And now, we interrupt your scheduled programming...(for another owl!) (#242)

I know I promised another Hawaii post, but there are lots of exciting things on the local bird scene as the mercury slowly creeps up (and back down again, and back up, every few days it seems). Spring is in the air, and so is the song of bird courtship. The signs are all there...those birdies are getting ready to make babies!

Several weeks ago, I caught wind that there was a great-horned owl in the area. With no real specific leads, I went with a hunch and managed to find it with some sleuthing and keen observation. Nadia was in town so she was brought along on this adventure too. She was a great sport.

matching earmuffs and bird seed at the ready

The owl was snoozing and had its head tucked in and behind a bunch of branches. It didn't seem to be moving anytime soon, so we left to walk for a bit. On the way back, we passed by again, and it was being mobbed by 5 or 6 rowdy crows. The crows left as soon as we did, so hopefully it got a few minutes of peace. We left again, since we still couldn't get a very good look--only the bottom half.

After we dropped Nadia off at her destination, we decided we'd try another shot. This time Matt asked his principal if she wanted to join us, as he's apparently been recounting our birding adventures to his teaching colleagues to much awe and wonder (maybe I'm exaggerating a little...). I guess she must have been curious what it's like to go on a birding adventure. It seems everyone thinks "Big Year" (a la Owen Wilson/Jack Black/Steve Martin) when they find out we are birders---and it's something like that, to an extent I guess. She brought along her two kiddos, who learned what it's all about...the great outdoors, and sometimes, a ton of patience. It's nice to see kids out there learning about this stuff and being outside...I think I'm going to grow a little army of mini birders...yes?

This is the 5th species of owl we've seen this year alone (actually 6th...there was one in Hawaii but it was too far to tell what kind it was). When I started birding, I dreamed of seeing owls, but I could never spot them. They are so hard to see; in the day, they don't move much or make sounds, and those are the main ways we spot birds. There are really two ways to spot owls, I have determined:

1. getting a tip from someone in the know.
2. extreme luck. 

This leaves me with only a few owl species left to spot, in these parts anyway--a barn owl is my next target!

#242: Great-Horned Owl; Ottawa, Ontario. March 2013

oh, hey there. well aren't you handsome?

I'm getting older so it took me awhile to catch onto this YOLO thing. But I thought this is pretty cute. And true. 

Violet and Donovan stop to feed the chickadees.

via Etsy http://www.etsy.com/listing/66662663/upcycled-dictionary-page-upcycled-book

On they way home, we headed to Hilda. Found this cute little one along the road.

The redpolls were still there in huge numbers. It was the end of the day and I didn't feel like revisiting the differences between the subspecies so we just snapped a few pics and went our merry way.

When I went home for Easter, I was disappointed that dad told me I had missed the huge rafts of migrating ducks at the island (why doesn't he just call me and tell me??). I always seem to miss them by a week or two. We still saw lots of duckies on the way though, and my fave ones at that.

hooded mergies...one of my faves

Looks like somebody forgot to account for the wire when casting their line 

found another little buddy!

Too bad the focus was on the male when this happened.

lots of river friends today!

beautiful wood ducks...love these too!

Spring is definitely on its way...can't wait for the warblers to start showing up! Ok, next post will be Hawaii, Part II--that's a promise! Come back soon!

2013 season opener! (#232)

There's been quite a lot of excitement locally about the Great Grey Owls in the area, and I'll have a post on that too, but first, I have some other business to take care of. I'm finally getting to the LAST class in the photography certificate program. I had to chose 2-4 topics that I wanted to focus on...and what a task that was. The funny thing is, it took a long time for me to realize that "birds" was an obvious choice. In  my brain I somehow managed to separate these two hobbies, but I realized I'm out shooting birds all the time anyway--it's an obvious choice! So you'll probably see a slight increase in postings, because I'm expected to be fairly prolific. This will be an intense 4 months as attempt to scrape together a half a dozen *top-notch* shots every week...and not just of this subject, but my others as well.

So....
We were headed to Kingston for my aunt's birthday which happened to coincide with an OFNC trip to Amherst. Unfortunately the trip was cancelled, but we went anyway since we were close by and it's definitely owl season...although we found none that day. We did visit the owl woods and ran into a large group there from the Willow Beach Field Naturalists (Port Hope area). Dad came in tow--I love that his favourite part of the whole thing is feeding the chickadees.

dad and two friends

I did notice some rather striking ducks in the rough waters as we crossed on the ferry. They would take off before we could get even remotely close but in zooming in to review the shots I could ID them. I'll admit I had to pull out the guide (I'm a little rusty these days). I discovered it was a long-tailed duck (notice cute spot on cheek). Unfortunately these ones don't have the long-tails (First winter?)

And then it took me about a week to think to myself...what second...that was a lifer! Which is a good thing, because Matt made the absurd resolution to see 50 new life birds this year...so....one down...
Ha!

#232: Long-tailed duck; Amherst Island

There were lots of other ducks around the island, and we spotted a Northern Shrike, but aside from that, it was a pretty quiet day (we were actually only there for a few hours).

On the local scene, I checked the Hilda Road feeders a few times this weekend and the Duck Club feeders on March Valley Road a few times too.

Lots of turkeys around! Not the prettiest of birds but when their feathers shimmer in the light it's quite nice.

At Hilda there is an abundance of redpolls, chickadees, American Tree Sparrows, a snowshoe hare, nuthatches, woodpeckers (Hairy/Downy). A brown creeper had been seen but we missed it. There were quite a few people and its nice to talk to the local photographers/birders.

Furry visitor to the feeders!

At the Duck Club feeders, we saw Pine Grosbeaks  two Pileated woodpeckers and rest the same as at Hilda. Pine Grosbeaks were a nice treat--my first time seeing them in Ottawa.

OK, what you are waiting for...Great Grey posts coming up next!

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!