Sunday, December 19, 2010

wicked weekend! #110-112

Oh boy, where to start!

In the paper!
Ok, let's start with the exciting bit. I just found out that one of heron pics from a few weeks ago was used as the cover photo for the Ottawa Citizen's World of Birds column! Here's the link to the article and a screenshot...
Perfect weather this weekend ...

On Saturday Matt and I did a loop of the farmfields to the south of Kanata with not much luck (just saw a few hawks). After that we took a trail that is part of the greenbelt near Shirley's Bay. It was relatively quiet, but we did see chickadees, a robin, deer, a raven and crows, and some woodpeckers.
Here's a hairy woodpecker...Hairy indeed, as she had a feather sticking up on the top of her head...looked pretty funny!

This was the hawk (merlin?) we saw...After seeing mostly red-tailed and rough-legged hawks lately, it was really nice to see this one! It didn't seem to mind us at all. There was a woodpecker in the same tree completely oblivious to the hawk. Once it finally realized it had company, it was squawking and flying off...that's when the hawk turned his head as if to ask, "what the heck is going on, you nut?"

whatchu lookin at??

what u doinggggg???

Since we were in the area, we also checked out the Hilda Road feeders. Busy as usual but nothing out of the ordinary. Did see some other wildlife...


Sunday I went out with Sandy and it was hugely successful! I'd been trying forever to hunt down some buntings so he finally showed me where some were....three flocks of them in fact!

#110: Snow Bunting; December 19, 2010


DOF a little short on this one... 

So here came the big surprise of the day---and one I certainly wasn't expecting to see. We both noticed this bird that seemed really big...dark but too big to be a crow and even a raven. So we followed it and it turned out to be a bald eagle! holy jeez!

#111: Bald Eagle; December 19, 2010
Ok, so it doesn't stop there. Then we were totally creeping on some person's feeders that had so many birds...including common redpolls and evening grosbeaks (firsts for me). Don't think I'll post the pics...but I'll be loooking for them again.

Finally, on the way back to my place, saw a Northern Shrike on March Valley. This is a terrible shot but I FINALLY saw one!! I'll try to find another one to get a better picture.

#112: Northern Shrike; December 19, 2010; March Valley Road.

So, all in all....a great birding weekend!

5 comments:

Funkysandman said...

Triumphant!
you pulled off some sweet shots

dmorin said...

Congrats on the photo! It was a great shot.

I love the snow bunting shots. You should try again for those at the end of February early March. They will have started changing back to their summer colors then.

dwaynejava said...

Fantastic Posting DDD,

The Snow Buntings, the Bald Eagle... also, Congrats on the Northern Shrike. I still am basking in the satisfaction of seeing one almost a month later. Regarding the sharp shinned... I'm playing the role of the devil's advocate, but could it be a Juvenile Merlin? (these two are often confused!)... I'm not sure though. Keep up the great birding!
Dwayne

Jenna said...

Dwayne, you could very well be right. Something didn't seem quite right...and GASP! I actually didn't even look in the book for that one. I was so excited to post that I cheated, and didn't put the links in that I normally do and forgot a few other things. I'll have to get back in there and fix it up! Guess that makes me -1 :(
So glad I have some people around to set me straight!

dwaynejava said...

Dawn, LOL...
I'm not quite certain about my previous comment. It may indeed be a sharp shinned! I have made about 3 such errors this year... but that is the fun of birding. Excellent duck photos btw. I just lifered Gadwals this fall myself. Keep up the great work!