New bird, old place (#307)

Easter came and went a long time ago, but it's important to catch up on birds, especially when there are lifers in question! So I'm going to keep this short, since I have today's birds to write about too.

Holidays mean one thing--to Kingston we go. Luckily we saw some great birds on the way! I'm not sure why, maybe I'm just better at identifying them, but I've seen a lot of Northern Harriers this year. Is it just me?

We always drive by this one house with a pond, and usually see swans there. I guess they are pets, which means I unfortunately can't count these as life birds--they appear to be Whooper Swans, or the Bewick's version of the Tundra Swan.

We made the customary stop in Wilton and this guy was just singing his heart out on the overhead wires.

Eastern meadowlark

And once we finally made it all the way home, we spotted this merlin just ripping this animal, bird, I'm not sure what it was, to bits on my very own street. Eventually he flew off and took it with him and it was almost as big as he was.

After a great weekend of far too much and food and awesome family time, we walked over to the marina early in the morning, just to enjoy the water more than anything else. We certainly weren't expecting a lifer! There were so many Bonaparte's Gulls. I've seen Laughing Gulls down south, and wasn't sure at the time what the difference was, but the Bonaparte's has a black, not orange bill, so it was pretty clear! I don't remember seeing gulls with black heads growing up on the water, even if only for a short time during migration.

Long-tailed ducks playing around

Artist at work! Brand placement totally unintentional :)

Spring is here, and I can here a yellow warbler singing from my window. Exciting times ahead!
cheers,
j

Earth Day - Easter long weekend, day 1

Couple of items of business today.

Matt and I checked out Mud Lake...it was so nice outside, and I even got a little sunburn. It was really busy with everyone having the day off and the sun shining. What attracted me there was the gold crowned kinglets, but of course I didn't find one. The first thing we saw were lots of swallows zipping around. I didn't look too carefully but definitely saw barn and tree.

Witnessed something of a kerfluffle between two tree swallows.

Love the forked tail on the barn swallow.

Not far off, we saw this bird, and it looked like it was all wet or something, and maybe trying to dry off. It kept fanning out its tail, and a chickadee was really playing with fire by hopping around really close. Soon after, some gulls came by to harass it until it finally flew off. A few other birders that were there and I concluded that we thought it was a merlin.

Horribly backlit...what can you do?

On the ridge, a yellow-rumped warbler was hanging around and singing loudly.

Lastly, just before leaving, we caught a black-crowned night heron. Such great birds!

I missed this when it originally aired, so I was happy that they were reshowing Saving Pelican 895, an HBO documentary about the rescue response for birds after the oil rig explosion off the gulf of Louisiana (it's on again May 1 and 15 if you missed it). Also, here's the trailer to check out. I was watering up within 60 seconds...I'm so soft. While the story tried to focus on the positive and really focused on the birds, the whole situation makes me so ANGRY. Everyone is complaining about gas prices, but I have no problem with them at all because I hope that MAYBE it will finally force people start looking at the problems with the system and start seriously looking at viable alternatives. Ok, happy Earth Day!
Some stats from the movie:

• 3400 oil rigs off the gulf coast of Louisiana
• 7000 birds dead (seriously...does this not make you feel dead inside?)
• 1200 birds rehabilitated and released into the wild

You may also want to check out this short Cornell video on Youtube: Deepwater Horizon: One Year Later.

Another amazing rehabilitation item: I was amazed, inspired and incredibly jealous to find out that a childhood friend of mine is now working with Kakapo in New Zealand. If you don't know about Kakapo, just watch the first disk of David Attenborough's Life of Birds. They are a flightless parrot and there are only 120 left. Anyways, this girl does seriously cool stuff...she also worked with wolves in Texas. She even has some pics of wolves licking her face.
Basically what I'm trying to say is that I'm seriously questioning my career choice and wishing I was doing something meaningful/wonderful like that. Should have studied biology....

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!

PEC/Algonquin (82-85)

Sorry I've been away folks. Five days canoeing, and now the unfun stuff: lots of unpacking, photo editing, having to go to work, etc!

Aside from the famous duck in PEC, I also saw these guys, which are pretty common but new to me! I enjoyed watching their antics!

#82: House Wren; outside Consecon; July 27, 2010

I also saw a Black Tern at Sandbanks, but didn't manage to get a picture. Oh well!

After a few lovely days in PEC, we headed north to Algonquin Park. One of the best shots (ok, the best shot) I got was of a loon, but I'm torn over whether to post it ....it's a long story. You may see it yet.
Anyways, here are the new birds I got while I was there!

#83: Brown Creeper; Campsite on White Trout Lake; July 30, 2010
I heard about these but could not for the life of me manage to spot one. There were 2 on the site, and the only reason I spotted is because I could hear this rustling on the tree. Very funny birds to watch.

#84: Herring Gull; Joe Lake; August 1, 2010
I guess these guys aren't in Ottawa yet. This was the nice thing about being in Algonquin: it's kind of a different zone so you get to see some different stuff! I'm sure he'll be in Ottawa but I'm still learning migration patterns/timing and all that jazz. He was s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g I guess (or he was about to fly off but decided I wasn't as intimidating as he thought)!

Also of interest.....ducks in a row.

While in the park, I saw other birds that could have made the list....sandhill cranes and ravens being a few, but I missed getting shots. Guess that just means I have to go back!
Saw this guy on the way out of the park. I can't for the life of me tell what it is. It was maybe a bit bigger than a kestrel. I'm thinking Merlin, but maybe a Peregrine? Any comments on this one would be appreciated. What it's eating is a dragonfly (should help not just with diet but also with scale!)!

***UPDATE***
A couple of readers have helped me identify this as a Merlin. Thanks!
#85: Merlin; Hwy 60, just outside of Algonquin Park (east); August 1, 2010

So now I have to figure out my plan for this weekend and decide on what I'll go out looking for. Thanks to those who have left me comments and given me tips on where to find some the birds. I do apreciate it!