new year...new birds #115-116

BEAUTIFUL snow falling this morning when I woke up. Sigh.

Today was not really meant to be a birding day, but I wanted to stop at the Hilda feeders before heading out to ski this afternoon. It's a great spot for winter birding. There was a raven perched in a tree closeby, puffing itself up once in a while and making this call that is so hard to describe....like a gurgly bell...does that even make sense? Cornell has a very interesting assortment of Raven calls on its website. I wanted to video it, but flew out of sight before I got the chance. HUGE bird. Anyway, it was nice because it's a counter for me! (which I differentiate from lifer, since I only "count" if I've got a picture!). Oh yeah, and I'll spare you from the Poe references.

#115: Common Raven; Hilda Road, Ottawa; January 8, 2011

There were some redpolls at the feeders so I was finally able to get somewhat close. Didn't see the hoary that was reported though.

#116: Common redpoll, female(right); Hilda Road, Ottawa; January 8, 2011 (hanging out with an AT sparrow)

There were lots of cardinals too. Is it just me or do they get more red in winter? Their colour was just POPPING against the white. It was so beautiful to see!

nice haircut!



All in all, seen today: mourning doves, northern cardinals, common raven, black-capped chickadees, american tree sparrows, hairy woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatch, american goldfinch, and a northern shrike at carling/rifle.

So we're there and then I just look over and there's a doe staring right at us...like, "did you bring carrots or what?" it sort of snuck away, but came back with a friend. next time I go, I'll be better prepared. But Matt got this AMAZING shot while he was hogging my camera (credit comes at a price Matt!).

other wildlife seen today: a cute red squirrel and a porcupine.

didn't end up skiing!

So I started to wonder to myself if there was some birding software out there that could make keeping track of things easier. I'm sort of been using the pen and paper technology up until now. So I just did a quick google search and found this: http://www.surfbirds.com/Features/SoftwareReview/WhichSoftware.html. I'm sure there is more out there, so I'm going to research into this. Does anybody use any software and which one? Free is always good....

I haven't really made any birding resolutions but there are a few birds that I would like to see this year that shouldn't be hard. Bohemian waxwings, saw-whet owl, green heron, common moorhen to name a few...

i'm designing birding tshirts for the next spring birding season. nerd city over here!