Art Prints

Monday, February 20, 2012

Winter Continues...


Pileated Woodpecker

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Gray Partridge
Saturday 11 Feb:
The morning started crisp, clear and cold. Nevertheless, we had great finds east of Ottawa with 2 Snowy Owls, Bald Eagle, Great Black-Back and Herring Gull flying over and about 1000 Snow Bunting in flight at St. Rose.  Red Crossbill, Horned Lark, Northern Shrike and Dark-eyed Junco were other gems this morning. One of the highlights of the day was the rare Varied Thrush that has overwintered near Limoges. And, at the end of the excursion, a big surprise, I spotted 16 Gray Partridge at the corner of Russel & Rockdale. What a fantastic day!
American Crow
American Goldfinch
American Robin
American Tree Sparrow
Bald Eagle
Black-capped Chickadee
Blue Jay
Common Raven
Dark-eyed Junco
Downy Woodpecker
European Starling
Gray Partridge
Great Black-backed Gull
Hairy Woodpecker
Herring Gull
Horned Lark
Mourning Dove
Northern Shrike
Red Crossbill
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-tailed Hawk
Rock Pigeon
Rough-legged Hawk
Snow Bunting
Snowy Owl
Varied Thrush
White-breasted Nuthatch
Group Sunday Feb 11
Photo Courtesy Joshua McCullough
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Sunday 12 Feb:
This morning was the coldest in a long time. We went on a quest for raptors in the west end. Our luck was not as great as the day before. For raptors we encountered Merlin, Red-tailed & Sharp-shinned Hawk. But, the most awesome drama the whole day was a Coopers Hawk suddenly stooping down after a Rock Pigeon! Now that was awesome to see on a cold day!
American Crow
American Robin
American Tree Sparrow
Black-capped Chickadee
Blue Jay
Bohemian Waxwing
Common Raven
Coopers Hawk
Downy Woodpecker
European Starling
Hairy Woodpecker
House Sparrow
Mallard
Merlin
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Pileated Woodpecker
Red-tailed Hawk
Rock Pigeon
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Snow Bunting
White-breasted Nuthatch
Wild Turkey
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Pileated Woodpecker at work
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Tuesday 14 Feb:
We were very surprised to arrive to the Jack Pine Trail and not be greeted by Chickadees. It seemed the entire forest was sleeping. We decided to try our luck over at the Stony Swamp Trail, and suddenly we had Chickadees everywhere asking for food. Throughout the area we could see the work of very busy Pileated Woodpeckers. The bark was chiselled off many trees, and there were holes everywhere.
Along the trail, several Robins and Tree Sparrows were drinking from an open creek.  
It was a slow and quiet day, but very educational. 
American Crow
American Robin
American Tree Sparrow
Black-capped Chickadee
Blue Jay
Bohemian Waxwing
Brown Creeper
Common Raven
Downy Woodpecker
European Starling
Hairy Woodpecker
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Rock Pigeon
White-breasted Nuthatch
Red-Crossbill-DSC_0154
Red Crossbill, Photo courtesy Bill Bowman
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Pine Siskin
Thursday 16 Feb:
What an amazing day with stunning numbers of Raptors!
And not only raptors, we also had the pleasure of seeing some finches.
We had 3 Purple Finch, including a singing adult male along Eardley Road, and several small flocks of Pine Siskin throughout our travels on the Quebec side. It must have been around 40 in total.
And, we had the total of 25 Red Crossbills spread out in several small flocks, including what appeared to be a few bonded pairs.
For raptors we had the fantastic number of 7 Red-tailed Hawks, 6 Bald Eagles including 1 sub-adult, and 1 Golden Eagle (age unknown) with a beautiful golden nape.
What a day in the escarpments!
American Crow
American Robin
Bald Eagle
Black-capped Chickadee
Blue Jay
Bohemian Waxwing
Common Raven
Downy Woodpecker
European Starling
Golden Eagle
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Hairy Woodpecker
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Pileated Woodpecker
Pine Siskin
Purple Finch
Red Crossbill
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-tailed Hawk
Rock Pigeon
White-breasted Nuthatch
Wild Turkey
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Saturday 18 Feb:
A most beautiful day with sunshine started at Fletcher Wildlife Garden. We had great looks at a bonded Cooper’s pair doing aerial display.
As not much happened at Fletchers, we went exploring instead, and got Bohemian Waxwing, Canada Goose, Horned Lark and Pine Siskin to mention a few.  
The Photo day ended with 24 species.
American Black Duck
American Crow
American Goldfinch
American Robin
Black-capped Chickadee
Blue Jay
Bohemian Waxwing
Canada Goose        
Common Goldeneye
Common Raven
Coopers Hawk
Downy Woodpecker
European Starling
Horned Lark
House Finch
House Sparrow
Mallard
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Pileated Woodpecker
Pine Siskin
Rock Pigeon
White-breasted Nuthatch
Wild Turkey
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Jack Pine Trail
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Snow Shoe Hare
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Red Squirrel
Mockingbird
Northern Mockingbird, Photo courtesy Joshua McCullough
Sunday 19 Feb:
A cheerful crew started this morning at Jack Pine Trail. It was very quiet but we had interactions with a White Tailed Deer, a white Snow Shoe Hare and all kinds of squirrels. The Red-breasted Nuthatch seemed to be the most hungry hand feeder, but also Chickadees, Brown Creeper and Blue Jays showed interest in our presence.
We decided that the forest was too quiet so we ventured out in the open to see what we could catch.
We got House Finch, Horned Lark, Bohemian Waxwing, Pileated Woodpecker and Red-tailed Hawk to mention a few. We ended the day with a short search for the Northern Mockingbird, which was one of the participant’s life bird number 200! 
American Crow
American Robin
American Tree Sparrow
Black-capped Chickadee
Blue Jay
Bohemian Waxwing
Brown Creeper
Common Raven
Downy Woodpecker
European Starling
Hairy Woodpecker
Horned Lark
House Finch
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Shrike
Pileated Woodpecker
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-tailed Hawk
Rock Pigeon
White-breasted Nuthatch 
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Busy at Hilda Road Feeder
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Ice fishing on the Ottawa River
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All excursions organized by: