there were a few Purple Martins and a Forster's Tern.

My next stop was the Sombra Sewage Lagoons. Lots of birds to sort through! There was a great number of shorebirds, including Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Dunlin, Sanderling, Short-billed Dowitcher, and Least Sandpiper.

Also a great number of Black Terns, I counted 76. It was amazing to see.

A Peregrine Falcon ripped through a few times, and kept the terns and shorebirds on their toes.

Some Common Gallinules were calling nearby. Additionally, I also had my first Bobolinks of the year. Dad spotted a Red-tailed Hawk nest nearby.

I cut inland from Sombra, and went to the Sydenham River Nature Reserve. I had a few birds here, including a singing Yellow-throated Vireo. My main target here however was the Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica). I saw some last June when I was here for a breeding bird blitz, but they were well past their prime. Seems I caught the peak this time around!

False Mermaidweed (Floerkea proserpinacoides) was also abundant.

I picked up a few birds on the drive between there and Strathroy, including Eastern Bluebird, American Pipit, and House Wren. I made a quick pit stop into the Strathroy lagoons. A few lingering ducks and a couple rails, both Sora and Virgina.

In the evening, I went to check out a population of one of my favourite wildflowers, the Wood Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum). This is a very rare plant in Canada, with only two known populations, both in Middlesex county. A nice ending to the day.

I wasn't really doing a big day, but still managed 109 species. Probably could have made it 110 with American Woodcock, but I was too tired to bother!

Today was quite good, and we got our first big push of migrants in a week and a half.

Last night

Perhaps more on that later...

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!

Grebe in the Grove

Some readers may be aware of the Western Grebe being seen in Bright's Grove, just north of Sarnia.

It was nowhere to be seen when we first arrived this afternoon. It was very windy and wavy, which certainly didn't help with visibility. Just as I was about to give up almost half and hour into my search, I spotted it for about a second way out on the lake.

It took a little while before I re-found it again, this time it was much closer.

Soon it swam even closer, to the end of the pier where I was standing.

It dove frequently.

Can you still see it?

Before today, I had never seen a Western Grebe before, so it was particularly exciting to see it. Not bad for an after school twitch!

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!