Yellow Crowned Night Heron - Eating Crayfish

A Yellow crowned night heron was recently photographed by an Amhurstburg woman who posted it on a facebook group wondering what it was. Amazingly, a few local birders caught wind of the photo and identified it as a  Juvie YC Night Heron.

To see it eating crayfish was pretty amazing. It would catch the fish, bring it over to the grass, rip off its two claws, then swallow the body whole. In one hour, it must have caught 5 crayfish. Amazing. Its hard to think that all those crayfish could fit in its abdomen!

A local photographer (Dennis Dupuis) has a gallery here on facebook featuring this bird catching and eating a spiny softshell turtle. Click here to see his facebook gallery.

Here are some photos taken recently. 

Good Birding!

Dwayne

Aberrant Azure

Last weekend, I went out to Pelee in an effort to meet up a few friends that were birding the park. I was late getting there and ended up walking west beach footpath on my own. I found this aberrant Summer Azure along west beach, oddly enough, on the same plant that hosted the Olive Hairstreak a few days before!  I later showed the image to 'A-Worm' and he quickly shattered my hopes of this being perhaps a silvery blue or maybe a cherry gall azure. He simply described it as being an aberrant Summer Azure. This blog [link] seems to have found the same aberrant version of this summer azure. The blog mentions that its not uncommon to have smearing or stretching in the ventral wing maculations of coppers, blues and hairstreaks.

Tawny Emporer on the Pelee Tram. I often see at least one good butterfly on the roof of the tram...

Giant Swallowtail

Later, I kayaked the Pelee Marsh. I've done this now for the last three summers in August, and  get a great chance to see some shorebirds up close. No major rarities this time around, although I guess a nice look at Wilson's Snipe is always nice.

Black Tern - Juvenile

Pectoral Sandpipers

Wilson's Snipe

Late August is a great time to get out and see shorebirds, or to visit a natural area and see the late summer wildflower show!

Good Birding!
Dwayne

Cylindrical Rough Blazingstar at Ojibway

Birding Pointe Mouillee and Oak Openings Metropark

Black crowned Night Heron with Fermi cooling towers in the background

Pointe Mouille is about 30 minutes south of Windsor if you were to cross the Ambassador Bridge. There are some incredible shorebirds that show up to this 700-acre manmade wetland. Its interesting to read about how this area was made and how duck hunters, birders and government use this area. According to the US Army Corps of Engineers:  "The primary purpose of the Pointe Mouillee Confined Disposal Facility is to contain 18 million cubic yards of contaminated dredged material that will be removed from the existing navigation channels in the Detroit and Rouge Rivers" (USACE).

I brought my mountain bike because the distances required to navigate this area are in the units of miles. Bring water, portable snacks and sun protection if you go. Also, print out a map. I was not feeling too good when I arived at this park, so I did not stay long. In my short time there, I did see Green and Black Crowned Night Herons, GB Herons, Great Egrets, A flyby Least Bittern (seen near the middle causeway and the long-pond and vermeet areas)... Not as good a look at one as I had last summer at St Clair NWA. Hooded Mergansers and Pied billed Grebes were seen. A recent blog posting had incredible birds here including: Little Blue Herons, American Avocets and White faced Ibis. I did not make it to Cell 3 (the shorebird cell) because the middle causeway was blocked with a gaggle of geese!

 

 

I really like Pointe Mouillee but I must say I hate crossing the border. I find the border guards to be unneccesarily rude... "Wutz a matter,,, don't they have birds in Canada no more?" is one of the nicer comments I've had in my three birding visits. Give me a break. I'm sure Americans on their way to Point Pelee are not treated in the same manner.

Oak Openings is an awesome metropark in Toledo (Swanton Ohio actually). Check out this website for more details. Its about 1 hour from Windsor, or 30 or so minutes past Point-Moo-Yee. This park is similar to Ojibway Park in Windsor but it boasts breeding species including Blue Grosbeaks, Lark Sparrows, Prarie Warblers and Yellow breasted Chats. See the ebird.org chart for this hotspot for more details.

Upon arriving to the park, I birded a few fields which are highlighted on the websites' literature as hotspots but really did not see too much. I would imagine its just way too late in the season to bother seeing some of the rarities. I will try to return in June next year. Some things seen in my short time at Oak Openings were Red headed Woodpeckers, Indigo Buntings, Chipping and Song Sparrows, American Copper, and Pipevine Swallowtails.

Cylindrical Blazingstar

An interesting thing about this park is that the visitor center is unstaffed. It has some interpretive displays and nice pamphlets but nobody in the room. Great park nonetheless and the visitor center is still really nice.

A little closer to home, things have also been quiet. Holiday Beach produced my first Hackberry Emperor as well as Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Common Moorehen and the common herons and egrets were around as well.

 

Anyone know what flower this Giant Swallowtail is feeding on?

Good birding,
Dwaynejava


Sources:
USACE, "Pointe Moullee - Beneficial Use", April 24, 2005, obtained: July 26, 2011,
http://www.lre.usace.army.mil/newsandevents/publications/publications/pointemoullee-beneficialuse/