Local Birds of the week!

When all the ducks take to the air, there's either an Eagle or Freighter in the area. Hundreds of Red-breasted Mergansers flew over Lake Huron when a freighter emerged from the St. Clair River.

A Red-tailed Hawk with lunch, possibly a European Starling.

Sleepy Mourning Dove: Mourning Doves eat roughly 12-20 percent of their body weight each day, averaging 71 calories daily. This one likely just had a good feed.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mourning_Dove/overview

A winter source of food for American Robins is Staghorn Sumac berries. Although Robins are considered harbingers of spring, many American Robins spend the whole winter in their breeding range. Because they spend more time roosting in trees in the winter and less time in the yard, they are much less likely seen. The number of robins present in the northern parts of the range varies each year with the local weather conditions.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/overview

The Robin spit out this berry. (It is visible on the left side of the photo.) I watched another Robin have a "tug of war" with a worm, but somehow the worm got away. Perhaps, spring loaded back into the ground?

Golden-crowned Kinglets have returned. On some of the cooler days, they hop and fly very quickly from branch to branch in their quest for food. It can be hard to keep the camera moving fast enough to capture their movements!!

The report of a Common Loon at the Sarnia Bay inspired me to go for another walk in the afternoon. The Loon stayed fairly central in the Bay so I didn't get a great photo. It was my first view of the species in 2026.

A walk around the nearby wetland found many noisy Common Grackles.

The sign has been broken but the City has again marked off an area for Killdeer to nest at the Point Lands. Thanks to an astute citizen a few years ago, lawn mowing is restricted in the area until after the young Killdeer babies have hatched. Killdeer young are precocial, meaning newly hatched birds are able to run and feed on their own shortly after hatching, usually within 24 hours.

Ring-billed Gulls taking a break at Sarnia Bay.

Lying down in the middle of the photo is a Blue-phase Snow Goose. It was difficult to locate amongst the 400+ Canada Geese, but the smaller size helped to narrow down the search area. It was found in the middle of the horse track at Hiawatha.

While driving away, I skirted around a Killdeer who had adopted the Hiawatha parking lot for the day.

....and a side trip to Easter Island!