By: Jeremy Hatt

16 participants attended the Detroit River outing on January 10th, an annual event co-hosted by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) and the Essex County Field Naturalists’ Club. Kory Renaud and I led walk again this year. We had a great day with 50 species observed across 7 eBird hotspots in Windsor and Tecumseh. Temperatures stayed around 2C for the day with low winds, making it a comfortable outing. The sky remained cloudy throughout the day and ended with a mix of rain, sleet, and snow in the final hour! Our full trip report is available on eBird here: https://ebird.org/tripreport/462318.

ECFNC and OFO members birding at Little River Corridor Park – photos by Diane Naluzny

During this outing, we always hope for colder temperatures to freeze up Lake St. Clair and concentrate birds on the Detroit River but a week of mild temperatures melted all the ice on the river and lake leading up to the hike. Waterfowl numbers weren’t as high as usual but two major highlights from the day made up for it: Long-eared Owl and Northern Saw-Whet Owl, which were lifers for several attendees. 

We started the outing at Lakeview Park Marina. Highlights included a Trumpeter Swan near Peche Island, a decent-sized raft of Canvasback and Redhead, and a flyby Lesser Black-backed Gull. We then headed over to the Little River Pollution Control Plant and Park where we picked up a pair of American Wigeon and an American Kestrel. It’s always a fun time to walk along the Little River Pollution Control Plant to see what species are attempting to overwinter here, even if the walk is unfortunately odious.

After lunch we stopped at two spots along the upper Detroit River for closer views of several waterfowl species and a resident Peregrine Falcon perched next to the “A” of the Ambassador Bridge. The drive along the Riverfront is always a nice addition to the outing to see the beauty of the river and the Detroit skyline.

We finished the day with a walk through Ojibway Park where we had great looks at many Tufted Titmice, Brown Creeper, two Fox Sparrows, two Eastern Towhees, and good numbers of White-throated Sparrows, American Tree Sparrows, and Dark-eyed Juncos. Many of our members are aware of the familiar seed-piles that turn up each winter on the trails in Ojibway that attract many of the winter specialties in for close looks.

We look forward to leading this annual hike for ECFNC and OFO again next year! Thanks to everyone who attended and helped spot and count birds.