Pinery, December 8th.

Our original plan on Sunday was to head south for the day, but Rondeau P.P. was closed and the weather was better than expected in North Lambton. We were prepared with snowshoes and ice grips, but neither were required. Much of the snow had already melted, although there were some large drifts in the area.

Bald Eagles were enjoying the windy conditions. They rarely flapped their wings as they cruised up and down the Lake Huron shoreline. The Bald Eagle is the only eagle exclusive to North America. They are at the top of the food chain and have very few natural predators. According to Canadian Geographic, when a Bald Eagle loses a feather on one wing, it will lose a feather on the other in order to keep its balance.

https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/animal-facts-bald-eagle/

Our first stop was Beach # 9 at Pinery Provincial Park. Erosion is an ongoing problem along the shoreline!

Lake Huron beyond the dunes.

Tiny mouse tracks along the beach, heading towards the cover of dune grasses.

The feeders at the Visitor Centre were well stocked. A Blue Jay awaits his turn. Blue Jays' love acorns, and they are credited for the spread of oak trees after the last ice age!!

https://naturecanada.ca/news/blog/all-about-blue-jays-are-they-actually-blue/

Black-capped Chickadees were abundant as usual! They will establish a dominance hierarchy, or pecking order, by which each bird is known to the other according to rank. A bird's rank is set by its degree of aggressiveness. Thus all the birds in the flock are subordinate to the most aggressive bird, and the lowest ranking is subordinate to all the others. The higher ranking birds enjoy the best access to food and the safest spots away from predators. They not only survive better as adults, but their offspring have a high survival rate!

https://hww.ca/en/wildlife/birds/chickadee.html

We traveled the back roads on our return home where we saw our first Northern Shrike of the season! These large song birds hunt insects, birds and small mammals by ambushing or chasing them. They catch insects with their bill and larger animals with their feet. The notched bill is used to kill the prey. Prey are often cached for later consumption by impaling them on thorns, barbed wire, or forked tree branches.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Northern_Shrike/id

The road leading to the Forest Lagoons was blocked from fallen trees. Workers on their way to the water treatment plant would have had to "saw their way" to work earlier this week. The Lagoons were frozen on Sunday so no ducks could be found at water level. A few flocks of Mallards flew overhead in search of a place to land. 

Temperatures were above freezing and we saw a few flying insects. This probable Furcate Dung Fly landed on the snow! Pictures were submitted to iNaturalist in hopes of getting a positive identification.