Rondeau Provincial Park photo journal

Bill & Barbara Bowman – May 10-14, 2008

May 10 was a beautiful day for traveling. We had gone as far as Belleville on Friday night, so had a relatively easy drive to the park. At a 401 rest stop, we saw Brown-headed Cowbirds, American Goldfinches, an Eastern Kingbird and a Broad-winged Hawk fly-past.

Just before entering the park, we saw a Killdeer on the road. It turned out to be a whole family; the mother with the newborns, and the dad doing the broken wing trick.

We got our campsite and slowly set up, distracted by Black-throated Green Warblers, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a Sharp-shinned Hawk. We were getting excited.

We decided to bike to the visitor centre to get our ticket for the evening presentation by the Friends of Rondeau with Steve LaForest. We did not realize that it was 7 km, and arrived just after closing time.

However, it was not a wasted trip, as the feeders were very active. There were lots of White-crowned and Chipping Sparrows, Baltimore and Orchard Orioles, Blue Jays, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, and even a Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

We biked back to our campsite, ate, and returned by car for the presentation. It was a rather ordinary overview of the birds of Rondeau followed by desserts and an evening walk with Steve, on which we heard and saw American Woodcock, and heard a distant Whippoorwill.

The next morning we were up early and drove to the visitor centre for Birder’s Breakfast. We were joined by cousin Gail McNeil and husband Ed from London for the day’s birding. We decided that it was a great way to celebrate Mother’s Day.

We opted for the Tulip Tree trail, which starts from the centre. It was dull and cool, and the birding was slow. Outside of the Yellow Warblers, we saw little, only a Magnolia and a Redstart. We saw the Prothonatory Warbler nest boxes, but not the sought-after bird (never did see one!) Gail heard a Blue-winged, but it did not show for us.

We saw a Cooper’s Hawk checking out the feeders. There were lots of birds at the feeders, but nothing new.

We moved on to the Spice Bush trail, and the birding continued to be slow. We went all around without seeing much, then spotted a group who were on the Worm-eating Warbler, which was on the ground. We got a few fleeting views, but no photos as it had started to rain.

We returned to the visitor centre and had our picnic inside. We met some birders we knew who were leading groups - Dave Milsom and Tom Hince.

After lunch, the rain came down heavily, so we decided to all go in Ed’s car to drive around Rondeau to scout some sites. He took us to the South Point trailhead, then to the Pony Barn. Barbara spotted two Scarlet Tanagers near the Pony Barn, as we birded from the car. At the Pony Barn, a group was on a Mourning Warbler. So we got out in the pouring rain and looked under umbrellas and rain suits. It was moving around in the shrubs, but really tough to get on. Only Bill was lucky enough to get good looks. We circled the pond without seeing too much.

From there we drove to the docks where we saw hundred of Forsters Terns and a few gulls. Gail, Bill & Barbara got out in the downpour, while Ed kept the car heater going.

It wasn’t letting up, so we decided to have a last look at the Tulip Tree trail (not much doing) and call it a day.

We kept checking the feeders, but it was only the same gang.

Ed & Gail returned to London (along with Barbara’s binoculars), and we returned to our campsite for dinner. A very bold raccoon would not leave us alone.

The rain let up a bit, so we drove over to the docks to photograph the terns, and then finished up with a tour on the Black Oak trail, where we saw Wood Thrushes.

We had a good sleep, then got up early to join Steve’s guided bird walk. We met at the visitor centre and saw an Eastern Towhee at the feeder during Birder’s Breakfast. It was raining again, but not so heavily. Steve led us on the Spice Bush Trail. This time we had better luck. We saw Northern Parula, Cape May, Black-throated Blue and good views of the Worm-eating Warbler.
After the tour, we went to the Pony Barn on our own. It was quiet – we only saw House Wrens and Yellow Warblers.

We had lunch and decided to take Steve’s afternoon tour (the tours only cost $5). We returned to the Pony Barn. This time we did better, getting good views of a Canada Warbler, Chestnut-sided and Magnolia Warblers, White-eyed Vireo and Blandings Turtle.

After the tour, we got our bikes and drove the Harrison trail to the visitor centre, then counterclockwise around the South Point Trail, and returned by the Harrison. We enjoyed the biking, but found it difficult to see much while zooming along. We stopped now and then to view some birds - Barbara got a Red-breasted Nuthatch and Common Yellowthroat at the point.

A quick stop at the feeders showed the usual customers. We went part way down the Tulip Tree trail, and got nice views of a Veery. When biking back past the Pony Barn at 6:30, we saw a group of birders by the pond. They were on the Nelson’s Sharp-tailed Sparrow, and we joined them and got some decent photos.

The next morning, we joined Steve again, this time at the South Point trail. While having Birder’s Breakfast, we saw an Indigo Bunting and Red-headed Woodpecker come to the feeders. It wasn’t raining, but was foggy instead. We got distant views of a Red-headed Woodpecker and a Northern Flicker. The spider webs showed up beautifully in the fog. We got good views of a perched Barn Swallow and an Eastern Kingbird.

At the end of the tour, we launched our canoe on Rondeau Bay and paddled down past the viewing tower. We saw nothing of note. We had a picnic and birded at bit of the Marsh Trail. We saw and heard many Catbirds and a Common Yellowthroat. We checked out the tower, and saw an enormous Snapping Turtle. The wind had picked up, so we decided to abandon our canoeing. We found out later that we should perhaps have pushed on to get into the middle of the marsh, where we might have seen more.

We returned to the visitor centre, and were excited to see a Red-headed Woodpecker near the feeders (it did not come in). We checked out the Tulip Tree trail again, and saw another Veery. With a lot of patience, we finally got fleeting views of a Northern Waterthrush. Barbara got some neat shots of a mother Robin feeding her babies, while Bill got close up and personal with an American Redstart.

We decided to go out for dinner in Blenheim. We stopped just outside the park gate to do a very easy geocache. We had a nice dinner at Venus de Milo’s, then drove to Eriau to try another geocache on an abandoned rail line at the back of the marsh. This one proved much more difficult, but we finally found it following up Barbara’s idea. There were several Mute Swans in the marsh, and Barabara spotted a Virginia Rail.

The next morning, we decided to skip the morning bird walk and have our own breakfast. We broke camp, and then had a last look around down Bowman Av and the beach. Then we drove to London to get our binoculars from Ed. After visiting and admiring their many feeders and pond, we drove home via Ferris Provincial Park on the Trent River, where we saw a Great Blue Heron and a scolding Great-crested Flycatcher.