Hairy Woodpecker
With February out of the way, and with warmer weather, hopefully not too far away, I have been thinking about the early migrants that will start filtering in over the next 4 weeks or so. I've noticed that the Common Redpoll appears to have already started their journey as I have seen very few at the feeders in the last week or two, although there doesn't seem to be any fewer Dark-Eyed Juncos, as yet. I didn't get a chance to venture out this weekend, other than an hour driving around the perimeter of the city, looking for opportunities, but other than a fleeting glimpse of a Pileated Woodpecker and a few roadside Horned Larks, there were no pictures taken. As I have done in the past, I set up a camera at the patio doors in the general direction of the feeders hoping for some good images. Visitors were limited to several House Sparrows, One or two American Tree Sparrows and Cardinals, A few Dark-Eyed Juncos, a lone Red-Breasted Nuthatch, and a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers that sat around and gave me several not-too-bad images, like the one above (a female).
I used the time I had trying to improve my "on-the-wing" shots, with a few of the House Sparrows feeding on Suet .. as below.
I used the time I had trying to improve my "on-the-wing" shots, with a few of the House Sparrows feeding on Suet .. as below.
March 17th 2013
American Robin
Well it's official, or at least in the avian world anyways, that spring is not too far away. Over the last few days I've seen several of our spring visitors, including Common Grackle, Red-Winged Blackbird, as well the American Robin (as per the picture). I popped out to the Arboretum at the University of Guelph on Sunday morning, and although there wasn't much to photograph I did see a small flock of approximately 10 or 12 feeding on frozen flower heads. I have also spotted Turkey Vultures on two separate/different occasions over the weekend.
The Starling is one of our bird "pests" that can, as they have done at my place on many occasions, overwhelm the feeders with their aggressive attack on anything that is food related. However you have to admit the bird has some beautiful colours
Today, March 20th, a flock of about 6 Common Grackles and about 10 Brown-Headed Cowbirds pounced on the feeders and stripped them all bare in about 20 seconds. As mentioned earlier the Grackles have been around for about a week, but the Cowbirds were the first of the year for me ... another sign of Spring, although with still about a foot of snow, and temperatures still below zero, it doesn't seem like it. This time last year we were over 20 degrees.
Today, March 20th, a flock of about 6 Common Grackles and about 10 Brown-Headed Cowbirds pounced on the feeders and stripped them all bare in about 20 seconds. As mentioned earlier the Grackles have been around for about a week, but the Cowbirds were the first of the year for me ... another sign of Spring, although with still about a foot of snow, and temperatures still below zero, it doesn't seem like it. This time last year we were over 20 degrees.
Brown-headed Cowbird
March 24th 2013
Common Grackle
Over the weekend I took some time to visit some of my favorite birding places (Hendrie Valley, Hamilton, LaSalle Marina, Burlington, Beverley Marsh, south east of Cambridge), but it's one those in-between times where the winter birds are filtering away and the most of the spring birds have yet to arrive, so things were pretty quiet. But with the slight change in the weather (getting warmer .. relatively - still only just above freezing), there was lots of birders out and about.
American Goldfinch
I also spent some time checking out the birds coming to the feeders around the house, and had the usual bunch ... Grackles, American Goldfinches, Downey and Hairy Woodpeckers, House Sparrows, American Tree Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Blue Jays, Chickadees and Cardinals. Surprisingly no Robins ... I see plenty of them around the neighbourhood, but I must be offering the wrong type of food, or they haven't found it yet. Below is a small gallery of this weekends "snapshots".
Cardinal males, especially, have started their territorial aggression - I had pairs of males zipping about all over the place chasing each other to and fro
Cardinal males, especially, have started their territorial aggression - I had pairs of males zipping about all over the place chasing each other to and fro
March 31st 2013
Dark-eyed Junco
This being Easter weekend, and a day off from work, I was able to get out for a few hours (Saturday). Knowing that I was unlikely to encounter too many surprises out there, I kept my trip short - heading out to Grass Lake, then back to Riverside park. At Grass Lake I did spot a couple of Sandhill Cranes (no image ... they were "miles" away). and a few Horned Larks, but no Eastern Meadowlark that was apparently spotted a few days prior. At Riverside it was very uneventful, with a few Cardinals, Blue Jays, Chickadees .. and that was about it. I did however get the Dark-eyed Junco (shown opposite). I drove past the Grand River Bridge on the north side of Blair and saw that the Osprey pair, that has nested there for a few years, are back and prepping their nest (I'll be keeping an eye on them). On the Sunday Margaret (my lovely wife, and not into birding whatsoever) and I took a drive back out to Grass Lake where the Sandhills were still around, and again quite some ways away. and then down around the Drumbo area, just to check things out and came across a field, just on the east side of Drumbo, with about 100 Tundra Swans, taking a break in their migration.
Tundra Swans
Spring warbler migration is still another month away, but I'm getting quite excited about the photo potential those first few weeks of May offer. I keep checking the sighting at Point Pelee and Long Point (traditional locations for first sightings), but so far nothing other than a few Golden Crowned Kinglets showing up (typical early birds ... no pun intended). A fantastic Spring Warbler guide was put together by Ron Pittaway for the OFO organization and can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/webapp/site/page/view/articles.springwarblers
