Down to Rondeau

On Saturday, I headed down to Rondeau for the afternoon.

I will just get it over with now...I didn't see the White-winged Dove. I'm really am starting to dislike that bird.....We've spent hundreds of dollars trying to find it!!!!

Along Talbot Trail I found a Dickcissel, but I didn't get any photos. Number 221 on the Weekend Big Year.

As soon as entering the park, we came across a pair of White-tailed Deer.

There was an Eastern Foxsnake at the Dog Beach. Other snakes seen in the park include Garter and an Eastern Ribbonsnake. This is only the second foxsnake I've ever seen. The first was a small one that bit me in 2015 when I tried to pick it up.

I checked out Tulip Tree Trail (TTT), which is where I found my first Prothonotary Warblers for Chatham-Kent. Two males and a female.

There a few White-breasted Nuthatches hanging out on the first little bit of Harrison. They were doing some mating ritual that I've never seen before. It was kind of cool.

There were many odes hanging around including a few species of darners, saddlebags, bluets, skimmers, and spreadwings.

Emerald Spreadwing

I saw a few butterflies as well, including my first Giant Swallowtail of the year.

Little Wood-Satyr

Red Admiral

Six-spotted Tiger Beetles are more or less common in Rondeau.

This White-tailed Deer didn't appear distressed by our presence on TTT.

There was a pair of Blue-tailed Skinks, Ontario's only lizard, on TTT as well. Quite fast and skittish. Every time I thought I had lost them, they would pop up somewhere else. This went on for awhile, but I was able to get some photos.

Tulip Tree Trail is aptly named.

There were few birds in the park, and most of the ones I did find were by voice only.

Eastern Wood-Pewee

I left the park after about four and a half hours and went to Blenheim Sewage Lagoons.

Birdsfoot Trefoil has really come up in the last few days.

Red-winged Blackbirds were very territorial. I was dive-bombed at one point. While the birds will rarely strike you, it can be a bit of a terrifying experience to have a screeching mass of feathers and claws descend upon you.

This juvenile wasn't trying to attack me

Killdeer was the most common shorebird, with over thirty seen. Spotted Sandpipers were the only other species of shorebird.

Plenty of Painted Turtles, and one Common Snapping Turtle, were seen.

There were hundreds of bluets (Familiar?). Some Eastern Forktails as well.

Black Saddlebags were common, as were Common Green Darners.

CGD

Best dragonfly was a Halloween Pennant, my first for the year.

Not as many butterflies as I expected, but I did find a couple, including lifer Bronze Copper.

Bronze Copper

Black Swallowtail

As for birds, it wasn't overly exciting, but I did have a couple decent finds. Greater Scaup and Ring-necked Ducks were continuing birds.

Ring-necked Duck

Ruddy Duck (L) and Greater Scaup (R)

Other ducks such as Wood Duck, Mallard, and Ruddy Ducks were found.

Mallards and Wood Duck (Bottom R)

There was also an American Coot and a Pied-billed Grebe.

American Coot

Savannah Sparrows were very common and some were nesting.

Another grassland nesting species was Eastern Meadowlark. There were a few adults and one fairly young one, which was still quite orange overall.

Erieau was last. I was hoping to find a rare gull or two, but it was not to be.

There were a few terns, both Common and Forester's.

This Common Grackle managed to get a fish that a Ring-billed Gull dropped.

Eastern Kingbirds are known to be VERY territorial....

Flashback to Last Summer...

This is the first time I witnessed one take on a gull.

It was a pretty good day. I'll be spending the next few days up in Orillia with my class, so hopefully I'll come back with a few stories that are worth sharing!

Also, this is my 100th post on the blog!

Grassland Birds and Butterflies

There were numerous reports of Upland Sandpipers and Clay-colored (It's Clay-coloured, eh!), west of Strathroy, in the same area as where the Dickcissels were located. I needed both for my life list, so, hey, it's a two-for-one deal!

As soon as I stepped out of the car, Bobolinks, Eastern Meadowlarks, and Savannah Sparrows were singing.

Bobolink

Meadowlark

Red-winged Blackbird

Savannah Sparrow

You can see why the Bobolink is sometimes called the "Skunk Bird".

After a few minutes, I heard an Upland Sandpiper. I had no luck in getting a visual though.

I did manage to locate a Great Spangled Fritillary and Black Saddlebags.

After the Upland Sandpiper spot, it was off to the Clay-colored Sparrows.

Nothing at first other than a singing Indigo Bunting and some Chipping Sparrows.

I heard the Clay-colored briefly, but that was it.

The butterflies entertained me when the birds were slow. Here is an Eastern Tailed Blue.

I finally managed to add another Branded Skipper to my life list! This is a very cooperative Dun Skipper.

Common Wood-Nymphs never seem to sit still! This was the longest sitting one all day-about 15 seconds!

All-in-all, a productive day out birding.

Dazzling Dickcissels

About a week and a half ago, a male Dickcissel was reported singing west of Strathroy. Dickcissels are birds mainly seen in eastern grasslands. This bird is a regular but somewhat rare species in Ontario. Here is it's range map (allaboutbirds.org)

As you can see, this bird's range barely extends into Canada. Dickcissels in Ontario is quite an awesome treat!

The birds were seen along Winter Drive, west of Napier Drive. As I drove up with the windows down, I could see why! The entire road was lined with tall grasses and other plants. This was the perfect habitat for Dickcissels and many other grassland birds such as Meadowlarks, Bobolinks, and Savannah Sparrows. Here's and example of what the fields looked like.

Savannah Sparrow in the middle

It was a little bit difficult to find the Dickcissel, but I eventually located it. I hopped out of the car, and made my way into the ditch across the road. Climbing into it would serve as some sort of blind, meaning that I wouldn't risk flushing (scaring away) the bird. I unknowingly decided to hunker down in a patch of Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica), but hey, at least I got these photographs!

In the ditch, I saw these little butterflies named Common Ringlet. Another butterfly, which were most likely European Skippers, wouldn't sit still for photos.

Another grassland bird that was singing along the road were Grasshopper Sparrows. These birds were accompanied by Bobolinks and Savannah Sparrows. The Bobolink is listed as threatened in Ontario, so seeing and hearing as many as I did (6) was pretty special. The Bobolink Photo was taken in Bruce, Ontario.

Grasshopper Sparrow

Bobolink in Bruce (May 22nd, 2016)

There were at least 3 Dickcissels present. This bird was singing further up the road.

On my way out, the same bird as above decided to turn away from the camera. Although I would have preferred the front, these birds don't seem to have just one "good" side!

This White-tailed Deer gave me one more good photo before hitting the road again.

This is it for now, and as far as I know, the Dickcissels are still present in the area. But they probably won't be here for too much longer, so if you hurry, maybe you could see one of these beautiful birds!

Cattle along Winter Drive