Early Egret v2

Great Egret on the west side of the River Canard Bridge in LaSalle ON. According to the Essex County Ebird Stats, its at least a month early!

A recent Ontbirds report from a LaSalle area birder mentioned a Great Egret in Turkey Creek near the Front Rd Bridge. This birder also mentioned a Catbird, Kingfisher and Mockingbird in the area as well. So, having some extra time,  I tried this afternoon to go see this bird for myself. I missed the Egret from the reported spot, so I figured I would drive up to River Canard, even if no birds were around, its a really beautiful drive. Long story short,  the Great Egret was seen, along with two Great Blue Herons just off to the west from the bridge that crosses over River Canard.

Also seen was an Adult Bald Eagle on its nest on Fighting Island in the Detroit River. This is visible from the LaSalle Park at the foot of Laurier Dr and Front Rd.

Great Egret Range Map from Allaboutbirds.org.
It seems the summer range is woefully wrong...

The Cost of Birding
With gasoline selling at 1.22/L, I realized recently that even with a fuel efficient car, gas costs about $0.10 per KM! To drive from Windsor to Point Pelee and back would cost about $10! I don't know if I'm being cheap here, but 10$ for a drive to PPNP seems pretty steep. I guess I never tried to break down the cost until recently. Rondeau on the other hand would be about $15 in gas (round trip) plus $17 to enter the park. So, if I go to Rondeau Park in May, I am basically coughing up $32.... Seriously? That is major money!!! Is there any other county (Essex, Kent & Lambton Counties) in North America that has 3%** original forest cover due to agriculture, then charges people to walk around in whats left of the rare forest habitat?
 
Life List Wishlist
As I approach my 3rd year of birding, I think I will put less emphasis on my life list which I think is a natural progression for birders. But, I am presently sitting at about 290 species of birds, and I think it would be really fun to count the next ten as I approach 300 species. Even though its an arbitrary number, I think some celebration is in order.

There are so many birds that I still would love to see, its hard to make a list of ten or so. There are some Southwestern Species I would love to add to this list, but I will try to keep it a little more realistic with Eastern birds that I have a slight chance of seeing a little more locally.

American Bittern
Virginia Rail
Upland Sandpiper
Whimbrel
Black Scoter
Prairie Warbler
Worm Eating Warbler
Kirtland's Warbler
Barred Owl
Little Gull
American Pipit
Northern Saw-whet Owl
Gray Jay
Common Redpoll
White winged Crossbill

To see any of the above species, I think I'm going to really have to study the stats and range maps from Ebird.ca. Many of the others may require some travel over the summer. Others may need outright chasing. It will be interesting!


Good birding,
Dwaynejava


**3% is a statistic but I don't really have a source, it may have been at the PPNP VC, Ojibway Park or informal conversation with other nature lovers. Here is a map, compliments of ERCA that shows the tiny amount of woodland that remains in Essex county. Take out your magnifying glass!

http://www.erca.org/downloads/natural_areas_map.pdf