Rondeau Area

I have been busy at work carrying out breeding bird surveys, which has meant a lot of early mornings!  A typical day for me now consists of waking up at 4am, completing a breeding bird survey until around 9:30am and heading into the office until the early afternoon, after which, I head home for a nap!

Today I was down in the Rondeau area for work, and after I finished up I decided to drop in at Rondeau Provincial Park for some birding! Target species were Prothonotary Warbler and Acadian Flycatcher, both of which I missed on Pelee Island!

While driving down the main road into Rondeau, I heard an Acadian Flycatcher call! I immediately stopped the car and got out to see if I could spot it, and sure enough, it was just a few metres away!  Unfortunately the lighting was not very good, but I still managed to get a few shots and a brief video.

Acadian Flycatcher

I walked the Tulip Tree Trail where I knew I had a good chance of seeing Prothonotary, and after reaching the swampiest sections of the trail I could hear the distinctive and quite loud "Zweet zweet zweet" call.  I briefly saw one fly through the swamp, but despite considerable effort, I wasn't able to lock onto one with my binoculars!  Another guy I met on the trail had great photos of several birds from earlier this morning!

I also got great looks at a Red-headed Woodpecker and Blanding's Turtle!

Red-headed Woodpecker

Blanding's Turtle and painted turtle in the foreground

Overall, a successful morning!  My excitement was dampened slightly when I discovered a black-legged deer tick embedded in my hand on the drive home! Gross!  The small size of this little sucker surprised me. This one appears to be a male.  I recommend being particularly vigilant when you are along the shoreline of Lake Erie and around the GTA, as these areas are known to have populations of this species which can carry the spiral bacteria responsible for causing Lyme Disease.  Check out the photos below that show just how small these guys can get!  I'm lucky this one was on my hand and not buried somewhere less visible!  I pulled the tick off with tweezers, washed with soap and saved the tick in a vile in my freezer.

The tick is at the lower left of my hand near the wrist