On the weekend a warm front was moving into Ontario, so I decided to take a trip to southwestern Ontario in search of early spring migrants. From a big year standpoint it wasn’t an overly promising trip, as almost all of the possibilities for yearbirds were species that will be common in a few weeks. Regardless, I really just wanted a taste of spring and a break from the snowy peninsula : )
I started off at “The Bluff”, one of my favourite birding locations on Lake Huron. Located near Grand Bend, the Bluff is basically just a field beside the lake. Something about the geography of it though, plus the amazing view it affords (sand cliffs dropping off over 40 feet border the field, offering a great view of the lake) makes it an excellent spot to observe birds migrating past.
I arrived at the Bluff at 8am to discover a cloudy sky, a cold, damp wind out of the southeast, and local birder Tony Latour… who had managed to arrive there in the morning before me for the first time. I was hoping it would be sunny, however that was not to be the case. The lake was also mostly frozen, the nearest water appeared to be around 2 kilometres out. The temperature did gradually increase during the 4 hours I spent there, however the wind increased as well, which seemed to cancel out the warming effect... much to my dismay. It ended up being a fairly quiet day bird wise, with a total of 28 species. Flocks of Canada Geese filtered by all morning, though despite scanning them all no other geese were mixed in. American Robins, Red-winged Blackbirds and Common Grackles all passed through in small numbers, providing a glimpse of what is to come in the next month. A few groups Killdeer flew overhead, their high pitched, plaintive call a welcome sound. The Killdeer, along with a solo male Wood Duck that winged south along the edge of the cliff were both yearbirds for me.
Some pics...
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| - Snow Bunting |
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| - Wood Duck |
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| - American Robins |
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| - Horned Lark |
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| - Cedar Waxwings |
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| - Cooper's Hawk |
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| - Northern Harrier |
Activity died down later in the morning, so I decided to move on and drive down to Shrewsbury in Chatham-Kent. I hoped to catch up with a Eurasian Collared-Dove that had been found there a few days previously, a code 3 species and one I’ve never seen in Ontario. This bird spent a few months in the town in the spring and summer of 2021 and had seemingly returned for another season. The weather was much nicer in Shrewsbury than it was at the Bluff… sunny, calm and 5 degrees, it really did feel like spring. The cacophony of singing Northern Cardinals, Red-winged Blackbirds and Song Sparrows added to this. I spent most of the afternoon wandering the streets of town, encountering many Mourning Doves. Despite this effort, and the help of local birder Steve Charbonneau, the dove gave me the slip. I did see a flock of geese fly overhead containing a Snow Goose though, another yearbird.
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| - Snow Goose |
In the evening I listened for American Woodcocks at Rondeau Provincial Park, but it wasn’t meant to be apparently… although the sunset was quite nice.
I stayed in a motel nearby and the following morning I met up with Isabel Apkarian and Erik Van Den Kieboom for a day of birding. The forecast had called for rain overnight, which I was hoping would create puddles in the field for ducks and gulls. The rain didn’t come though, as wouldn’t you know it, weather forecasts aren’t always accurate! Most of southern Ontario got at least some overnight, but in the southwest the fields were still dry and barren. A low pressure front had passed overhead during the night, and when I stepped outside in the morning it could have passed for an April day… 10 degrees and a warm southerly wind. After meeting up with Isabel & Erik we headed over to Erieau to look for waterfowl. Rondeau Bay was still partially frozen, but the open water that was there was packed with ducks. The majority were aythya (Redhead, scaup and Canvasback), with smaller numbers of mergansers, Gadwall and American Wigeon mixed in.
After that we drove over to Rondeau and went for a walk around the campgrounds. Here we found a multitude of blackbirds and sparrows, along with other foraging songbirds. The highlights were a Fox Sparrow and a small group of overwintering Yellow-rumped Warblers, number 150 and 151 respectively.
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| - Fox Sparrow |
A quick walk at South Point Trail was quiet besides for some Song Sparrows and Red-winged Blackbirds, though it was hard to complain since it was such a nice day.
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| - South Point Trail |
On the way out of the area we looked for the collared-dove, but again I was thwarted and it remained hidden. Annoyingly it was seen about an hour earlier, but such is birding. It should be around for the season now, so I’m not too worried about it…
The remainder of the day was spent birding the shoreline towards Point Pelee and then up to Lake St. Clair. Killdeer and Horned Larks see abundant on the fields beside the road, and calling blackbirds were a constant sound if we rolled the windows down.
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| - Killdeer |
A few decent sized flocks of waterfowl were found, with the majority being in the Lake St. Clair area. A few hundred Tundra Swans, over 1000 Canada Geese (including a lone Cackling Goose) and smaller numbers of American Black Duck, Northern Pintail and Green-winged Teal were among the species seen. A few recently returned Sandhill Cranes walked in the fields too.
We called it quits around 4pm, and after being dropped back off at my car I headed back towards home. Along the way I stopped to look in the fields by Grand Bend, one of the best spots to see massive flocks of Tundra Swans in the spring. Numbers will be building in the coming weeks, but when I drove by well over 1000 swans were standing in the corn fields.
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| - Tundra Swans |
It ended up being a nice weekend, with 5 new species for the year. Now I’m back in the land of snow, with another foot of snow left to melt in my yard before I can see the ground.
Some photos of a screech-owl that I saw on my road a few days ago...
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| - Eastern Screech-owl |
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