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Winter Birds

February 12, 2007

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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)

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Blasts from the Past

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.

Hooded Warbler

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.

Lake Ontario & Kittiwakes

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 Kittiwa kes (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 dur...

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