Dunn Birding

Blasts from the Past

2011-12-23T20:59:00.000-05:00

Lapland Longspur, just up the road from the house, January 2011.

Northern Map Turtle, Frontenac Provincial Park, June 2011.

Common Whitetail, Dundas Valley, June 2011.

Male Varied Thrush, Cold Creek Conservation Area, March 2010.

Nesting Great Egret, Toronto, June 2011.

Blanding's Turtle, Frontenac Provincial Park, June 2011.

Spring Birds

2011-04-20T14:02:00.000-05:00

It's been a few weeks since the early spring birds came back. Robins (like this one in our garden), Killdeer, Red-winged Blackbirds, Grackles and Vultures are now quite ubiquitous. The last couple of weeks have seen migration start to gather pace. Swallows, sparrows, the first Pine Warblers, terns and the like are all arriving with new species appearing every day.

Great Egret at Van Wagners Pond, Hamilton - 2 April.

Tree Swallow in residence at Tommy Thompson Park, Toronto - 12 April.

More Owls

2011-02-24T20:35:00.006-05:00

I took these shots a few weeks ago, but have not got round to uploading them. This Long-eared Owl was just too good to resist. I also discovered how heavy 500mm f4 lenses are. Thanks to the kind folks who allowed me to use theirs.

Also saw this little Northern Saw-whet Owl while working in Toronto a few weeks ago. Typically obscured, but you get the idea.

Long-eared Owl

2011-01-28T19:05:00.009-05:00

Whilst out working the other day, I managed to sneak a quick look at this wintering Long-eared Owl in urban Toronto. The previous day there had been at least 4 visible roosting together.

English Spring

2010-12-30T20:43:00.013-05:00

Well, 2010 is almost over and it seems I've not posted since December last year. So, in the nick of time, here are my contributions for the year - derived entirely from a spring visit to England in April. One of the highlights was Samphire Hoe in Kent. This site, created from the material dug out during construction of the Channel Tunnel, now supports a large colony of Early Spider Orchids (above).

Another Early Spider Orchid.

Minsmere RSPB Reserve in Suffolk, a gem. There's no better time to visit than Spring. The raucous din from hundreds of breeding Black-headed Gulls is a beautiful thing.

Courting Black-headed Gulls.

Black-tailed Godwit on the saline lagoon known as The Scrape at Minsmere.

Dunlins attaining their summer dress on The Scrape.

This is a Large Bee Fly (Bombylius major).Their visual mimicry allows them to closely approach the nests of bees and wasps, without being attacked, in order to lay their eggs. Once the larvae hatch they proceed to feed on the host insect's grubs.

As is often the case when visiting familiar and cherished places after a long absence, I found myself deeply affected by hearing the songs of even quite common birds. Not least among which were Willow Warbler (above) and Chiffchaff (below). These two species of Phylloscopus warbler are pretty similar in appearance; the Chiffchaff tends to be overall browner, while Willows are paler with more green and yellow hues. However, their songs are completely different and form the backdrop for almost any outing to the English countryside during their brief summer stays.

Local Snowy

2009-12-20T10:13:00.008-05:00

While temperatures this last week have been typically wintry here in southern Ontario, the lack of snowfall hereabouts is perhaps less typical. This does have its advantages though; scanning brown, deadened fields for Snowy Owls is much easier than squinting across barren, frozen wastes. Such was the case yesterday, when I drove a few minutes up the road to check out some local fields for raptors and other winter denizens. Almost as soon as I turned off the main road, a white blob caught my eye. Always wary of plastic bags and buckets, I honed in on it with my bins and waited for a movement that would confirm it as an animate object, it duly obliged.

I continued on my loop and bagged a pale Rough-legged Hawk, two sub-adult male Northern Harriers floating about together and a handful or two of Red-tailed Hawks. When I returned three quarters of a hour later, the Snowy was in the same place, but looked shifty. Shortly it flew up into a nearby tree and sat, buffeted by the breeze, until I left.

The obligatory festive shot of some, none-too-worried looking, Wild Turkeys.

Duck Time

2009-11-02T19:16:00.016-05:00

It's been a little while since I was down at Lake Ontario, so I guess I missed some of the autumn waterfowl build-up, but build-up they certainly have. As usual the bulk were Long-tailed Ducks. I didn't attempt to count them, they stretch to the horizon and beyond; many thousands. Amongst them I picked out 44 Surf Scoters, a few White-winged Scoters, 50 or so Common Goldeneye, 3 Red-throated Loons, 100 Red-breasted Mergansers plus a few small rafts of Greater Scaup. On Burlington Bay the Scaup were dominant. I didn't count them either and they were too distant for me to bother allocating them to species, but certainly 2000 or 3000, with smaller numbers of Bufflehead, Ruddy Duck and Redhead thrown in.

Adult Long-tailed Ducks actually have four different plumages each year (winter, spring, summer and autumn), a result of undergoing three moults. These photos of four different Long-tailed Ducks illustrate some of the seemingly myriad plumage variation seen at this time of year - when the birds are either in 'autumn' plumage, 'winter' plumage or transitioning between the two (these photos were taken on December 3rd 2008).

To be honest, the more I try to work out what age and sex they are, the more baffled I become. I would have thought the one above was a male judging by the long grey scapulars, but if females have bluish bills and males have pinky bills, then this must surely be a female. I know that in some duck species, older females can start to resemble males, so perhaps this is an example of that phenomenon and it's actually an adult female?

This one also has quite long pointed scapulars and a couple are also grey. It has the male type bill colouration and a few black breast feathers starting to emerge, so perhaps a 1st-winter male?

These two both seem to have female type bluish bills, although the bird above has some grey colouration on the scapulars and an overall darker brown appearance, so perhaps an adult. The bird below is the only one with no grey on the scapulars at all, a 1st-winter female? Tricky.

This one is just itchy.

Belted Kingfisher

2009-10-30T17:20:00.010-05:00

I was out today scouring the local farmland for corn (maize) stubbles and geese. Didn't have much luck with geese, just a few American Pipits and 3 Horned Larks. I was lucky to come across this female Belted Kingfisher though. Often kingfishers are flighty and difficult to approach. This bird was close enough to the road for me to get a few snaps. It even came and landed on the rail of the bridge at one point.

Shame about that tangled fishing line in the tree!

Pick 'n' Mix

2009-09-16T14:56:00.009-05:00

A mixed bag presented here; the slim pickings from the last few days. This was the most exciting thing I saw, if only because in obtaining a photograph I was finally able to put a name to a a darner other than a Green. It is a male Shadow Darner, seen today in Burlington.

A little montage of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird at the feeder mounted conveniently outside our kitchen window. Last year very few visited, but over the last couple of weeks there have been almost daily records, often late in the evening.

A young House Wren which drew my attention with its scolding from the roadside shrubbery and finally a few sub-par raptor silhouettes. Raptor migration is well underway, with the first big movements of Broad-winged Hawks being noted along the north shore of Lake Erie this week.

Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.

Same bird, different angle.

Merlin.

Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Lake Ontario & Kittiwakes

2009-09-08T15:29:00.017-05:00

Despite being almost 600km from the nearest open ocean, the west end of Lake Ontario does surprisingly well for several species of migratory 'sea' gulls and jaegers (skuas). Over the past three weeks there have been some impressive tallies. These have included at least 2 Pomarine Jaegers, 7 or more Long-tailed Jaegers and in excess of 45 Parasitic Jaegers! In addition, at least 10 Sabine's Gulls and 5 Black-legged Kittiwakes (in one flock) have been recorded. Throw in the odd Red-necked Phalarope or Surf Scoter and you have the kind of list most actual seawatchers would be proud of. Ok, so you're probably not gonna see any shearwaters or auks - or whales for that matter, but in terms of anticipatory excitement, it's hard to beat. Don't competely rule out those real seabirds either, there have been recent records of Manx Shearwater, Black-capped Petrel, Gannet, Wilson's Storm Petrel, Fulmar, Razorbill and Ancient Murrelet!

Most of the birds seen during lake-watches are well beyond my camera's reach - for some fine jaeger shots by a proper photographer, have a look here. However, this weekend's influx of five Black-legged Kittiwakes have been much more photogenic. The last few days they have been cruising along the shoreline, often within 15 metres of the beach. This one was at Confederation Park today.

Redstarts

2009-06-08T16:34:00.012-05:00

I was lucky to be out in the field last week, listening and looking for breeding birds on the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario. The area is fairly sparsely populated (at least away from the lakeshore) and has a rich and diverse avifauna, with many species near the southern limit of their breeding ranges in Canada. I encountered several species of warbler in suitable breeding habitat, including Canada, Magnolia, Mourning, Black-throated Green, Ovenbird, Nashville, Yellow-rumped and Black-throated Blue, but the most common by far is American Redstart. Whilst After Second (calendar) Year (ASY) males are easily discerned, Second Year (SY) males closely resemble adult females, although they usually have richer yellow colouring and often some black feathering coming through on the head. This bird (above) looks like a SY male.

This is clearly an ASY male.

Striking a pose.

Looking for the intruder (me)

Bobolinks can be quite numerous in suitable hay fields, with little groups of males rising out of the grass to enthusiastically pursue any female that crosses their airspace.

Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird enjoying apple blossoms.

Upland Sandpipers have been steadily declining over much of south-west Ontario and even on the Bruce Peninsula, where there would appear to be plenty of suitable habitat, they are considerably less numerous now than they were during the first Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas in 1981.

The North Country

2009-06-05T16:00:00.009-05:00

I spent three days last week driving up to the north country of Ontario, with my friend Eric, on an errand. I didn't need too much of an excuse to go, despite the 1800km round-trip because I'd never been up there before. Specifically we were headed to Kapuskasing, which is on the Hudson Bay Frontier. The forest is truly boreal: lots of White Spruce, Black Spruce, Tamarack, Balsam Fir, Jack Pine and Trembling Aspen. This is also lumber country, so I was curious to see how it looked. We camped at Greenwater Provincial Park just outside Cochrane and were lucky to see this Great Gray Owl in the gloaming.

This view is from the Esker Trail at Greenwater. Two things that were immediately noticeable were the absence of both bugs (black flies or mosquitos) and leaves. Despite the early spring-like climatical conditions, there were a number of typically late spring migrants already in residence on their breeding grounds, like this male Bay-breasted Warbler.

I was particulary impressed by the dawn chorus as I lay in the tent. First Ruffed Grouse, followed by Loons, Sandhill Cranes, Wilsons Snipe, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and finally Robins.

Dark morph Red-tailed Hawk by the roadside.

Broad-winged Hawks were the most numerous large raptor. There were also many Kestrels in the cultivated areas.

This pair of Common Loons covered several hundred metres to check us out as we shattered their tranquility.

Bull Moose just getting started on his rack.

I think it sounds a bit more impressive than it actually is, but the place marker is pretty smart nonetheless.

A Raven nest on an electricity pylon, with two almost fledge-worthy young occupants visible.

Point Pelee - 9th May

2009-05-19T09:07:00.012-05:00

Last weekend I was down at Point Pelee for a day with some friends. This is the first time I've been in spring since 1996. It was a good reminder why I don't go...LOTS of people. The other reason I'm not that keen is that although, inevitably, with so many sets of eyes looking, good stuff is turned up - it is also quite hard to actually re-find rare birds. I think our highlight was a male Prothonotary Warbler and (for me anyway) a flock of 16 Willet in the evening at Hillman Marsh. I also didn't take my camera around much as there were so many folk with monsterous 500mm f4 setups that one feels quite inadequate with a little 400mm f5.6. However, I do want a flash and 'better beamer' as getting warbler pictures, even with the leaves only partially open, is pretty much impossible without one.

Loads of orioles down there. Above is an 'After Second Year' male Orchard Oriole (Second Year males are yellow-olive coloured with a black face mask) and top is a male Baltimore Oriole.

Male Chestnut-sided Warbler.

Male Northern Parula.

Male Cape May Warbler singing.

Afternoon at the Arboretum

2009-05-05T19:21:00.010-05:00

Now we're into May, there's new stuff arriving every day. Yesterday I saw the first Chimney Swifts zooming around over Dundas and today at the Royal Botanical Gardens Arboretum I added a few more 'firsts for the spring' to my list: Baltimore Oriole, Warbling Vireo, Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Ruby-throated Hummingbird. This smart male Rose-breasted Grosbeak was most cooperative.

This female was keeping a lower profile.

Northern Flicker.

Rather dull looking female Ruby-throated Hummingbird - my first this spring.

Warbling Vireo. Several singing or calling on my walk today, another new one for the year.

Okay, I fibbed about yesterday's Yellow Warbler picture being the last one, they're so nice though...

And finally, just for fun, a naughty little male Brown-headed Cowbird in the midst of his explosive 'song'.

Last Yellow & Palm

2009-05-04T17:33:00.009-05:00

Not new images, they're from April 2006, but I felt like using them in lieu of anything more suitable. Both these birds were trapped during Migration Monitoring operations at Tommy Thompson Park Bird Research Station in Toronto.

April Warblers

2009-04-28T19:10:00.006-05:00

Over the past weekend, until today, southern Ontario has been experiencing some unseasonally warm temperatures coupled with southerly airflows. These conditions have produced some notable influxes of migrants, with many species appearing on earlier than average dates. Indeed, at Point Pelee there were 27 warbler species recorded yesterday! However, I have not been distracted by this bewilderment of diversity and instead have concentrated on recording (rather poorly I'm afraid) a typical array of more sombre 'April' warblers. Palm Warblers (above) are pretty nice though - and the second most abundant warbler at this time.

Pine Warbler. I usually only see them in ones or twos, but on Sunday morning I counted at least 10 at Confederation Park.

Notched my first Yellow Warbler of the spring on Sunday - and there were already 4 singing males in close proximity at that time...soon to be ubiquitous around wetland edges.

Yellow-rumped - the all-season warbler. These are recorded in pretty much every month of the year in southern Ontario. I saw a small flock back in mid March, but right now they are by far the most numerous component in the species mix.

Hooded Warbler

2009-04-26T11:49:00.009-05:00

Now we live down in the steamy Carolinian zone of southern Ontario, I was looking forward to some more regular encounters with Hooded Warblers, but I wasn't expecting one quite yet! We came across this little cracker at Confederation Park in Hamilton this morning. It gave a great performance, even giving some short bursts of song. The first significant arrival of warblers occurred only yesterday and the stormy weather overnight seems to have pinned many of them down until this morning. Other warblers were Yellow-rumped, Palms and Pines. Other stuff included a Brown Thrasher, an Eastern Towhee, lots of Chipping and many White-throated Sparrows. Bring it on.

Confederation Park

2009-04-23T09:00:00.011-05:00

Okay, so things are looking up. It was a dour day in Hamilton, no mistake; cool, bit of a breeze and showers - very grey. So, naturally I used my impeccable sense of poor timing and headed out in search of migrants. I decided to take a stroll along Hamilton's most natural-looking strip of lakeshore, Confederation Park....and not surprisingly it yielded few migrants, however, given my lack of recent success, it did provide me with six new birds for the spring: Eastern Phoebe, Swamp Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Common Tern, Northern Rough-winged Swallow and Hermit Thrush. The fact that most of these have been knocking around for the past two weeks only goes to highlight my reluctance to bird in places which actually have birds.

The beach trail at Confederation Park

A rare encounter with a perched Turkey Vulture.

First Chipper of the spring.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow taking a breather.

Song Sparrow, because I couldn't get a picture of the Swamp Sparrow.

Mr...

...and Mrs (Red-winged Blackbird)

Mr...

...and Mrs (American Robin)

The Increasing Difficulty of Bird Spotting

2009-04-19T17:12:00.007-05:00

I suppose it's not so much the difficulty of spotting - I've seen a few nice birds recently, and the spring migrants are starting to appear. Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows, a Ruby-crowned Kinglet today...but can I get any photos? Nope. So it's the same old dross, the easy stuff. Ring-billed Gulls strutting their stuff at La Salle Park.

This chap, in a small group of 8 Cedar Waxwings being buffeted by the wind.

No trouble with Turkey Vultures. Dundas is pretty much slap bang on the major flight path up from the US, via the Niagara Peninsula, which separates Lake Ontario from Lake Erie.

I feel spring is definitely happening once I've heard my first Savannah Sparrow. This was my fourth or fifth this week, despite the cool temperatures before the weekend.

Bald Eagle

2009-03-02T14:19:00.004-05:00

During the winter, when Hamilton Harbour was almost completely frozen, Bald Eagles were regularly seen sitting out on the ice. This bird was seen at La Salle Harbour at the weekend. I think it is a sub-adult II (of 2-3 years age). I'm judging this from the fact that it has only a single juvenile secondary remaining on each wing (the paler protruding feathers).

Kes

2009-02-05T11:46:00.025-05:00

Not great images...Kestrels are notoriously jumpy and take immense pleasure in watching your shutter finger closely, judging the precise moment to take off in order to frustrate your photographic ambition. Nice female this though.

Backroad Birds

2009-02-02T14:08:00.032-05:00

Cruising the backroads to the north and west of Dundas this morning, I came across a few typical winter birds, nothing especially unusual. This male Eastern Bluebird was in a small group of four birds.

A female - also in the party.

This was the first of two Northern Mockingbirds I encountered. I also saw a Northern Shrike, which was my first this winter.

Black Velvet

2009-01-27T12:47:00.017-05:00

Correctly, it is the nominate European race of Melanitta fuscus which is the Velvet Scoter, whilst North American birds are White-winged Scoters, indeed the British Ornithologist's Union even considers them separate species. Nevertheless, I do rather prefer the more romantic version, the gorgeous males are indeed smooth, velvety sea-ducks. This male of the North American deglandi race has a fantastically orangey-red bill contrasting starkly with the overall black plumage...and just look at that white iris!

This series of photos was taken along the Hamilton Ship Canal which provides access to Hamilton Harbour from Lake Ontario. The harbour itself is entirely iced over now and the shipping season has ended, but the channel provides open water and, presumably, good foraging, for the thousands of ducks which spend time there during the winter. This is the Lift Bridge, which does what it says on the tin - lifts - to allow larger ships to pass along the channel.

Looking into the harbour the extent of the ice - and ducks - is clear. The most numerous species here are Long-tailed Duck, Greater Scaup and Common Goldeneye.

I counted 137 White-winged Scoters along the canal last friday, a very small proportion of the local wintering population, which can top 30,000 in record years.

Flashing wings...

These two are clearly not adult males, but what are they? I would posit that the rear bird is an immature male, judging by the pinkiness starting to emerge on its bill. The front bird, not sure.

This bird, grappling with a cluster of mussels, maybe an adult female as the secondaries appear to have quite extensive white tips?

A couple of flight shots now. They're pretty unmistakable in flight, even when they're a couple of kilometres away, out to sea or on the lakes. This male has some brown tips visible on the greater coverts - perhaps a second-winter bird?

Big old plates too.

Cruising with the Long-tails. These two scoters have some dark tips to both the greater coverts and the secondaries themselves.

Birds in the Arboretum

2009-01-19T14:43:00.012-05:00

The Royal Botanical Garden Arboretum in Dundas is a fine place for a stroll. I donned snowshoes and stomped around for a few hours last week, hoping to run into some White-winged Crossbills and get some pictures, but I failed - they are around, but rarely come down low enough for photography. Nevertheless, there were many other woodland denizens in evidence, including this White-breasted Nuthatch.

Male Red-bellied Woodpecker - sexed by the extent of the red crown, running right down the forehead to the bill. Females have grey foreheads.

Male Northern Cardinals really shine at this time of year, amongst the drab colours of winter.

Look at those beautiful frosted feather edges.

A few White-throated Sparrows hang around the feeders here in southern Ontario, even when it is -20º C.

Much less concerned by the chill are American Tree Sparrows. These are real northern birds - in Ontario they only nest on the taiga around the fringes of Hudson Bay.

King Eider on Lake Ontario

2008-12-02T15:23:00.015-05:00

Certainly not the best photograph of a King Eider you'll ever see, but as this was my first ever, I'm pretty pleased - even if it is a rather shoddy digi-scoped effort! This was one of three females present today on Lake Ontario at Stoney Creek.

Note: Turns out after a thorough review of my North American Life List (May 2009), this was actually my 400th species!

Siskins

2008-10-28T11:07:00.012-05:00

It has been predicted that this winter may see small finches like Pine Siskin and Common Redpoll irrupting from their northern ranges, as a result of seed crop failures. Whilst not quite indicative of this, siskins do normally migrate during autumn, it was interesting to see a flock of up to 13 siskins coming into the garden for a couple of days last week.

The birds that visited our garden were mostly interested in the fresh water available at the pond.

Least Bitterns at Bronte Creek

2008-09-17T12:12:00.014-05:00

This adult male Least Bittern gave fantastic views (of a range of postures) as it stalked fish amongst the floating water-lily leaves in the pond just upstream from Bronte Harbour on the
29th of August.

Arizona Sky Islands and Desert Rivers

2008-04-17T18:01:00.021-05:00

The Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, where the Cottonwoods were already greening up in late March.

A Lincoln's Sparrow in the car park.

Along one of the trails I finally found a Lark Sparrow, a species I have wanted to see for many years.

Vermilion Flycatchers were quite easily seen at most 'wetland' sites we visited. This male was at the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area near Sierra Vista.

A male Broad-billed Hummingbird on a feeder at the Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve. We also saw a beautiful male Violet-crowned Hummingbird here.

Perched above the creek amongst the willows and cottonwoods, a Black Phoebe.

Yellow-eyed Junco was one of the more common mountain denizens. Look how similar it is to the Dark-eyed 'Gray-headed' Junco (subspecies dorsalis) in the next picture.

Apart from Yellow-eyed and this Gray-headed, we also saw a couple of black hooded Oregon Juncos.

There is a striking progression through habitat types when ascending any of the Sky Island mountain ranges in south-east Arizona. These small ranges, northern outliers of the Mexican Sierra Madre, are surrounded by low lying desert scrub and grassland. But with just slight increases in elevation you move into these Madrean Oak Grasslands. This is in the Chiricahuas.

As the grassland thins, Oak-Juniper woodland thickens. Chiricahuas again.

Higher still, a mixture of Pine and Manzanita. The flowers of the Manzanita were attracting Costa's Hummingbirds here.

Western Scrub-Jay at the fabled 'Big Thicket' feeding station of Dave Jasper in Portal.

Cave Creek Canyon on the east side of the Chiricahuas.

Green-tailed Towhee at the Big Thicket.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker, also at the Big Thicket.

Arizona Desert Grasslands

2008-04-02T10:52:00.009-05:00

The wide, arid valleys of south-east Arizona are much changed from the grasslands of 100 years ago. Agricultural irrigation has a significant effect on the birds present, often concentrating activity around active fields. The Sulphur Springs Valley is renowned for its raptors, like this Ferruginous Hawk.

Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area near McNeal in the Sulphur Springs Valley is a major wintering site for Sandhill Cranes. Up to 25,000 can be seen at the peak, but by late March most have departed, only 1000 or so remained.

The shallow floods attract other waterfowl such as American Avocet...

...and Black-necked Stilt as well as Least Sandpiper, Long-billed Dowitcher and Greater Yellowlegs.

Small flocks of Lark Bunting were fairly easy to find, but other sparrows were in short supply.

An adult Swainson's Hawk.

Loggerhead Shrike: probably the most widespread and regularly seen species in the lowlands - due in part to its prominent perching of course!

Arizona Sonoran Desert

2008-03-25T18:05:00.007-05:00

Sonoran desertscrub (punctuated by Sagauro Cacti) at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum near Tucson.

A superb male Costa's Hummingbird.

Common, even in suburban Phoenix, the Cactus Wren's rattling call constantly reminded me of old cowboy films.

Greater Roadrunner. Not often seen running it seems!

Curve-billed Thrasher is the most obliging of the Thrashers in Arizona and particularly conspicuous in the desert.

Desertscrub east of Phoenix with typical mix of Palo Verde, Yucca, Prickly Pear and Mesquite.

Gila Woodpecker.

Chris struggling to ID new birds on our first day in Arizona at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix.

Black-throated Sparrow.

Canyon Towhee on the picnic table at our first campsite.

Ravenshoe Redpolls

2008-02-03T20:29:00.001-05:00

A short afternoon foray onto the Holland Marsh flats yielded Snowy Owl, a flock of 150 odd Bohemian Waxwings and a small group of about 25 redpoll. I only noticed how pale and grey this bird was after looking at the photos and also, as seems to be my luck, the flock left before I could get many pictures. To me, this looks like a 1st winter exilipes Hoary Redpoll.

A flammea Common Redpoll amongst the flock for comparison. The flanks are way more heavily streaked, the overall tone considerably browner and there are no visible white edges to the greater coverts.

Undertail angle. Maybe one streak there?

Northern Hawk Owl

2008-01-29T18:09:00.000-05:00

After several weeks of avoiding the drive, a good opportunity to see the Northern Hawk Owl presented itself and luckily the bird was still around!

In action.

Looking mean.

Hoary (Arctic) Redpolls

2008-01-01T15:07:00.000-05:00

The number of Common Redpolls Carduelis flammea present in southern Ontario has been increasing in recent weeks and now Hoary Redpolls Carduelis hornemanni are being seen with more frequency too. This mixed flock was visiting a feeding station in Beaverton, Ontario on the 30th of December. Redpoll identification still baffles me, but I think it's pretty clear which two birds amongst this group are the Hoarys! However, despite much scouring of ID articles, subspecific identification has eluded me. There are also some large, drab and heavily streaked birds here - could these be Commons of the subspecies rostrata?

Reds and Greys

2007-11-29T21:20:00.000-05:00

A small number of Common Redpolls Carduelis flammea of the nominate subspecies flammea were hanging around the seed feeders at the Algonquin Visitor Centre. The buffier individuals, like the bird above, would appear to be first winters, whilst the greyer (and in one case, very much pinker!) birds would appear to be adults.

An adult male.

Adult, sex unknown.

Another adult.

Two typically tame Grey Jays found along the old railway bed off the Arowhon Road at Algonquin Park.

Pine Grosbeaks at Algonquin

2007-11-28T21:43:00.000-05:00

A weekend trip to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario allowed me to finally see Pine Grosbeaks, after having heard many in recent weeks. Up to 22 of these beautiful finches were present at the Visitor Centre on Saturday 25th November, and the views were pretty good!..

Some examples of pink adult males and a duller adult female (told from 1st-winter birds by the rounded, rather than pointed, tail feathers) are shown here.

Adult Female - not as bright, but still good.

Snow Geese in Markham

2007-10-14T18:40:00.000-05:00

These four adult Snow Goose were present in a stormwater pond at the edge of a new housing development in northeast Markham. Nearby, an adult Ross's Goose was with Canada Geese in a field close to Reesor Pond. As a waterfowl sceptic, I wonder if these birds are all of wild origin.

Also present was this adult dark phase Snow Goose.

Eastern Kingbird

2007-08-03T16:28:00.000-05:00

Looking southwards. Kingbirds are one of the first species to migrate out of Ontario in late summer.

Algonquin Creatures

2007-06-26T19:51:00.000-05:00

A rather tasty male Parula.

The quite exotic looking Calico Pennant Celithemis elisa

What big eyes you have.

I think this is an Amber-winged Spreadwing Lestes eurinus. In theory the 'amber' washed wings should make identification straightforward!

American Bittern

2007-06-21T20:20:00.000-05:00

Not really the bittern I was hoping for, but nice enough....

Carden Plain Birds

2007-06-17T08:41:00.000-05:00

Wilson's Snipe - fond of fenceposts.

Carden Plain (a Canadian IBA) is an extensive area of globally rare alvar habitat about two hours north of Toronto. The flat limestone bedrock is either completely exposed or covered in only a thin layer of soil, resulting in dry, praire-like conditions which support a unique assemblage of flora and fauna.

I love the weird sounds Upland Sandpipers make.

Grasshopper Sparrows are pretty common at Carden.

Possibly the most photographed Eastern Bluebirds in Canada - the residents of box number 10 on Wylie Road.

Ebony Jewelwing

2007-06-15T10:56:00.001-05:00

Ebony Jewelwing Calopteryx maculata (male) up close....

....and up closer.

Two Skimmers

2007-06-14T21:09:00.000-05:00

Four-spotted Skimmer (or Chaser) Libellula quadrimaculata, King City, Ontario

Twelve-spotted Skimmer Libellula pulchella (female), King City, Ontario.

Some Flowers from the Bruce Peninsula

2007-06-13T16:31:00.001-05:00

Yellow Lady's Slipper - ubiquitous along paths and on roadside verges!

Ram's Head Orchid at Singing Sands

Striped Coralroot on Flowerpot Island - part of the Bruce Peninsula National Park in Ontario.

Some Dragonflies

2007-06-13T16:16:00.001-05:00

Dot-tailed Whiteface (male)

Chalk-fronted Corporal (male)

Widow Skimmer (immature male)

Scarlet & Yellow

2007-05-14T08:47:00.000-05:00

This male Yellow-throated Warbler, trapped at the Tommy Thompson Park Bird Research Station on the 11th of May, was a first for the park.

Dazzling male Scarlet Tanager at TTP.

Shorebirds at Tommy Thompson Park

2007-05-14T08:17:00.000-05:00

This handsome Marbled Godwit was present in the wetland restoration cell at Tommy Thompson Park in Toronto on the 12th of May.

Dunlin (left) and White-rumped Sandpiper (right) also in the wetland restoration cell at Tommy Thompson Park. Both these pictures were digi-scoped by Julia Marko Dunn.

Spotted Sandpiper.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

2007-05-04T18:58:00.000-05:00

Northern Rough-winged Swallow at McKenzie Marsh in Aurora, Ontario

This Least Sandpiper was one of 14 present at Reesor Pond in Markham, Ontario.

Buteo platypterus

2007-05-02T14:00:00.000-05:00

This migrant Broad-winged Hawk spiralled upwards on the late morning thermals and then glided off to the north.

Black & Yellow

2007-05-01T13:00:00.000-05:00

Pine Warbler in a pine tree (no surprise) at the Cawthra Mulock Reserve near Newmarket.

A male Rusty Blackbird doing his best 'rusty hinge' impression (sound not included).

More New Arrivals

2007-04-20T20:12:00.000-05:00

Male Savannah Sparrow on song 'post'.

Osprey over the south end of the Holland River Marsh complex.

Nothing of Interest

2007-04-18T16:10:00.000-05:00

Great Blue Heron.

American Tree Sparrows are still lingering as spring drags it's heels....

Fox Hunting

2007-04-10T18:42:00.000-05:00

Some more obliging Fox Sparrows

Harbingers of Spring

2007-04-05T07:52:00.000-05:00

Always a skulky and retiring bird, Fox Sparrows pass through all too quickly in early spring, giving only snatched glimpses as they forage in the leaf litter.

With temperatures dropping back down below zero today, the flow of early migrants may be temporarily stemmed - but the ubiquity of Robins is a clear indicator that summer is almost upon us.

Roadside Red-shouldered Hawk

2007-03-02T11:23:00.000-05:00

A good 'raptor' week! Dark morph Rough-legged Buzzard, Goshawk, Short-eared Owl and then this beautiful Red-shouldered Hawk, right next to the busy Highway 9 west of Newmarket. Although the species is known to breed in nearby woodland, it is still quite a rare bird at this time of year.

Red-shouldered Hawk

Buteo lagopus

2007-02-20T18:08:00.000-05:00

1st-winter Rough-legged Buzzard just north of Newmarket, Ontario

Lift-off!

Tommy Thompson Park

2007-02-19T15:48:00.000-05:00

Tommy Thompson Park is a man-made spit extending out into Lake Ontario from downtown Toronto. Although the city is only a couple of kilometres away, wildlife thrives.

Long-tailed Ducks at TTP

Ice incrustation along the shoreline at TTP

Greater Scaup and Common Goldeneye at TTP

Shore (or Horned) Lark on the roadside at Holland Marsh

Snow Buntings

2007-02-15T16:11:00.000-05:00

Lake Ontario Ducks

2007-02-13T20:35:00.000-05:00

Long-tailed Ducks at Humber Bay Park East

Scaup at Humber Bay Park East

Winter Birds

2007-02-12T17:19:00.000-05:00

This flock of Snow Buntings in Keswick, north of Toronto, numbers about 300 individuals

Evening Grosbeak (male) at Algonquin Provincial Park

Three-toed Woodpecker (male) at Algonquin Provincial Park

Downy Woodpecker (female)