Uncommon visitors

For the past week or so, I've been reading about people in my general area finding a female Mountain Bluebird. Now, this is a highly unusual sighting in South-Western Ontario, as the Mountain Bluebird is usually found West of the Rockies in the US and Canada. So, just for kicks, the hubby and I decided to go out yesterday afternoon and try to find it.

Fortunately, fairly detailed directions had been provided as to the usual location of the bird, so that got us to the right area... and the dozen or so cars pulled over to the side of the road left very little room for wondering where the bird was displaying herself.

A small grey-blue bird sitting on a grey board fence with a bunch of grey trees behind her didn't make for pictures worth sharing, but we saw her! And I got an ID shot, though you can barely tell what she is. ;-)

This seems to be a good winter for unusual sightings in Ontario. For the past two weeks there's been a Great Grey Owl down in Kingsville, near Point Pelee National Park (one of the top birding spots in North America during spring and fall migrations). I'm so, sooooooo jealous of all the gorgeous shots I've been seeing of this magnificent bird. It's apparently been putting on an amazing show, hunting and landing right in front of groups of observers, sometimes 75 people at a time. If it wasn't a nearly four-hour drive from here, I'd venture down, but... that's a lot of driving, and I'd be beyond disappointed if I got all the way down there and wasn't able to a) find it, or b) get at least one really good picture of it. So I think I'll sit tight for now, and hope one decides to visit my area. ;-)

Happy New Year!

Yeah, I know, it's been a while. The problem is, I haven't had anything of any interest to tell, really. Other than the Cooper's Hawk taking out a bunch of our feeder birds (including a Blue Jay, which made me sad), things have been quiet.

Actually, this morning we had another bird of prey in the yard. I came home around 9:00 AM to pick up my hubby (his truck wouldn't start in the cold, so I left work, picked him up, dropped him at his office, and came back to work), and there was either a Sharpie or a Merlin on a kill in the front yard. I didn't get a good enough look at it to tell which it was, but I think it had taken down a Junco (which also made me sad, because I love those little guys), and it was struggling to fly around the side of the house with it in its talons. So it was small, for sure - definitely not the Cooper's.

This past weekend, my hubby and I went out looking for Snowy Owls, and we managed to find our first once since 2010. Yay! It was a male, and waaaaaaaaay out in a field, so no pictures, but still! And Dave made a great spot - a Short-eared Owl perched on a fence post, hiding within a tree. Neither of us had ever seen one of these guys before, so it was pretty cool. I managed a couple of ID pictures, and I'll post them in the next day or two, even though they're kinda crappy.

Winter birds

After a frustratingly slow fall bird-wise (we even only had one lowly little white-crowned sparrow pass through, and it was a juvenile that I saw once), things seem to be picking up. Yay!

This week we had our first American Tree Sparrow of the winter at our hopper feeder, the Hairy Woodpecker made a reappearance for the first time in a couple of months, and we had Yard Bird Species #52 - White-breasted Nuthatch!

We also have a Cooper's Hawk back stalking our yard. Last year I came home several times to carnage in the snow, but only a couple of times did I catch the culprits in the act - one was a Sharp-shinned Hawk happily munching away on a sparrow, and the other was a Red-Tail that took out a Mourning Dove right under our back window.

I didn't even know the Cooper's was back until the other morning. I was outside with the pup before leaving for work on Tuesday, and I was standing near the driveway, by my hubby's SUV. All of a sudden a sparrow comes screaming past the front of the barn/storage shed, followed by a Cooper's Hawk in full hunting mode. The sparrow just barely made it under Dave's truck and the Cooper's veered off just in time to avoid smacking into the bumper. I was maybe... 10 feet away from the action, and it was SO cool to be that close to a hawk on the hunt.

I saw the Cooper's again yesterday morning, as it dove after some birds at the side of our house. I just happened to look out the front door in time to see him fly up and off (talons empty and no carnage to be found in its wake).

So yes! Fun times are coming. I'm also getting a new camera soon, so I hope I'll be able to put it to good use this winter. And I'm REALLY hoping the snowy owls make it this far south again - I missed them last year!

"27 October 2011" by home page | RedBubble

Hey, check it out! My favorite screech owl picture made the Oct 27 Redbubble home page. Apparently only 3 out of every thousand pictures ever make it there. Very cool! :)

"27 October 2011" by home page | RedBubble:

Holy harriers, Batman...

We’ve had a fair number of Northern Harriers hanging around lately. In fact, yesterday afternoon we saw a pair of them in a mid-air battle with a red-tailed hawk. But just now, there were FIVE Harriers flying over the field adjacent to our yard. FIVE! I wonder if they live in family groups, or if they group together for migration…? But I think we had Harriers around all winter last year, so I don’t know if the ones around here actually migrate.

I really, really need to try to get some good pictures of these guys. They’re usually juuuust far enough from the house that they’re too far away to get a good shot with my 300mm lens. I need to keep trying, though, because they’re such beautiful birds. I just love them.

Screechy good fun

For the past three nights, my hubby's been hearing an eastern screech owl calling from the woods adjacent to our property. (Dave, the hubs, does astrophotography, so he's been outside in his observatory the past few nights because the sky's been nice and clear - and apparently that means good hunting for the little screech owls.) We need to search these little guys out in the daytime!

Early winter bird

Our first Dark-eyed Junco showed up under our feeders this morning. That seems awfully early in the fall for them to be making an appearance. Clearly, winter's on the way!