The Egret Article

By Howard Williams

Over the Christmas holiday period we were talking with old friends who live in New Zealand.  They reminded us that Radio New Zealand still uses identified bird calls just before the news in the mornings – every morning.  Over the 16 years that we were living in New Zealand, these recordings were for us a useful introduction to the variety of birds in that country and the fact that this has been used now for 30 years is an indication of how popular it still is.  One result of this broadcasting is that in New Zealand there is a greater proportion of the population than in Canada that have more than a passing understanding of the birds in that country.  One drawback is that not all birds have attractive and instantly recognisable calls.  Seabirds that make up so much of the bird population there, such as the Royal Albatross, do not have ‘pretty’ calls.  The link is to the list of NZ birds that Radio NZ play, along with the Māori names https://www.rnz.co.nz/collections/birds.  If you go to this site, many of the birds are listed alphabetically by their First Nation (Māori) name  Would it not be appropriate for CBC to introduce this type of introduction to the news as a reconciliation project.  Try it by listening to my favourite, the Bellbird or korimako at: https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=1872915.

I write some of this script on the actual darkest morning of the year, around the date of January 3.  By that time, the evenings have been getting lighter for over two weeks (mid-December), one of the quirks of Earth having an spinning axis that not parallel to its orbital axis around the Sun.   Perhaps we need an astronomical talk as part of our member presentation meetings to explain it better.

I heard my first American Robin singing rather than squeaking on Jan 4, on a particularly mild morning.  I wonder if we were thinking along the same lines, that Spring must be on its way.  The trouble with not having much snow in Windsor during the winter is that most birds (not House Sparrows and European Starlings) find more natural food and do not frequent feeders as much.  I am in a specist frame of mind – how can I discourage House Sparrows and European Starlings yet feed those songbirds that are less aggressive?

The software platform, Merlin, concluded that a passing train beside Jackson Park was a white throated sparrow as I was trying to ID what I thought was the call of an owl but turned out to be the repetitive male mating call of the White-breasted Nuthatch on 17^th and 18^th January.  I am pleased to report that the nuthatches now regularly sing these repetitive notes around Mercer Street.  At the end of the cold spell at the beginning of February, the nuthatch call was even louder.  Even better, a Red-breasted Nuthatch has taken up residence close to my house and regularly comes to the suet feeder.

The third week of January has been frustrating because, just like last year, starlings have renewed their propensity to mimic Killdeer, which they do very effectively.  For much of the year, Killdeer fly around Jackson Park and take advantage of all the bugs that live in the grassed baseball and cricket fields.  I would like an explanation of why birds pick up and emulate the calls of other birds, or telephone rings.  Birds in New Zealand did this too, in fact I have met a Tui that could ‘talk’, listen to the following link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij78s460oQM to enjoy Woof-woof as he talks to his keeper.  Sadly, he died at 16 years.   In Australia, the Lyrebird also has a repertoire of songs and calls, see link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSB71jNq-yQ, including a chainsaw that it uses to serenade David Attenborough.

Also, that third week in January was the start of spring bulbs, I have been noticing them peeking through the ‘soil’ in the laneway behind my property.  The cold weather of late January – early February may kill them off but I am betting the small thickness of snow may be enough to protect them from the extremes.  The South Asian cricketers were out in force mid-February now that the pitch is all-weather – good to see the park being used.  With what little snow we had, now melted, the accumulated litter from poorly-behaved denizens of the park is becoming so obvious I took matters in hand and did a massive clean-up in mid-month.

On Feb 1 Wiarton Willie claimed that spring would be early this year, and the Cardinal in my yard began singing his spring song , perhaps because the White-breasted Nuthatch has been singing his for two weeks now.  We were treated to a Cooper’s Hawk perched high on a neighbour’s tree, looking carefully at both my feeders and wondering why there were no birds to be seen.

On February 11, a House Finch was saluting the rising sun, singing from a tree top in Jackson Park and on Feb 16 I heard my first Red-winged Blackbird in Jackson Park, by the end of the month there was half a dozen competing with each other.

I participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count during the period 17-20 February.  In some ways is was not that special as Feederwatch is something I do each weekend anyway and the usual cast of characters turned up at the feeder, including this Red-breasted Nuthatch that is now a very common visitor.

On 20 February, I heard my first Killdeer, not a starling and on the same day a gaggle of Red-winged Blackbirds were calling along the railway line bordering Jackson Park.

On my trips to the cheese shop just east of Amherstburg it has become apparent that a pair of American Kestrel have taken up sentry duty opposite the landfill on Howard Avenue.  They are quite approachable, I imagine there is plenty of vermin associated with the sanitary landfill.

This past year seems to be full of events caused by Men Behaving Badly, one of the joys of watching birds and plants is the ability of appreciate the balance of Nature, rather than cruel dominance.

By Jeremy Hatt

The Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club (ECFNC) stepped into the role of Caretaker for the Lower Detroit River Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) in 2015 and started conducting waterfowl counts in the area in 2016. Originally named Important Bird Areas, Birds Canada updated the title to Key Biodiversity Areas to better reflect their ecosystems as a whole. There are Key Biodiversity Areas found across North America including six within Essex County. The Lower Detroit River KBA extends from the Detroit River mouth in Amherstburg to the north end of Fighting Island in LaSalle.

The Lower Detroit River KBA is labeled a Key Biodiversity Area for the high numbers of waterfowl that stage here during the winter months. In particular, Canvasbacks can be found in the tens of thousands and the region supports at least >7% of the global population of the species in the winter, but possibly more. Highest concentrations of Canvasback occur in Essex County where the mouths of the Detroit River meet Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair during the coldest months when both lakes are partially to mostly frozen. In mild parts of the winter when waters are open, large numbers of Canvasback can also be seen on the Detroit River north of Boblo Island and Crystal Island, as well as further east in Lake St. Clair.

In 2018, ECFNC reached out to the Detroit Audubon Society to see if they had volunteers who would be willing to count waterfowl from the Michigan side of the Detroit River, particularly in areas where they are not visible from the Ontario side. Detroit Audubon Society was on board and since then have partnered with ECFNC in a bi-national waterfowl count (with the exception of 2021 due to Covid-19 lockdowns). The bi-national counts have been successful enough that efforts are now underway to extend the KBA to include the Michigan side of the Lower Detroit River as well as the Detroit River mouth at Lake St. Clair.

Waterfowl counts in 2022 were held on January 15^th, January 29^th, and February 12^th. That year proved why the count being bi-national is so important since most of the Canvasback tallied were spotted from the Michigan side in areas not visible from Amherstburg or LaSalle (primarily counted from lookouts on Gross Isle). 15,170 Canvasback were counted on January 15^th, 21,607 on January 29^th, and 14,149 on February 12^th. These were the highest count totals since ECFNC started the counts in 2016.

Waterfowl counts in 2023 were held on January 14^th (Michigan side only), January 28^th, and February 11^th. No Canvasbacks were counted on the January 14^th count but 3,125 were counted on January 28^th and 2,502 on February 11^th. Numbers of other species like Common Merganser were also relatively low compared to other years but a count of 2,500 Redhead near Cooper’s Marina on February 11^th was a good number for the species.  

Although the counts for 2023 did not yield high numbers of Canvasbacks, there were still significant counts within Essex County during the winter period. The most impressive was about 40,000 Canvasback on January 8, 2023, carefully estimated by Michael and Steve McAllister from Brighton Beach Park, a small parkette in Tecumseh that looks out onto Lake St. Clair. This massive raft of Canvasback stayed until at least February 5^th when 15,000 birds were still estimated to be present. The only higher counts for our region are a staggering 50,000 birds estimated on January 3^rd, 2014, by Karl Overman and James Fox from Lake Erie Metropark, and 49,631 birds on December 28, 2016; meticulously counted by Jerome Jourdan from a video of a massive raft that took flight near Pointe Mouillee State Game Area in Michigan.

The large congregations of wintering Canvasbacks on the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair are a spectacle birders should try to experience in Essex County. There is nothing like seeing a massive raft of this beautiful duck take flight, or watching large flocks in loose “V” formations by the thousands as they fly between Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie.

By Don Bissonnette

  In 2022, The Eastern Bluebirds in Essex County had a good year. I collected statistics from 24 trails, which had a total of 167 birdhouses. We counted a total of 24 successful pairs of Bluebirds, which produced a total of 119 fledglings. 

   This is a significant increase, compared to the previous years numbers. In 2021, we only counted 16 successful pairs of Bluebirds, which produced only 69 fledgling Bluebirds.

INSPECTION  TIME . . . Any time in February or early March is a good time to inspect, repair, repaint or re-locate your birdhouses. If any of the Pine Straw beds are dirty or wet, replace them with new ones.  Also, please remember to inspect your predator guards. It is best to have your birdhouses ready, sooner than later.  In the past few years, some of our earliest Tree Swallows arrived in our County between March 10^th and the 17th.  Also, some pairs of Bluebirds start building their nests in mid-March.

VAN  ERT  LIVE  TRAPS . . . Once again, I am selling Van Ert live traps at cost. [$18.50 + $2.41(H.S.T.) = Total $20.91] Cash only.  Please contact me, if you need to buy one. {Don Bissonnette … (519) 738-3279.}

The Ontario  Eastern  Bluebird  Society​ has scheduled their Annual  General  Meeting​ on Saturday, March 18th. This is their first face-to-face A.G.M. since 2019.  This meeting will be held at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario. Registration starts at 8:30 am. The meeting starts at 9:00 am. For more details, visit the OEBS web-site.     Thanks to every-one who sent me their 2022 Bluebird and Tree Swallow nesting statistics.

Best Wishes for the 2023 Nesting Season!