Winter Continues...

Pileated Woodpecker

 

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

Photo Courtesy Joshua McCullough

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

Pileated Woodpecker at work

Tony Beck

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, Photo courtesy Bill Bowman

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

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

Jack Pine Trail

Snow Shoe Hare

Red Squirrel

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 

 

Busy at Hilda Road Feeder

Ice fishing on the Ottawa River

~

All excursions organized by: 

Always An Adventure