Better than an alarm clock

We awoke to the calls of a great-horned owl around 6 a.m. We were unable to see it, but it was out there calling it's little heart out.

Flicker!

We had a great birding day on Saturday- sunny and clear out and we spent most of the day outside. Even enjoying a visit with some friends out on the deck, we had a cooper's hawk fly directly overhead, peeping away. Turkey vultures were flying off in the distance as well.
Dave, Lola and I were out front gardening (okay, Dave was digging and Lola and I were moral support) and the cowbirds, blackbirds and chickadees weren't bothered at all by our presence and continued to feed away. They were all singing their little hearts out. I'm always cheered by the song of a red-winged blackbird. Here's a pic of one snacking with St. Francis.


A female and two male cowbirds feeding on seed.



On Sunday, Dave was looking outside and trying to identify a sparrow, when he spotted a Northern Flicker. This is our first sighting of the year and we got some nice pictures of it. The day prior, Dave mentioned he thought he might have heard a flicker, so it must have been in the area and we happened to see it on Sunday. Last year, we only saw the flicker maybe three or four times, so while he's around, he's a rare treat to sight. The flicker is a woodpecker, but I didn't count him in my earlier mention of the three we see regularly here. They migrate as well, so we don't see them in the winter the way we see the other woodpeckers year round. Unfortunately the flicker population is on a decline in general. I'm not too sure why other than the usual culprits of people and development, but hopefully we can see a turn around for them. They really are beautiful and quite unique looking. I love their colouring, movements and curved beak. We usually see the flicker on the ground, but this time we saw him in and around the tree. Another interesting note is that one name for a group of flickers is a "menorah". I love all the different names that exist for a flock of birds!



The mass of blackbirds (grackles, cowbirds and red-winged blackbirds) are back in full force as well- probably 50 or more are out on the lawn today. Here's a grackle checking out buddha.

And as I write this, Dave just called down to say there's a Cooper's Hawk in the front yard again right now.

hmmmm

So I have to confess that Dave and I are lie tellers. Yes, lie tellers. We took the snow goose pics to the experts (and not so experts, but opinionated none the less) at whatbird.com for verification. There was some discussion and it turns out that would-be snow goose is a giant faker and is actually more likely a domestic hybrid goose. What does this mean? Who could ever know? Actually...I guess it means that this particular goose has hooked up with a flock and is now living free and it or it's parent was once someone's bird.


Here's the link to the discussion:
http://www.whatbird.com/forums/forums/thread/82555.aspx

There's always interesting discussions going on there and some great pictures from all over N. Am. If you check it out, look for the thread called "Lunch"- that one is my current favourite.



So what's new around here?


Last Saturday we had a field sparrow show up for the first time this year. We also saw a song sparrow for the second time this season and we counted up to three at a time (which is the same high number we saw at any given time last year). These guys are pretty cute and have a lovely little face.



And on Wednesday morning, we were outside with the dogs and a great blue heron flew directly overhead (over Dave's head, while I watched and took a little too long to point it out to Dave, who only caught it as it flew away). This is the first sighting of it this year. We last saw it late December- which seemed really late for it still to be around. We see it fly from the pond behind our place over towards the 16 mile creek and it seems to follow generally the same flight path. I saw it again Thursday morning again around 9:30 a.m. Such a great majestic bird to watch in flight.

Dave is going to get the nesting boxes up this weekend. He put up a new pole to add another box. Hopefully we have equal success to last year, if not even more. The meal worms are coming along so we'll have another food source on hand too. We also have a bag of nest building materials ready too, so we just need the birds to show up!

Updated Lists of Birds we want to see

Here are our updated lists. After the bird count, Dave thought we should expand our list to about 100 each (I think that's where it's at). I made most of my additions Ontario-based birds so that I would have a competitive edge over Dave.


Jenn's list
Scarlet Tanager
Gunnison Sage Grouse
Greater Sage Grouse
Puffin
Blue-footed Booby
Other hummingbirds (any other than the ruby-throated we get here)
Green Heron
Black-Crowned Night Heron
White-faced Ibis
Cuckoo
Roadrunner
Roseate Spoonbill
Hook-billed kite
Harris Hawk
Gyrfalcon
Crested Caracara
Green Kingfisher
Barn Owl
Long-Eared Owl
Great-grey Owl
Snowy Owl
Barred Owl
Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Lewis WP
Red-headed WP
Sapsuckers
Red-Shouldered Hawk
California Condor
Vermillion Flycatcher
Fork and Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
Stellars Jay
Green Jay
Violet-Green Swallow
Mountain Bluebird
Curve-billed Thrasher
Bohemian Waxwing
Northern Parula
Any other grosbeaks - Pine Grosbeaks seen in Algonquin in March 2009
Any other buntings
Any other jays- I saw the gray jay at Algonquin on March 7th and even got to hand feed it!

Additions to Jenn's list
Screech Owl
Short-eared Owl
Burrowing Owl
Black and White Warbler
Pacific Loon
Red-neck Grebe
Least Bittern
Tri-colored Heron
Green Heron
Cattle Egret
Glossy Ibis
Black Vulture
King Eider
Hooded Merganser- Seen Sunday, March 15/09 at Bronte Marsh
Ruddy Duck
Osprey
Red Crossbill
Mississippi Kite
Northern Goshawk
Golden Eagle
Yellow-headed Blackbird
King Rail
Sora
Lark Bunting
Smith's Longspur
Common Moorhen
Sandhill Crane
Dickcissel
Am-Golden Plover
Bay-Breasted Warbler
Am Redstart
Am Avocet
Hudsonian Godwit
Common Yellowthroat
Am Woodcock
Red Phalarope
Black Guillemot
Black-billed Cuckoo
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Summer Tanager
Saw-whet Owl
Boreal Owl
Eastern Towhee
Common Nighthawk
Black-backed Woodpecker
Great-Crested Flycatcher
Western Kingbird
White-eyed Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
Black-billed magpie
Tufted Titmouse
Blue-gray gnatcatcher
Northern Wheatear
Townsends' Solitaire
Veery
Wood Thrush
Varied Thrush


Dave's list (updated to ~100 species)
Snow Goose
Tundra Swan - Seen in January 2009 near the Burlington lift bridge.
Trumpeter Swan
Wood Duck
Northern Shoveler
Harlequin Duck
Plain Chachalaca
Greater Sage-Grouse
Brown Pelican
American White Pelican
Great Egret
Little Blue Heron
American Bittern
White Ibis
Roseate Spoonbill
Wood Stork
Black Vulture
California Condor
Osprey
Sharp-Shinned Hawk - Seen during 2009 Bird Count weekend in our front yard!
Golden Eagle
Common Black-Hawk
American Kestrel - Seen a couple of different times in the area. Sooooo beautiful.
Gyrfalcon
Crested Caracara
Virginia Rail
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
American Woodcock
Ross's Gull
Black Skimmer
Atlantic Puffin
Horned Puffin
Greater Roadrunner
Barn Owl
Eastern Screech-Owl
Barred Owl
Great Gray Owl
Snowy Owl
Whip-poor-will
Other hummingbirds
Green Kingfisher
Red-headed Woodpecker
Lewis's Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Vermilion Flycatcher
Great Crested Flycatcher
Great Kiskadee
Northern Shrike
Stellar's Jay
Green Jay
Gray Jay - Hand-fed in Algonquin in March 2009!
Black-billed Magpie
Cave Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Bank Swallow
Violet-green Swallow
Purple Martin
Boreal Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Verdin
Pygmy Nuthatch
Canyon Wren
Cactus Wren
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Western Bluebird
Mountain Bluebird
Townsend's Solitaire
Varied Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Wrentit
Bohemian Waxwing
Phainopepla
Northern Parula
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Prothonotary Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Ovenbird
Painted Redstart
Scarlet Tanager
Western Tanager
Summer Tanager
Hepatic Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Spotted Towhee
Snow Bunting
Pyrrhuloxia
Black-headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Blue Grosbeak
Varied Bunting
Painted Bunting
Dickcissel
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Eastern Meadowlark
Hooded Oriole
Audubon's Oriole
Altamira Oriole
Pine Grosbeak - seen in Algonquin March 2009
Red Crossbill
Hoary Redpoll
Evening Grosbeak

Weekend Update

So this Saturday, we were over at my parents house and the white-winged crossbills made another appearance (about 7:30ish or so). We were able to get some great pictures this time where you can distinctly make out the their crossed beaks. They are usually at the very tops of the trees eating the cones, but we did see a few of them on the ground pecking at fallen cones too. I told my parents they should post about these birds and set up a coffee stand for birders. I'm sure my dad is plotting away as I write this....


Saturday afternoon we took my mom and the dogs for a hike around the Royal Botannical Gardens in Hamilton. We saw alot of geese, including a snow goose which was a first for us and one from Dave's life list (he's totally beating me at that right now). The snow goose is a bit larger than the Canada Goose and was definitely more agressive and was chasing the others away. Despite the "do not feed the birds" signs, it seems pretty obvious most of the geese are accustomed to people and were hanging out near the parking lot.



Anyway...after Arthur marked every single tree, shrub and large grass pile (I swear, he set a new record), we moved onto another area and came across an aviary that is maintained by volunteers. This was a nice little spot with some birds in outdoor pens for public viewing (no dogs allowed though, so we took turns going in). There were some very beautiful birds there, including peacocks and peahens (I have such a soft spot for the peacock thanks to the good old days while working at Bronte Creek Prov. Park with Percival the Peacock...some great stories).



There was also a golden pheasant and another type, but I'm not sure what it is since there was no listing. There were other birds in an indoor building, but that was closed. Definitely something to check out though and I'm sure it's lovely in the spring/summer when all the community garden lots are full of growth. It would be a great picnic spot to spend an afternoon.



After that, we went to a park near in Oakville on the Lakeshore. There we saw a heron and all kinds of ducks. I'm going to need a refresher from Dave on the types of ducks we saw as he seems to have hidden the list from me.

It was a great day out and about. The sun was shining and spring is definitely in the air! This means in a few short weeks we'll have all kinds of migrating birds coming our way. Very exciting!!

Great Backyard Bird Count Reprise

We were looking back at our results from the Great Backyard Bird Count from a few weeks ago. You can have a look too if you want - go to http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/, and click on "Explore the Results".

Here are the combined results from everyone who submitted information in Oakville:

The "Number of Checklists" refers to the number of people who submitted information for that species. We ended up submitting four checklists, one for each day of the count.

Over the four days of the bird count, we ended up with 23 species. In all of Oakville, there were 27 species counted, so there were only four observed in Oakville that we didn't see at our house (Mallard, Red-tailed Hawk, Rock Pigeon, and Common Grackle). There were five species for which we were the only people in Oakville to report sightings for (Red-bellied Woodpecker, Red-breasted Nuthatch, European Starling, American Tree Sparrow, and Brown-headed Cowbird). It's a little surprising that we were the only ones to report the startlings, given how common they are in urban areas such as Oakville - maybe people were just trying to ignore them....

Also, of the 116 Common Redpoll that were reported, 104 were from our house. And of the 52 Pine Siskin reported, 39 were ours. We were happy to have all three woodpecker species that were seen in Oakville, although we're always hoping that a new woodpecker or two will show up sometime (maybe Red-headed, or Pileated?).

Regardless of the results, we really enjoyed the bird count this year, as we did last year also, and we were happy (and a bit surprised) to be an important contributor to the bird count for the Oakville area. Our highlights this year definitely included: seeing a Sharp-shinned Hawk for the first time, seeing robins in the middle of winter on three of the four days, getting some nice pictures (for once) of a Cooper's Hawk, and seeing both red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatches coming frequently to the feeders.

-posted by Dave-

To finish up from last weekend

Where does the time go? Anyway, I wanted to post about our sightings on our way home on Sunday as we saw some interesting birds.

We were really scouting the fields for a snowy owl, but with all the melting snow we were tricked often enough by white plastic bags and white plastic bottles. Litterbugs!

As we left Haliburton, we saw 10-12 wild turkeys in a field next to the A&P. They were foraging around out there.


Along the highway, I had Dave pull over so we could look at a hawk. It was a red-tailed, so we started to move along. Then I looked over at the field and thought I saw a snowy owl. We stopped the car (again) and took a closer look. We were pretty far away and then I saw a second bird next to the first, but one was white/grey and the other brownish. Then I wondered if they were just two cats sitting there, but then the whitish bird took off. We got out the binoculars (all this stuff happens so fast, it's hard to get the cameras out quickly when you don't want to miss the sighting itself). The bird flew almost directly over our car and then the second brownish bird took off too. We are pretty sure they were a male and female Northern Harrier. What was especially cool about that is that these birds are usually solitary, but since it's getting to mating season, we were able to see one of each. We have seen one before (in our trip out East), but it was still pretty exciting to see them together (no pics though- too far, too fast). I took this pic from mayo.personcounty.net/.../Northern%20Harrier.jpg



We also managed to see one Pileated Woodpecker before it took off into a woodlot. It was moving pretty quickly. It's barely in the frame of the picture I took. Can you see it?



I think we saw about a million crows on the drive home- or else the same pair was following us everywhere.

And our hawk count for the drive home was approximately nine.

Good times!

We're going for a hike around the Royal Botannical Gardens tomorrow. Dave wants to get some winter ducks added to our lists.

A red letter day!!

Okay, I'm not really sure where that term comes from, but today was a great day for birding! We're staying at Willow Beach cottages in Haliburton and decided to take a drive up to Algonquin park. Before we left though, I should say that we did see four female white-winged crossbills foraging away in the evergreen trees near the cottages. Dave saw some males with the group when he was out with the dogs and then came back to the cottage to get me (I'm not a morning person...) and when we went out together, we saw just the females. So it's either drive 4 hrs north or go to my parents house to see these birds I guess! (still no pics of this though...)


So, back to our Algonquin trip. It was a warm(ish) day, with overcast skies for the most part. We were very excited to see some birds that are on our life lists!! (which, btw, we have revised to 100 species each. I just haven't had time to post the additions. We maintained our original lists that are posted on earlier on this blog and just added to those lists). ANYWAY!


Upon arrival at the West gate to the park, we were at the Park Store and spotted multiple Pine Grobeaks! We saw both males and females and multiples of each (6 male, 7 female). This was a first for both of us and I believe we both had "other grosbeaks" on our lists (we have only seen the Rose-breasted GB before this). Other birds at this location included the white breasted nuthatch, redpolls, crows and LOTS of bluejays.





So we paid our entry fee and decided to drive to the other end of the park and make a few stops along the way. Dave pulled the car into one camping area and we drove around a bit. We just happened to see a Ruffed Grouse in a completely bare tree. It was working away at some of the branches. It is such a beautiful bird- lots of browns and golds, with a crown on his head. So lovely! It stayed there for quite awhile and let us take all kinds of pictures. Then it flew away into the cover of some evergreen trees and we saw it again on a branch of a tree.



We also saw a pine marten in one of the trees there too, but it moved on (this is not a bird, but a small furry creature- I have to look up some more info on them b/c I really don't know much about them other than they are SUPER CUTE, but more likely to eat your face off I suspect).



Moving on, we made our way to the visitor's centre. We took Arthur and Lola for a bit of a walk before heading in b/c dogs are not allowed inside. We went up a hill and another ruffed grouse crossed our path just ahead of us! We were able to get a few pics of it and then it was lost in the forest. Arthur caught wind of it and was on the hunt for a bit, but he was foiled again by that pesky leash.



Into the Visitor's Centre, we walked to the back deck viewing area. Something very interesting!! I guess someone had hit and killed an adult female moose with their car a little while ago. The staff moved it off the road and covered it. A few days later, the MNR used a helicopter to bring the body out to the open area that is viewable from the Visitor Centre so that people can see what comes to eat it. There has been multiple wolf sightings there. Unfortunately, all we saw today was the wolf tracks. Apparently the wolf had been out eating at it earlier in the day though. There were lots of ravens working away at it too. I think it's neat that they do that so that even in the tragedy of a moose losing it's life, we can learn from it and see other wildlife benefit from it too.



There were multiple feeders set up at the VC too. There were sunflower seeds, niger seeds and two GIANT suet feeders filled with sides of meat/fat (ewwwww!). There we saw well over 30 blue jays (I did say these are tenacious little guys and they are thriving in Algonquin). We saw another Pine Marten gnawing at the beef and a few red squirrels who had alot to say for themselves. Also spotted: one male hairy woodpecker (the only one we saw, surpringly), more pine grosbeaks, pine siskins and common redpolls. It was so peaceful and beautiful, we could have spent hours there watching, but those two dogs of ours were patiently waiting for us to get back to them.


So it was time to take those guys for a good long walk, so we got back in the car and headed up to Opeongo Rd in the park. This road has been the hot spot for bird sightings lately. As soon as we got out of the car, we were accosted by multiple chickadees and a red-breasted nuthatch. Apparently these guys are accustomed to being hand fed, so they come right up to people! We took turns feeding them. Before Dave even had a chance to get any food for them, a rb nuthatch flew right into his hand! Pretty exciting for us since these guys are so shy at our feeders. I happened to get a picture of it too. After that, we had multiple chickadees coming in to feed from our hands. They get a pretty good grip on our hands and then take a bite and fly off. Their feet are pretty rough and I was a little nervous (don't worry, Dave said I can't get the bird flu from them).


We walked down the road for awhile and saw again more blue jays and ravens. We stopped to talk to a couple of other birders (whose paths we kept crossing all day). They were on the hunt for the black-backed woodpecker, which we had been trying to see too, but no luck. I really would like to expand my list of wps, but it wasn't in the cards today (alas). As we were talking to the couple, we saw some other birds come up from behind them and move closer to us. It was a small group of gray jays! These are also on our life lists and this was the first time we've seen them as well. Very exciting! They were also brave guys and came for hand feeding. I thought it might hurt when they gripped onto our hands since they are fairly big (compared to the chickadee), but it didn't hurt at all. Each one would gobble down quite a bit of food, so we ran out quickly. These are also such beautiful birds. We got some great pictures of these guys too. Unfortunately Dave's laptop doesn't have one of those things that you stick the card into to upload the pics, so those will have to be added at a later date. (pics added on Monday, March 9).




After that, we decided to walk an official trail that Kevin at the gate said was good for birding. Of course that meant that we didn't see a damn thing. So it goes though! And anyway, it was a great, fun day. Arthur and Lola were so good and don't care at all about the birds and the birds didn't seem bothered by the dogs either. A great, great day!!!!

Updates

We've been so busy the last while, I haven't had time to post and go through pictures at all. Not that there has been any shortage of birds outside! With the recent dip in temperatures, the feeders have been extra busy. This weekend we noticed the nuthatches were quite active at the feeders (esp. the suet) and discovered there was not just the usual one white breasted and one red breasted nuthatch, but in fact two of each! So hopefully these are pairs and maybe they will even settle in nearby. It's definitely getting to be that time of year where pairings begin (for those first year birds especially as some species stay together year after year). We have also seen the bluejays scooping up peanuts and feeding it to their partner in the trees in the front yard. So romantic! :)

Yesterday we drove out to Newcastle and counted over 18 hawks (mostly red-tailed) along the highway. More than once, we saw two hawks sitting quite close together, so a sure sign that spring is in the air.

On Sunday morning, we were at my parents house (on the look out for the crossbills again who seem to take the weekends off and didn't show) and my mom and I looked up and we saw about 50 crows flying overhead. I've never seen so many together, so that was pretty cool. Dave was out walking the dogs, but he saw them too.

Dave has also been seeing kestrels all over the place on his drive to and from work. He saw a bluebird last week too, so we'll have to get the nesting boxes ready soon. Hopefully they return to the boxes we set up for them last year.

I thought I would post a pic of a bluejay today. We get these guys all year. In late May last year, there would be close to 20 or more of them in the mornings out front. We probably get aroudn 5-8 on any given day. It's hard to be 100% sure of the numbers because they fly in and out so quickly with the peaunts. I like these guys alot- they are loud and make their presence known. I find them to be pretty funny too. In the fall, I was working on a new flower bed out front and I guess I was too close to the peanuts for the blue jay to feel comfortable enough to come in to get some. The jay stayed up in the tree and began to mimic the cry of a hawk at me, I guess to scare me off. I motioned for Dave to come over and we stood there and this guy gave us the business with the hawk cries. We just thought it was so funny! Anyway, we decided to play along and went to work out back instead. Ah, the value of tenacity.