More Birds

Earl Plato
A wet Fall morning. Did I say Fall? Yes, this is the first day of autumn and it’ s raining. Despite the weather Rob Eberly had a mission. He took me along. Rob had been asked to check out a sighting of a Pileated woodpecker at Erie Beach. We drove down a dead end lane. There was the tall, dead poplar tree. If you know pileateds they excavate in trees huge rectangular or oval openings in search of carpenter ants. All we saw was a small hole twenty feet up. It was not the work of this giant woodpecker. Could have been a red-headed woodpecker. We drove on toward Ridgeway.
On the Garrison Road just east of Cherry Hill golf course and on the south side is a corn field recently harvested. I used by binoculars and started counting Canada geese. 300? So. Meanwhile Rob Eberly had spotted two anomalies. They weren’t Canadas. The closest was a Snow goose that was content to be feeding along with the others. We determined that it wasn’t a fully developed adult from our bird books. Farther back in the corn field was a large white goose. Rob said, “It’s a hybrid.” Is this the same goose that’s been seen along the Niagara River? While we watched a neighbour came across the Garrison and shared some of his insights with us. Rob invited hin to the Bert Miller nature Club offerings on the third Monday of the month. Give Rob a call at 905-894-5850 if you want to hear good speakers at the Stevensville Observation Club.
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We drove on to Pleasant Beach Road. Rob wanted to show his handiwork at painting his brother’s out barns. Good work but as we pulled out he saw bluebirds. To the left of us as we headed south were five bluebirds in some small trees. These unused fields here are becoming a better place for our birds. On our right perched on a wire were two more bluebirds. We could see the reddish patch on the breast. This time I had a good look at their wet bodies. Still raining.
On to Matthew’s Road and the drainage ditch at Marcy Woods. Dry. Dry. Dry! No Wood ducks in sight. They were there in other years - a beautiful sight. What was there was unbeautiful garbage - paint cans - broken glass - shingles - nails. Post a sign - No dumping! This is a natural habitat! Man makes it an unnatural .
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Our final stop was at Albino Bay. I have never seen the Lake Erie this low. I lived in Bay Beach for close to twenty years. We walked the sandy shore over the years and in Septemeber sand bars, sometimes as many as five, showed up every year. Not this year. The entire bay has seen its water level greatly lowered. Take a drive and see. No sand bars just sand far out into the bay.
In the gently falling rain Rob spotted ducks. I picked up the Mallards wirh my ‘bins’ but Rob said, “The smaller ducks.” There a little closer to the shore were ten -twelve low floating ducks. “Ruddy ducks!” he exclaimed. “Blue bills” as they are known were floating there feeding on the rich water grasses. But were they. I had seen Ruddy ducks at Mud lake, Port Colborne , in the fall. Then theblue bills of the male were very evident. Not on this wet, dark day. Ruddy ducks? We thinks so. ***
Birding from your car on a rainy day? Sure. Why not. Just pullover off the road and remember to drive carefully and you may enjoy a good day despite the weather.
Continue to prayer for our good neighbours in the U.S.A. Remember we worship a good Creator.