Pinery January 8th:

During the winter months, car access to the 14 km road loop through the Pinery is closed. The quieter conditions can result in good finds, but birds were scarce along the road last Thursday. Although we saw few birds, we heard a Common Raven, Pileated Woodpecker, both Nuthatches, Tufted Titmice, and some chickadees. We hoped for some of the winter finches, but they did not want to be seen or heard.

Birch Polypore on a Birch Tree. They look like large saucers.

White-tailed Deer Tracks

Raccoon Tracks

Many trees were covered in lichens, adding some colour to the landscape.

Fishing Bobbers and fishing line are tangled on tree branches along the Riverside trail. Fishing line is a hazard to wildlife if they become tangled in, or digest it. Six Bobbers could be seen near the lookout dock along the Riverside trail.

There was a little more activity at Beach #9, including some Red Squirrels who were busy scurrying among the trees.

A Tufted Titmouse found seed on the ground.

Red-breasted Nuthatch: This species doesn’t often hand feed.

We walked to Lake Huron from the parking lot but ducks were so far out they were difficult to see. A juvenile Bald Eagle made a pass along the shore line. 

Lake Huron tossed thousands of ice balls up onto the shore! 

The former road at Beach #9 which is now a foot path, was underwater.

Our last stop was at the Visitor Centre. The Black-capped Chickadees were happy to see us. My head served as a waiting zone until space was available for seed retrieval from my hand. Chickadees have their own hierarchy for eating and there was a lot of squabbling whenever a bird tried to eat out of turn!

We traveled back roads on the tour home, and found one of our target birds, a Northern Shrike. His hooked beak is used to feed on rodents and small birds. It breeds in the far north and is only seen in southern Canada during the winter. They perch high on trees and wires to watch for prey.

https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/northern-shrike

A well camouflaged Northern Harrier sat in a field snacking on prey. Northern Harriers are the most "owl-like" of hawks. (but aren't related to owls.) The disk-shaped face looks and functions much like an owl's with stiff facial feathers helping to direct sound to the ears.

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

 Suncor Trail and around Lambton!

3 Northern Pintails were in the channel at the Suncor Trail.

The Pintails were mixed in with Black Ducks and Mallards before all the birds took flight.

Black Ducks in flight. The speculum (iridescent blue patch on wing) is bordered by black. The males and females of this species are almost identical in appearance.

https://www.hww.ca/wildlife/birds/american-black-duck/

Mallards in flight. The iridescent blue speculum is bordered by white.

Lots of orange feet!

American Goldfinch on Teasel

Great Black-backed Gull, Sarnia Bay

Greater White-fronted Goose (centre of pic with orange beak) at Hiawatha.

Great Blue Heron hiding along the shoreline during snow flurries.

About half of the 29 Sandhill Cranes found in a South Lambton corn field.

VIDEO: Sandhill Cranes

 Desjardins Canal and Other Birdy Places!

We had a brief visit to the Desjardins Canal recently. Six Trumpeter Swans, including 2 juveniles, have been using the canal for shelter and food. Trumpeter Swans are rebounding in numbers following a drastic decline in their population. By the early 1900's, decades of unregulated harvest had driven the Trumpeter Swan to the brink of extinction. It is nice to see them in new locations and without the large yellow tags we have seen in other populations. By comparing the ratio of tagged birds to untagged birds, scientists can estimate how successfully the birds are reproducing in the wild.

https://www.ducks.org/conservation/waterfowl-research-science/understanding-waterfowl-return-of-the-trumpeters

Trumpeter Swans are much larger than Tundra Swans. (They are the largest and heaviest flying waterfowl native to North America.) But when the 2 species are not side by side, there are a few features to check for proper identification. If you can get close enough you may be able to see a red "lipstick" marking where the upper and lower bills meet (above). On average, an adult Trumpeter Swan ranges from 7-14 kgs. while a Tundra Swan weighs only 3.4 to 9.6 kgs.

https://www.trumpeterswansociety.org/swaninformation/identification/overview.html

The point where the bill is attached to the face looks like a 'V' in Trumpeter Swans, while in Tundra Swans, it appears 'U' shaped. The pointed 'V' is clearly visible in the above photo.

https://birdsphere.com/tundra-vs-trumpeter-swans/

Mergansers are our only ducks that specialize in eating fish. The Hooded Merganser is the smallest of the 3 native merganser species. They often seem to be the least numerous as they tend to live around swamps and wooded ponds where they can be easily overlooked. 14 Hooded Mergansers were present.

https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/hooded-merganser

Most Turkey Vultures in Southern Ontario migrate, but some regularly spend the winter near the Desjardins canal, which almost always has open water through the winter. We saw 4 Vultures soaring once their wings dried off.

There was no shortage of Canada Geese. We estimated 400 Geese in the water. 46 Mallards were also present.

A Great Blue Heron flew into the crowd of Canada Geese. It marched along the edge of the channel until it found a place to rest. In total, we found 14 bird species during our 35 minute visit.

Back at Canatara Park!

January 3rd was the 6th annual Children’s Christmas Bird Count in Canatara Park. Lambton Wildlife Members volunteer as group leaders for the 6-12 year olds and their parents. I was delighted to come upon an unexpected bird feeder in a wooded area where there was a lot of bird activity. Even the parents were amazed, and had no idea that so many colourful birds lived in our area through the winter!

A Male Red-bellied Woodpecker was the "star" of the show.

Bird feeder "weigh scale"! A popular place to have a snack also shows a "lean" towards the weight difference between a Black-capped Chickadee (9-14g) and a Mourning Dove (96-170g).

We also took note of signs of insects as they are an important source of food for birds. The Cocoon above is that of a Cecropia Moth, North America's largest moth. If not predated by wasps, the adult should emerge mid-June.

On a recent visit to Pinery Provincial Park, a Southern Flying Squirrel was spotted climbing around one of the buildings. This nocturnal species is not often seen in the daytime. In the lower photo, the flaps of skin are visible which allow Flying Squirrels to "Glide with Style" when launching from a tree. It was roughly the same size as a Chipmunk.

 New Year’s Day Birding!

A New Year; A New Birding list! We started in Canatara Park for our New Year's Birding tour. The sun gave the impression of "warmish" weather, but the wind chill brought the temperature down to -20 degrees, close to the Lake Huron shoreline.

An American Robin was our first find of the day. 3 were found in total and this individual was found when the sun was a little higher in the sky!

An unexpected find was an Eastern Screech Owl in a cavity where we had not spotted one before. He was very content to sit there, soaking up the sun with fluffed up feathers aiding in heat retention!

A few White-breasted Nuthatches were in the area.

Brown Creeper... just creeping along the bark in search of bugs hiding in the crevices of bark. They hop up a tree trunk in a spiral motion, then fly to the base of a nearby tree to continue the upward spiral action. The well camouflaged bird is slightly easier to pick out in the lower photo.

A beautiful male Northern Cardinal, posing in the brush.

Downy Woodpecker, male. He made a lot of tapping noises as he search for food under the bark.

Our next stop was Lake Huron and the St. Clair River, north of the Bluewater Bridges. A male and 2 female Bufflehead were 3 of many ducks in the St. Clair River. Most were far from shore. Once lower Lake Huron becomes more clogged with ice, ducks may be found closer to shore.

Male Long-tail, in Lake Huron

Gull lift off! Shortly after seeing them take flight, a Golden Eagle soared past at the Sarnia Bay. The Eagle has been spotted locally over the past few days and we were very happy to find it in our "home" area! (Although the gulls and other birds didn't share in our enthusiasm.)

4 Mute Swans flying towards the river.

Shark at the Sarnia Yacht Club! A friend invited us to walk the roads in the private club to scan for birds. It gave us a different perspective for bird viewing since we could see the dock areas more clearly.

We also traveled inland a bit for a rural tour where we found about 150 Snow Buntings!

At the lagoons, buried amongst MANY Canada Geese, was a pair of Greater White-fronted Geese. The species migrates west of the Great Lakes and west of Hudson Bay, but a few are found each year in Southern Ontario. A faint white line along the side of both birds caught Deryl's attention. Otherwise they likely would have been overlooked.

Greater White-fronted Goose is at the very centre of the photo. It has an orange bill and is smaller than the surrounding Canada Geese.

Ring-necked Pheasants can sometimes be found along the road near a former Pheasant farm. They were introduced from Asia in the 1880's and quickly became one of North America's most popular upland game birds.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ring-necked_Pheasant/overview

In total, 43 species were found to start off 2026!