For The Birds: 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.