On the morning of May 14th I headed down to Rondeau Provincial Park with Dana Latour and her dad Tony for a few days of birding.
We stopped at the Blenheim Sewage Lagoons on the way to the park, where we saw the continuing Eared Grebe. The grebe wasn't being too cooperative for photos, but I managed to get a few shots.
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| - Eared Grebe |
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| - Virginia Rail |
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| - Forester's Tern |
We then headed into the park, where we spent the rest of the day birding. We saw 93 species before leaving for the night, with the Highlights behing Summer Tanager, Common Nighthawk, Eastern Whip-poor-will, American Bittern, Rusty Blackbird and 19 warbler species.
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| - Common Nighthawk |
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| - Eastern Kingbird |
On day 2 we got up at 5am and headed to Rondeau to see what migrants had arrived overnight. During our 15 hours at the park we recorded 119 species, with highlights being the following; White-winged Dove, Black Vulture, White-eyed Vireo, Northern Mockingbird, Yellow-breasted Chat and 23 warbler species (highlights were Blue-winged, Mourning and Wilson's). I'll include some of my pictures below.
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- White-winged Dove |
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| - Black Vulture |
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| - Northern Mockingbird |
The Black Vulture and Yellow-breasted Chat were both lifers for me, so that was sweet.
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| - Prothonotary Warbler |
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| - Blue-winged Warbler |
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| - Golden-winged Warbler |
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| - Black-throated Green Warbler |
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| Bay-breasted Warbler |
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| - Ovenbird |
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| - Black-throated Blue Warbler |
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| - Cape May Warbler |
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| - Bay-breasted Warbler |
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| - Chestnut-sided Warbler |
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| - Blackburnian Warbler |
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| - Baltimore Oriole |
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| - Solitary Sandpiper |
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| - Scarlet Tanager |
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| - Common Nighthawk |
On our 3rd day in the park we had been birding for about an hour when a passing birder asked "did you hear about the Black-necked Stilts that are right outside the park?". I was rather tired, as we had been out late birding/herping the night before, but that sentence woke me up more then the coffee that I just had😅. We quickly got back to the car and drove out to Keith Mclean CA (where the birds had been spotted) and were greeted with the horrible news that the birds had just flown off. Just as despair was setting in, two dark shorebird-sized shapes flew across the field in front of us. It was the stilts! They then landed, giving us awesome views for over half an hour. It was such an unexpected lifer, which always makes it more exciting in my opinion. The birds weren't close enough for awesome pictures, but I got a few record shots.
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| - Black-necked Stilts |
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| - Black-necked Stilts |
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| - Black-necked Stilt |
Some non-bird highlights at Rondeau included; Eastern Ribbonsnake, Dekay's Brownsnake, White-tailed Deer, Virginia Opposum and Five-lined Skink.
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| - Five-lined Skink |
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| - Eastern Ribbonsnake |
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| - DeKay's Brownsnake |
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- White-tailed Deer |
Bruce Big Day
On Sunday, May 19th, Michael Butler, Erik Van Den Kieboom, Abigail Collins and myself attempted a big day in Bruce county. Michael picked me up at 4:30am at my place, where we got our first birds of the day.. American Woodcock and Eastern Whip-poor-will. We then drove down to McGregor Provincial Park, where our day officially started. After we met up with our other 2 team members (Erik and Abigail) we birded the park for a bit before working our way up the west coast of the Bruce up to Pike Bay. Highlights of MPPP/Lake Huron coast included ; American Bittern, Upland Sandpiper Sora, Virginia Rail, Dunlin, Purple Martin, Black-billed Cuckoo, Board-winged Hawk, Pileated Woodpecker, Lincoln's Sparrow, Clay-colored Sparrow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Golden-winged Warbler, Canada Warbler.
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| - Upland Sandpiper |
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| - Upland Sandpiper |
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| - Grasshopper Sparrow |
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| - Purple Martin |
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| - Lincoln's Sparrow |
When we got to Pike Bay around noon and were greeted by large numbers of warblers reverse migrating along the coast. There were about 300 warblers, with a good spread of species. Among the flock there were a few new birds for the day, including Blackpoll Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler and Tennessee Warbler. It's a rare treat to get decent reverse migration on the Bruce, so seeing this was quite exciting. After lunch (aka snacking on junk food) we headed over to the east side of the peninsula, where we picked up a few new birds including Veery and Mourning Warbler.
It started to rain around 3:30, which didn't make the birding easier, but we pushed on in hope of picking up some more birds. At Boat lake we saw Black Terns and Osprey out flying in the rain, which was neat. After that we headed down to the Tara area, with hopes of seeing some shorebirds. On the way there the rain and wind were torrential, making viewing conditions... poor (ok horrible). Despite the weather we managed to pick up a 4 new birds; Lesser Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper and Bank Swallow. After that we headed north again, adding our final bird of the day as a group ~ Hairy Woodpecker. I then added a few birds on my own, including Chimney Swift and Barred Owl. That brought my total up to 150 (148 for the group), pretty good for a day in Bruce!
On to local news...
Some recent birds in my neighbourhood include; Broad-winged Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Black-crowned Night Heron, Blue-winged Teal, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Barred Owl and 18 warbler species.
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| - Broad-winged Hawk |
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| - Sharp-shinned Hawk |
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| - Blue-winged Teal |
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| - Olive-sided Flycatcher |
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| - Black-throated Green Warbler |
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| - Chestnut-sided Warbler |
Migration is in full swing on the Bruce now and the Huron Fringe Birding Festival starts this weekend, exciting time of year!
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