What a great day for heading down to Rondeau! Even though it’s still early days for the spring migration there was lots of activity going on as we gazed out over the waters of Lake Erie and walked in the surrounding woods and fields. We could identify flocks of Cormorants and American Coots from the sandy shores at Rondeau. And spotted a couple of new birds for us as well!
Ruby-crowned Kinglets at Rondeau on the Tulip & Spice Trails.
Brown Creeper
Northern Flicker
While we were unable to actually see them, the chorus of frogs and bullfrogs was amazing and pretty hilarious at times too, like piccolos punctuated by tubas! Another sure sign that spring has really arrived. In fact the afternoon temperature was more like summer! While finishing up the Tulip trail along the shore, I noticed a fairly large bird make a dash into some nearby trees. I thought it was a Flicker but was excited to see that it was a Brown Thrasher. The photos are not great but do show up the reddish-brown colour, the long tail and beak in addition to the two white wing bars.
Brown Thrasher
Just as we were about to head back to the car we heard a song we really couldn’t recognize. It was quite varied, went on and on, and I can’t even describe it except that it was very musical. We just stood there in amazement at the song of this bird. I think that it’s the same Thrasher that had flown to a different tree.
And off to Erieau!
Ducks and Birds 
