Strange birdy behaviour

My street is a lively place in the morning during the getting-ready-and-leaving-for-work-hours. Someone must have opened a home daycare a few doors down because for the past little while I've noticed the sound of dying cats outside while I eat my breakfast, only to realize it's wailing children being pulled down the street in wagons.

However, this morning, I noticed another sound that instantly grabbed my attention. I stepped out the front door in my gloves and jacket and there were these woodpeckers, all clinging to the side of one of the neighbour's houses on the other side of the street. Several other neighbours were out observing and commenting on the oddity as well.

The tree in front of this out looked dying or dead and they were going back and forth....finding bugs? hiding bugs? The siding that they were clinging to is stucco (and has asbestos in it, unfortunately). I have no answers...but here's a pic. So odd to see them doing this together.

Birding burns #234

I'll try to stay optimistic and not to let the rotten mood that I am ruin this post. I was having a great day until...well, I'll get to that.

It was a beautiful day winter day and we had a few birds on our radar today. First we drove some of the farm fields not far outside of Kanata looking for snowy/northern hawk owls. We didn't look too long before heading to the Lime Kiln Trail, which I had actually been avoiding since it was closed this summer after a large, 100-acre brush fire on NCC lands. Bad birder though, not recalling the woodpeckers that actually seek out recent burn areas. Luckily, someone else reported the black-backed (actually quite some time ago, when my bird radar was off...luckily it kicked back in on time!).

We parked at P10 and started the walk into the burn area, stopping about 50m in after 20 or so chickadees made clear it was time for lunch. Stopped to feed them for a bit, and then continued on.

Once we were close, we started stopping to listen every 50m or so for pecking, and following the source if we heard it. This method found several woodpeckers. As it turns out, it seems hairies are fans of burn sites too. Hairy peckers still get me...who came up with that anyway?! I brushed up on the differentiating features between hairies and downies after a man said he saw huge downies...but I'm pretty sure they were hairies. I usually guesstimate based on size, but you never know if you are looking at a large downy or a small hairy--so the key is the length of the bill and whether there are (downy) or are not (hairy) dark spots on the outer tail feathers.

Tree damage from fire

Then we were looking at a hairy on a tree, when I realized that there was a second woodpecker on the same tree further up...only its back was all black! Found it!

The birds didn't seem to mind observers at all and would go about their business until they moved on to a new tree. I only observed one black-backed, a female (I believe that's all that's been reported). Lifer!

 #234: Black-backed Woodpecker; Lime Kiln Trail area; February 10, 2013

Peekaboo!

Pretty lady. Love the fine bars on her side. Only the males have the yellow on top of the head.

Stopped to do a little preening. Nice to watch!

Today I learned a few things about me and my lens:
1. I need to develop some stronger shoulder/arm muscles to hold that sucker up for any length of time
2. I experienced a crazy thing that hasn't happened to me birding...I was TOO close to focus.Well, that doesn't happen often.

Was really hoping a bird would perch in that little spot, but no such luck today so I made Matt do it instead

Things started to go a little sour when we got back when I went to get in the car and realized something was wrong with the window--mainly that it wasn't there. And that all that was left was little shards. There was also a drill hole near the handle. It's unfortunate that people are getting out there outside, enjoying nature, and this is what they get. So, if this can be a reminder of anything to you birders, whenever you leave your car in an isolated parking lot (or anywhere really), do not leave things in your car! We didn't even have any valuables in sight, but we had a lot of junk that was in bags/boxes and could look like there might be something worth grabbing.

people are jerks. because this is just what I needed.

If you go to check out the BBW, don't forget your sunflower seeds, and if you must take valuables, take them with you on the trail. Snowshoes would help once you are off the main trail, but we just trudged it. Good little cardio workout that was, after the snowfall the night before!

On the way home we drove down Rushmore and spotted a snowy on a far-off pole. i wasn't keen to hang around though, since I was freezing with no window!

This morning I headed to March Valley to see if I could spot some of the west-end greys. I did, beautifully silhouetted by the rising sun. It was so nice to see them in a more peaceful setting being left alone! Didn't stay long though in the classy garbage-bag-over-the-window car.

Here's another really nice, informative post with great shots from another Ottawa blogger on the BBW at Lime Kiln.

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!

So? Let's get started! IDs 1-11

So, this all started on March 3, and here is what I have seen since then. I figure the first birds are easy, as I get the common ones under my belt.

ID#1: Wild Turkeys; March 7, 2010; near Carp

ID#2: White-breasted nuthatch; Mar 6, 2010; Sarsaparilla Trail, Ottawa

ID#3: Red-breasted nuthatch; March 6, 2010; Sarsaparilla trail, Ottawa

ID#4: Two Northern Cardinals; March 10, 2010; my backyard (Kanata)

Female:

Male:

ID#5: Pileated woodpecker; March 6, 2010; Kanata

ID#6: Hairy Woodpecker; March 6, 2010; Sarsaparilla Trail, Ottawa

ID#7: Downy Woodpecker; March 7, 2010; Kanata

ID#8: Mourning Dove; March 3, 2010; my backyard (Kanata)

ID#9: Dark-eyed Junco (I think?); March 3, 2010; my backyard (Kanata)

ID#10: Blue Jay; March 7, 2010; Jack Pine Trail, Ottawa

ID#11: Black-capped Chickadee; March 6, 2010; Sarsaparilla Trail, Ottawa

The last few days I've been wandering around my neighbourhood looking for more birds. So far, I've only seen more of the ones I've seen so far, and ones that are too far away to ID (for example, a reddish one that I don't think was a cardinal, what could have been 2 robins). Then there's the crows...and some birds I think are sparrow. I've also heard an owl 2 days in a row but he is very good at hiding! Also today, a few red-winged blackbirds on Moodie Drive from the bus, some Canada geese migrating and some ducks. Guess they'll have to wait tough until I can get my shots!