holy smokes...2 in a row (#108)

Got in a few hours today; not sure why I wait until the sun is practically hanging over the horizon before I go out, so these pics are all in low light/backlit....i.e. not great. Anyways, it was like hawk central on Moodie (as always it seems). Saw a really nice red-tailed right beside the road that took off before I could get a good shot. Also saw this one. Not sure what it is, but it's too beautiful of a bird not to post!

Saw this little Kestrel along Moodie...it was just gorgeous.

 So there were reports of a Ross's Goose among a bunch of Canada Geese on Fallowfield Road. I figured why not, even though I saw all those Snow Geese yesterday. Anyways, it was definitely the only white one in this field full of Canada Geese (and a few bucks too).

However, I'm not 100% sure I can tell that's is actually a Ross's. I took a ton of pics but it was really dark at that point...this is the best one out of all I took that you can see that it could be Ross's (from the bill). It's cropped right down and I've posted at actual pixels. Well, I'll leave this one to the experts, but I guess it's a potential 108. I'll keep an eye on any more reports and wait for someone else to confirm!

UPDATE: This one is #108! With a little help and more reports of a Ross's Goose at this location, I think I'll retroactively count this!
#108: Ross's Goose; Fallowfield at Greenbank, Ottawa; November 28, 2010

east-end re-try (#106-107)

First try in the east end last weekend was unsuccessful so I tried again this weekend since I was going to the German Christmas Market. There was a flock of Snow Geese on the cover of the Citizen on Friday so I thought I'd try to catch them too. They weren't anywhere near where it reported them to be so thank god for Blackberrys..was able to find another report of them near St. Isidore. They were in a huge flock of pure white making a lot of noise. More would keep landing, and we were like, where the heck are they coming from? So we look up and there are more huge flocks of them WAY up in the sky getting ready to land. I guess they fly a lot higher up than other birds do. It was really awesome to watch them, but it was crazy windy cold and my eyes were tearing up so badly that I couldn't even tell if the focus was accurate. So I think Matt took maybe all of these pictures since he decided he wasn't leaving until he got perfect shots. 

106: Snow Goose; St. Isidore, Ontario; November 20, 2010

Think these might be Blues?

Also went out to see the Sandhill Cranes...missed them by about 300 metres last week. They were pretty close to the side of the road and make the most wicked noises (listen to them at whatbird....link below). There were only about 10 but supppsedly there are more like 100 around...but we didn't look for the rest of them because I was stocked enough to see these. It was sort of weird to see them in this environment (farm fields) since they look a lot like herons, which are always in marshes. Matt and I had seen some in Algonquin flyin way over head so it was good to finally see them up close and personal. You can't see them too well in this pic, but they have wicked red caps!

107: Sandhill Crane; Carlsbad Springs; November 20, 2010

#105

Was about to post to make excuses about why I haven't had any new birds in a month, but I was just going through the pics on my card and remembered that I saw these guys last week, but didn't take the time to look them up. My mom visited last weekend, and any poor person that visits me gets dragged out birding, like it or not. Anyways, I've been wanting to scout out the river because I've been seeing lots of birds on the bus in/home from work between Lincoln Fields and Dominion stations, but you have to set some time aside to do it since it's a long walk between the two, and there aren't many places to park if you drive.

#105: Common Goldeneye; Ottawa River; November 6, 2010

Today I tried the Hilda Road feeders--very active but nothing unexpected.

I'll make sure I get out and try to see some stuff this weekend. If nothing new, hopefully I'll at least have something to post! Hoping for a sandhill crane or a cattle egret or something?