February 2nd Birding

I know I said I would post this earlier but what happened was that my blogger was messed up. So now I'm posting from my IPad. Unfortunately I cannot post pictures so those will come later.

Anyway, on Sunday, February 2nd, I went with my mom and our friend to do some birding in the Durham region. We picked him up and drove to where the Great Grey Owl was reported but kinda got distracted by some turkeys in a field. Eventually we made it to the place where the owl was being seen. When we arrived, we saw only one car and only one person so we asked where the owl was. It wasn't there. We spent about half an hour waiting for the owl but it didn't show up. So we decided to leave and head down Halls road and look for some snow buntings.

After a while of driving the only birds we found was some crows, a flock of turkey, and a Red-Tailed Hawk. We eventually made it down to Lynde Shores Conservation Area. But before we got to Lynde Shores, we were surprised by a hawk which took off right as we drove by without even noticing it. It landed about 10 feet away from us in a tree. We looked at the side of the road to notice a dead black duck which the hawk had been eating. Shortly after, another hawk flew in and then flew off.

We then went in the conservation area and noticed people feeding chick-a-dees from their hands. So I went over and asked for some seed. It was very fun feeding the birds. I even got a Red-Breasted Nuthatch on my hand! There were plenty of friendly turkeys and red squirrels. We then went to the observation platform and saw a deer! After that we decided to go home.

As we were driving out of the park, I noticed a small bird fly off the side of the road into a bush so we stopped the car and tried to ID it. I had a good feeling of what it was but just to make sure, we looked at it through the scope. It was what I thought it was. A Lapland Longspur! I was so excited to be looking at a Lapland Longspur! And I guess it wasn't enough to just see it about 30 feet away, but then it flew right at us and landed about 10 feet away from us! Right in front of our car! I took a ton of pictures. We decided to push our luck even more and go right beside the car and look at it from 5 feet away. It just stayed there! So many people were passing by, none of them asked what we were looking at except for 1 car who just said "oh, cool." Then drove off.

We went home perfectly satisfied with the day.

Thanks for reading.

Some More Birding

If you're a birder you may have heard about the Spotted Towhee at a feeder in Georgetown and you probably heard that it doesn't stay for long. If you're not a birder then let me explain. A rare and colourful sparrow was seen in Georgetown and many people went to see it. The problem with this bird is that it doesn't show up for long and when it does, it gets scared easily. 

So anyway, my mom and I decided to drive up to Georgetown to see this elusive sparrow on Saturday. We read the previous reports on it and learned that it shows up at the feeders for 10 am and doesn't stay long. So we drove up there and when we arrived there was only one other couple looking for the bird. There was a very inconvenient snow pile that block the entire bottom of the feeder except for one little tiny area. The longer we stayed, the more we doubted it would show up. Then we saw a somewhat large bird fly under the feeder with white outer tail feathers. We all looked in the small area of the feeder that you could actually see. The bird popped within view for a split second then ran away! I did get one blurry shot of it leaving.

We were so excited that we saw it but unfortunately it left. We decided to stay a while and see if it would come back. 

It did! This time it gave us better views.

After that, the bird left and we went home.

Thanks for reading! I will post what happened on Sunday tomorrow.

I Got 200!

If you have read my last couple blog posts you could tell I was close to 200 birds on my life list for North America.

On the recent OFO trip we didn't see much but we did see a flock of Snow Buntings which brought me up to 199.

It was very foggy so the pictures didn't turn out that well.

But today was a great day. I headed to Bronte Harbour with my friend Adam to check out the "Heerman's Gull" that was reported there. To be honest I didn't think someone actually saw a Heerman's because there was no one talking about it and the email was done very badly which made me skeptical, but it doesn't hurt to check. I didn't see anything good. A flock of White-Winged Scoters was cool but nothing else.

After that Adam went home and my mom and I decided to go to Whitby to look for the Great Grey Owl. It was quite a long drive and when we got there we asked where it was and nobody had seen it since yesterday. So we decided to park and wait just in case it shows up. Good thing we did because as soon as we parked someone spotted it. Great Grey Owl is easily my favourite owl so I was very excited to see it.

Boom, 200th bird right there and my favourite owl!

He would fly around the forest edge, swooping down to the ground and back to the top of a tree.

Find the owl!

I also attempted digi-scoping without an attachment.

After a while we decided to leave to look for the Barred Owl on Hall's Road but no luck. But we did see Wild Turkeys so 201 birds on my list!

I did get some nice crow shots.

We then went to Whitby Harbour to look for a previously reported Snowy Owl. It took us quite a while to get into the yacht club to get close enough for pictures but it was worth it.

First Snowy of the year!

So after that we called it a pretty successful day and headed home. But as if we haven't been lucky enough that day, we were on the highway we noticed a large predatory-like bird flying above us. An adult  Bald Eagle! At that point we were just so happy with our day.

Thanks for reading!

Colonel Samuel Smith Park - December 29th (Plus Humber Arboretum)

On December 29th, my mom and I went to Colonel Samuel Smith Park to look for owls and a Northern Shrike. We decided to bring my mom’s friend along to come birding. Before we even parked we saw a perched American Kestrel which was pretty cool. We walked around to where the Snowy Owl usually hangs out but unfortunately it wasn't there when we checked. We met up with Bob Cummings (I hope that's how you spell it) and we looked at some ducks on a piece of ice. Nothing special. When Bob was leaving he noticed a Northern Shrike at the top of a tree so we quickly went over there and got brief views of it before it disappeared. Another lifer! That's 198!! We walked around a bit more but nothing special. A White-Winged Scoter right off shore was pretty cool and an adult male Harlequin Duck was also awesome. So pretty good day of birding with one new bird.

So for a couple years I've been going to camp at the Humber Arboretum and just recently I volunteered. The Humber Arboretum is a great place for not only birds, but mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. Last year we had good numbers of winter finches but this year hasn't been good at all. But I did see one Common Redpoll at the feeders for a second then it flew off but I'm starting to doubt that it really was a redpoll. They also told me that they had Crossbills last year which I missed. But what this place is really good for is owls. I saw 4 of my 5 owl species here. Including a Great Horned Owl which I first saw with Adam in mid December and later by myself recently. And it is another lifer!!! That owl put me at 197 (before the Shrike)! I went out early one morning to see it and get some shots.

Here's the owl with the sun shining on it.



I later went with my mom so she could see it too but we had a little obstacle in our way.

Thanks for reading! And all the best in the New Year!

Humber Arboretum Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/humber.arboretum?fref=ts

Humber Arboretum website: http://www.humberarboretum.on.ca/

OFO Walk: Niagara River - Part 4

After seeing the Lark Sparrow, Adam and I decided to go home but make a stop at the Burlington Skyway. The reason we stopped here is because we were recommended to go here because there were 3 Snowy Owls seen there earlier in the day. So we arrived at Tollgate Ponds (where they were reported) and I immediately saw a Snowy on the tip of the rocks. It didn't take us long to find another Snowy, and then another. We were all so happy to see 3 Snowy Owls. Another lifer!!!

The Snowies are circled in red.

We didn't stay for long because it was getting dark and we had one more place to stop at. Just a little ways down the road there was a bridge above a small river. We were slow and quiet to approach the edge of the bridge because in that river was so many ducks. There was Shoveler, Mallard, Green-Winged Teal, Hooded Merganser, Common Merganser, Cormorant, Black-Crowned Night Herons, and even a couple Northern Pintail. That Pintail was another lifer and a nemesis bird!!! I was so happy to see it.

After that we headed home. This trip brought my life list up to 196! Only 4 more for 200!

OFO Walk: Niagara River - Part 3

At this point, Adam and I were pretty pumped about seeing another lifer but unfortunately, the trip ended. Some people were going to look for Little Gulls at Queenston or something and some were going to see the Lark Sparrow that wasn't reported since noon. So Adam and I decided to go see the Lark Sparrow and add another lifer. So we drove down. It took a long time to drive but we were along the river so I saw a Common  Loon really close to shore. Eventually we got to the house that it was reported at and there was already a huge line of cars. When we got there I asked Matthew (the other young birder that I mentioned earlier) if they saw it at all and he said no. He did tell me that there was a Bald Eagle in a tree right behind us that we didn't notice so I ran over to get some photos (I haven't seen a Bald Eagle up close or taken a photo). But before i could get to it, it flew off.

I did get some really crappy shots of it from behind.

After the Bald Eagle took off, leaving my mom and I disappointed, we looked for the Lark Sparrow some more. Matthew noticed some birds flying around two houses over so he decided to check it out. At this point we were walking to the car so we could drive home but then someone came out of the backyard that Matthew was going in and said "The sparrow's over here!!". I called my mom and ran for the backyard as the other birders were doing. I went down the side of the house towards the backyard and there was already a huge crowd of people lined up. I have never seen so many people trying to find one bird. Birders are so polite. They were actually in a line. No pushing, no yelling. Quiet and collected. Eventually I got to the front. I was ahead of my mom by about 10 people. I looked around for movement in the trees but I got nothing. Until a small songbird landed on a feeder a couple meters from us. It was the sparrow! I don't know how but my mom managed to get in front of me while I was desperately trying to get photos of it. But I made it out with a couple blurry shots. 

This is quite the bird. Another lifer!

One more part left.

Hope you enjoyed.

OFO Walk: Niagara River - Part 2

After seeing the Red Phalarope, Purple Sandpiper, Peregrine Falcon, and Tufted Titmouse I was pretty excited to go to the falls to look for more rarities. The falls seemed pretty quiet with only a couple gulls flying around and nothing special showed up (Bonies, Herring, Ring-Billed) until someone called "KITTIWAKE!" Adam and I rushed to the person who found it and asked where it was. He had lost it. There was another young birder there beside us (a little older than us and more experienced than me) named Matthew. I didn't exactly know what Kittiwake juvis look like but I noticed a different looking gull flying around and I pointed it out to him and asked if that was it. It was! Soon enough everyone saw the bird and was frantically trying to get a better look. It would sometimes get lost in the mist until it came back out and everyone was on it. At one point, some stranger (not a birder) asked me what we were looking at. I just told her it was a different kind of seagull.

If you squint your eyes and lean in you should be able to make out a juvi Black-Legged Kittiwake.

We then headed back to our car to get some food for lunch and some more Titmouse photos.

We then headed for the control gates to look for more gulls. We arrived and there was already a long line of birders with their scopes set up. When we asked someone if they saw anything good they said nothing but a Lesser Black-Backed Gull and some Greater Black-Backed Gulls. Eventually, a birder pointed out an odd looking gull sleeping on the wall. It had the characteristics of a Thayers Gull (by how much we could see it) but its billed was tucked into its body and we couldn't see its legs. This lead to a giant debate to whether it was a Thayers or a hybrid. We hoped it was Thayers because Adam and I had never seen one before. We just let the more experienced birders sort it out while we went to another area to look for a giant flock of Tundra Swans that was seen by another birder. It took us a really long time to find them until some guy with a scope found the flock. He let us look and it wasn't the best views of Tundra Swans because they were so far out that it was hard to see them even with a scope. But I'm not complaining. That's another lifer! I'm that much closer to 200! We got back and the ones arguing about the possible Thayers gull still hadn't resolved it. Until Jean Iron confirmed it was a Thayers Gull. Another lifer for Adam and I!

This trip will be posted in separate parts. 

Thanks for reading!