Long Time no See

It's been a really long time since I've posted anything, so I thought I had better do so now. I hadn't gone birding for almost the whole of July, as my husband was out of the country. He went birding there, and saw about 20 or so new species. The closest I got was the sight of a male American Goldfinch that serenaded me outside my window, one morning.

We had gone to Riverwood, and saw more flowers than birds. We saw a House Wren, and a flycatcher of some sorts; and that was about it. July was a cold and wet month. Birds don't seem to like that too much. Now that hot steamy weather has returned, there are birds coming out of the woodwork. I don't know where they managed to hide themselves, but I'm glad that something is still here. So far, thank goodness, nothing is in fall colours (or eclipse plumage).

After the first week in August, my husband and I went to Tommy Thompson, in the hope of finding some bird species. At the end of our walk, we were pleasantly surprised to a young Cooper's Hawk flying around the shoreline. He or she perched on some rusty rebar, in order to look us over at its leisure. The sandpipers that were there, disappeared in a flash. The same with the Terns and the gulls that normally scan that part of the shore for fish. I don't even think there were cormorants nearby.

A few days later, we went to Reesor pond, to look at shorebirds. For some reason, this year, there are a lot of Egrets hanging out. Some counts were as high as one dozen in the very small pond. We saw quite a few; along with several Great Blue Heron, Dunlin, Kildeer, Spotted Sandpiper, and that sort of thing. At one point an Osprey flew into range, but didn't stop. I guess the fish there were not big enough to bother with.

Love is in the Air

We went back to Tommy Thompson Park on July 1st. The weather was great- hot and sunny, and we saw a lot of the usual birds. There were some species missing, but we did get to see some Common Terns bathing in the water, close up. My husband got some really great shots of that; mine were of them flying about or perching on rocks with their catch. There was a lot of them chasing each other around whenever one of them caught a fish. I think that even the ones who caught something would sing about it to all and sundry.

It's nice to see babies everywhere, darting about: ducklings, goslings, baby sandpipers, baby everything...

Today we went to Colonel Sam Smith Park to check on the Red-necked Grebe pair that were nesting. They were still there, but I think they were on nest number 2. They were no hatchlings about, and it appeared that this brood consisted of one egg. Regardless, it was great to see they were being so vigilant, and taking turns staying on the nest. In fact, when one mallard was silly enough to get within a metre of the nest, the other parent dove under the water, and surprised it from below. the result was a shocked duck that took off like a shot, and scared all the other ducks around.

Of note, today were a young Orchard Oriole pair. I think they were courting, and we were cutting in his act. The male was very young, and looked like a Hooded Oriole. This really bothers me, because my first thought whenever I see an immature O.O. is that it's a Hooded. Well, maybe someday I'll see one here.

The Bird Drought Continues

I don't remember things being so slow this time last year. We have visited Tommy Thompson Park a few times, and haven't seen very much. The yellow warbler has been ubiquitous, which is great, but there seems to be a drop in the number of flycatchers and gnatcatchers that we used to see.

In general, we are seeing a lot of baby birds- terns, gulls and cormorant chicks, but not Kingbird, Yellow Warbler, and Baltimore Oriole chicks. Also, the warblers seemed to have moved further north. Of note, we have seen a Western Sandpiper, and Upland Sandpiper.

We went to Carden Alvar, and saw more Upland Sandpipers, and a Wilson's Snipe. The trip was disappointing because we thought that we would see more species. For example, there were supposed to be Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos in great numbers, but we didn't see any. Nor did we get a glimpse of a Loggerhead Shrike.

This evening, we decided to bird the Spit. Right above our heads when we parked the car, were a small group of baby Barn Swallows. It is very unusual to see Barn Swallows at rest. We hung around and tried to capture some shots of one of them getting fed. This proved to be more difficult, than I thought. I could never anticipate which nestling would get fed. At one point, the parent briefly rested on the hydro line, in order to check us out, so I got to get some shots before they all flew off to another spot. I am hoping that, at least, my husband was able to get of shot of one of them being fed. They were awfully cute.

The Quest for New Bird Species

Well, the spring migration seems to have slowed down even before it really got started. It seemed like spring would never come, and for a while there, it looked as though there would be a lot of species coming back.

The numbers of warblers have tapered off, and we've now been focusing on the shorebirds. My hope is that things will get better with warmer temperatures, as it has been on the cool side for the past couple of weeks.

That being said, my husband and I have been going to places like Oshawa Second Marsh, in the hope of finding new bird species. We had heard about the Piping Plover being spotted there, and we went off in pursuit.

The whole area is beautiful, with a lot of tree and shrub species, and a lovely pond, opposite Lake Ontario. We had a very long walk to make in order to reach the shore birds. We didn't find the Piping Plover, but we did see our first Ruddy Turnstone. There were also Semi-Palmated Plovers, Dunlins, White-rumped and Spotted Sandpipers to be seen.

A Goodly Harvest

It has been a while since I have posted anything. I have had so much fun, finding and taking pictures of so many warblers, that I haven't had much time for anything else.

Most of the sightings have been at Tommy Thompson Park. My husband and I were fortunate enough to see some at Thickson's Woods, and at Cranberry Marsh. However, we can see the same birds closer to home.

More experienced birders seem to be reporting 20 or more warbler species at one go. The most we've managed in one day has been 16 species. As the weather gets warmer, I hope that we will match the bigger numbers.

Tommy Thompson is also a great place to see flycatchers. Usually, they show up a little later- say when the mosquitoes are present. That's when I will stop going to the wet parts of the park, I think.

Some nice surprises over the past two weeks have been close up views of a Scarlet Tanager, a Tennessee Warbler, a Black-throated Blue Warbler female, and a Bay-breasted male. Close up views of the Blackburnian male continue to elude me.

The Yellow Warblers are plentiful, and they don't seem to be as shy as the other warbler species. I love their beauty, and how they zip around from branch to branch. I think they are having a blast.

Warblers at Last

Finally, finally, we got to see some warblers this week. I was starting to wonder if any would ever show up. We have had such cold weather this March, and most of April.

My husband and I went down to Humber Bay East last Tuesday, and we saw a lovely male Yellow Warbler. On the Wednesday, we saw some more Yellow Warblers, and some Yellowrump Warblers close up. They were also in the company of some King birds,some Rough-winged Swallows, and a very curious Solitary Vireo. We were in heaven. We were lurking in the bushes taking close up shots, of these birds. The whole experience eclipsed refinding the Harlequin Ducks earlier on.

On the Thursday, we went back, and saw more of these warblers, as well as a secretive Palm warbler.

On Friday afternoon, we went to Tommy Thomson Park, and went into some very wet areas, in the hope of seeing more warblers. We were not disappointed. We did also see our first Red-headed Woodpecker, so that was a treat. There were at least a dozen Palm Warblers there, and one of them got within half-a-metre of us. We got some awesome shots of it.

The weekend was not so good birding wise, as there was a lot of rainfall. The warblers seemed to have disappeared for now. We had to content ourselves with the dozens of Double-crested Cormorants, and Night Herons that are starting to nest there.

I am hoping for better weather this week, and a chance to see some warblers that we haven't seen before.

Waiting for those Warblers

Yesterday, we decided to go to Tommy Thompson as we didn't want to go out far. It was an incredibly beautiful day, it went up to 26 degrees Celsius. For the past while, we have been having very cold weather.

We had gone to Colonel Sam Smith Park, and Humber Bay East Park during the week, and we were lucky enough to see a Pied-billed Grebe, and a Ruddy at Humber Bay.

At Tommy Thompson, my husband spotted an American Woodcock, not only close to the gate but also close to the road. Woodcocks are almost impossible to see without almost stepping on them. The dig into the earth with their long bills in order to get at the earthworms. Generally, we only manage to get a glimpse of them flying away.

This one just sat there and allowed us to approach it. As we crept closer, it would continue to keep a baleful eye on us, and crouch down closer and closer to the earth.
We left it undisturbed for a change. It was nice to actually get a good look at one, this time.

By the wetlands, we managed to get close to some canvasback ducks who were busy competing for the attentions of one female. There were also some terns, and some shovelers. The terns are busy getting their nesting sites ready. The platform on the lake doesn't seem to interest them at this point, but that may change.

We did see a huge perch flopping out of the water, several times. I have no idea why it would do this, but it was a pretty interesting sight.

We didn't get to see much, because the weather started to change significantly. The wind whipped some clouds, and dust, and we decided to high tail it out of there.

The next day, it was cold and raining, and we changed our minds about going back. It turns out that, at least, ten warblers species had blown it with the storm. D'oh.

Saying Hello to an Old Familiar Face

Yesterday, my husband and I decided to go birding at High Park, Humber Bay East Park, and Col. Sam Smith Park.

The weather was fantastic for a change, and the sky was free of clouds. At High Park, we took a lot of pictures of the returning Wood Ducks. Both the male and female of the species are quite beautiful. We did not see much else, so we went to Humber Bay East Park.

We did not find the Harlequin Ducks from the previous day, we did see our first Pied Billed Grebe of the season.

From there, we went to Colonel Sam Smith Park. In one of the bays, we saw the King Eider juvenile male that we had seen in the winter. It got pretty close to shore, and it was in spring plumage. It looks like a second year male. We also managed to get close up shots of the male Common Merganser, which is difficult to do, normally. The female mergansers seem to look upon the King Eider as some kind of rock star, as they hung around him so closely, and they stared at him a lot. He would just chase them off, as did the male merganser.

Another big surprise was the sight of pair of Common Loons so close to shore. They were great to see; especially as it has been a long time since we have seen any.

Yesterday, of course, we saw the Harlequin Ducks at Humber Bay East. We also went to Col. Sam Smith, and saw Tree Swallows, Barn Swallows, and perhaps, a Bank Swallow, yesterday. The highlight of the day for me, was the sight of some Little Gulls flying close by us, on their way to who knows where.

Slow Start to Spring

Well, Spring is here, more or less, but the pickings are still pretty slim. We saw our first new species for our spring checklist, and also a new species for both my husband and I.

We went up to the Holland Marshes, last Thursday, in the hope of seeing some Snow Geese stragglers. Well, there wasn't much to see, as the vernal ponds were drying up. In the last place we decided to look, we were greeted with a lovely surprise.

At the end of one country road there was a swamp on one side, and the road ended in another swamp. On the opposite side of the road was an old barn, with a window propped open in the upper storey.

Two little birds swooped over to check us out. They were our first Eastern Phoebes of the season. They found us very curious, and stuck around long enough for us to take some pictures.

When we turned back to go to the car, there were a pair of ducks swimming right beside the road. (The other ducks we saw were largely Pintails, but they were too far away for good viewing.)

At first, I thought we were looking at some widgeons, but then I realized that we were looking at Blue-winged Teals; a first for us. We managed to get a couple of shots before a nearby Kildeer screamed with alarm, and set the pair flying.

Today we went to Lasalle Park in Burlington, in hope of seeing some Tundra Swans, or yes, Snow Geese. It was a long shot, and we were disappointed again, but there were some Trumpeter Swans still hanging around, as well as some American Coots, and Widgeons.

Along the trail we were fortunate enough to see a Golden-crowned Kinglet, and a Winter Wren which was darting in and out of the leaf litter.

Pretty Slim Pickings

Birding this week has been pretty bad. We went all the way to Brighton, yesterday, to Presqu'ile Provincial Park. We heard some pretty good reports, especially of waterfowl present. It fact, it was week two of their Waterfowl Festival.

Well, there was not a whole lot to be festive about. When we arrived I was happy to see a Great Blue Heron fly over head. Wow, I thought, this augured well for the day. Boy, was I wrong! We saw a lot of Song Sparrows, Robins, 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet,1 Pine Siskin; which I only heard but took off when I approached. Lots of Mute Swans, 2 Turkey Vultures, crows, Mallards, and Bufflehead. Not what I was expecting to see after an hour-and-a-half drive.

I decided to try to enjoy the beauty of this place; and it was beautiful. We went for a walk down one trail that wound through the pines and out to the wetlands. It was incredible. Certainly, worth the trip just to go hiking, and camping. I am going to pretend that I won't go back there for the birds.(Yeah, right! It is a birding hotspot spring, summer, and fall.) We did end up seeing about 100 Ring-necked Ducks in the end, but I was hoping to see Tundra Swans, and Snow Geese.

We stopped at Coburg Harbour, but all we saw there, besides the usual Mallards, and Ring-Billed Gulls, were some Trumpeter Swans, and a pair of Kildeer. I took pictures of one duck that was very far off, and I'm certain it's female Harlequin duck, but my husband thought the picture wasn't detailed enough. He says it's probably a Surf Scoter. Hey, I've been wrong before.

We stopped at Newcastle Harbour, and didn't see much of anything at all. Someone had recently seen a Swangoose, but it, apparently, has left.

Finally, we stopped at Humber Bay East. Pickings were pretty slim there too, but we did get to see some Northern Shovelers pretty close up.

When will Spring Migration really start?

It's a Grebe Convention

The day before yesterday, my husband and I went to Colonel Sam Smith Park in the hope of seeing some more spring migrants. There were quite a few robins, red-winged blackbirds, and starlings; and we were happy to see a brown-headed cowbird.

The real action was in the water. We relocated the horned grebes from last time. There were a few more, and at one of them was in spring molt, so it was nice to see some color on these birds. We have seen them in the summer, and they are pretty spectacular, and it would be nice to see that again, of course. It's weird to see their red eyes with the red markings that lead down to their beaks. It is very hard to get a sharp picture of them, for some reason.

There were also quite a few red-necked grebes. A couple of them had those crazy pompoms on their heads. They were a lot more colorful than the horned grebes, and they seemed to be paired off here, and there, busying themselves with vocally harassing their own, as if each needed to have a wide territory.

We took a lot of pictures of both species, and headed over to a calmer bay round the opposite side. There was a small flock of white-winged scoters, and perhaps, one juvenile surf scoter. There was also a spry mink that swam by and hopped onto some ice, before gingerly making its way to another bank. At the end of the bay where it opened up on the lake where some more horned grebe, and I noticed one seemed to be edging closer. We went out to the point and on our return, the horned grebe was were the scoter were. That was great. It was the closest we had ever been to a grebe (in Canada), and we got some really great close up shots.

Checking out the Early Spring Migrants

My husband and I went to Tommy Thompson Park, at the Leslie Street Spit, this afternoon. It is still a little early in the spring migration season, but we were hopeful.

As it turned out, most of the birds we saw there were at the front gate.

There were two male robins, two male red-winged blackbirds, two northern mockingbirds, two grackles, some song sparrows, and one noisy kildeer.

The two mockingbirds seemed to be duking it our for space. One in particular, was really intent on chasing off the other, which would keep landing close by, and start singing. That would set the other one off again in aggressive pursuit. I figured the one kept advertising his charms to all and sundry, and I imagined the other to be saying: 'Quit cramping my style!' or something to that effect.

The red-winged blackbirds weren't much better. The two closest to the entrance, had the same kind of scuffle, which was weird because there were all sorts of males inside the park now, and it seemed that there was one every 25 paces or so. Soon, it will be more like one blackbird per tree, and their calls will start to get on my nerves.

Right now, their three-note song sounds like spring to me, and I hope I will always feel that way; but I am not optimistic.

Return to Algonquin

I finally got a free Saturday again, so my husband and I went back to Algonquin in the hope of seeing the Evening Grosbeaks, and a grouse, or two.

We were in luck. It was a beautiful day, all day, with the sun shining and the temperature a balmy 3 degrees. (It was warmer in Toronto, though). We stopped at the Visitor Centre first, and we lucky enough to see the Evening Grosbeaks. There was a flock of about a dozen of them, which kept flying off and returning. We got some close up views of the several males, and one female. There was also some Blue Jays, a Gray Jay, and some redpolls, mostly Common, and one Hoary.

We went over to Opeongo Road, hoping to see a Boreal Chickadee. We went out pretty far, until I felt like someone, or something, was boring holes into my back with its eyes. I thought it best that we return to the gate. There were plenty of Black-capped Chickadees, Gray Jays, Blue Jays, and one nuthatch. They all fed from my hand, except for the Blue Jays.

Then, we drove to Spruce Bog Boardwalk, again to see a Boreal Chickadee. Nope. Nothing again. We decided to walk on the trail, and it was a gorgeous hike. I got scared at one point, thinking we might see a wolf or a bear. All we saw were a young couple, sitting out in the middle of nowhere, eating apples.

We went back to the Visitor's Centre, and we managed to see a Spruce Grouse, this time. As we drove through to the other end of the park, we saw a Ruffed Grouse just sitting on the bank. Hurray! At the other end of the park, we saw the Pine Grosbeaks, and some more redpolls. What a wonderful trip!

Where Are all the Birds?

The Spring Bird Count is not getting off to a great start. There doesn't seem to be much to report, and we have gone to a few places where we've come back having seen one bird! Yesterday was a little better. Previously, we went to Happy Valley Forest, and saw a Downy Woodpecker- that was it. We also saw Black Bear footprints in the snow, which just made me want to high tail it out of there as soon as possible!

Then, we went to Holland Marsh in hopes of seeing the Gray Gray Owl that was reported there. We missed seeing it for the second time in a row. We thought we might see the Horned Larks we saw there on the first trip. Nope. Gone. So, we went to the Conservation Area nearby. Well, we saw a couple of bluejays, some chickadees, lots of crows, and heard some Pine Siskins. This is not really what we had in mind when we drove out here for 45 minutes.

So, yesterday we went to Humber Bay East. Well, we did see some returning Blackbirds. Good, good. But that was basically it. So, then we went Colonel Sam Smith Park. Hello. The juvenile King Eider male was back. Hurray! We got within 2 meters of this bird, and it didn't mind a bit. After, that we saw one of the Horned Grebes we saw on an earlier visit. Great stuff, but still...

The winter birds are disappearing, and now there is a vacuum. When will the Spring Migration really start?

A Bird in the Hand

Quite often, when we go out birding, we are trying to find some particular bird that has been posted as being at a particular place. It is not unusual for bird lovers to travel great distances in order to get a glimpse of some uncommon visitor.

I found that sometimes we put too much energy into finding these birds, that when we don't get to see them, we also don't get to see too much else. Case in point: when my husband and I traveled for several hours to see a Varied Thrush, which was gone by the time we reached the feeder. We also didn't get a glimpse of the White-winged Crossbills or the Pine Siskins that were there, as well.

Whenever we do go someplace looking for that special bird, and I have just decide to focus on the birds around me, I found that I usually got to see something just as rewarding.

We had gone back to Riverwood Park in the hope of seeing the Pileated Woodpecker pair that was reported there. Well, we didn't happen to see them. However, we were fortunate enough to see a pair of Coopers Hawk close to the nest. We stayed with them, and they seem to want to indulge us in this. When we had moved on, in search of the woodpeckers, the female hawk flew over to where we were, and just sat there looking at us. It was a pretty awesome experience. I think that if we were to ignore the hawks, and had just try to find the woodpeckers, we would have ended with some pretty long faces.

A Good Week for Bird Watching

There was a lot going on this week, and I don't know how it was that I managed to do any birdwatching. My husband and I went back to Colonel Sam Smith Park a couple of times, and we saw a lot of the usual suspects. We also managed to see our first Winged-winged Scoters.

They were great. They seemed to be unafraid of us, and they let us get very close. They ate lots and lots of mussels, and they would just swallow them whole: shell and all. They had a weird serpentine way of swimming, and they would dive into the water with their wings slightly spread out. They also looked a little weird; especially the male with that bill, and those white eyes with the white comma-shaped markings accentuating them.

We also went back to Riverwood, and took some wonderful close up shots of the pine siskins, and the redpolls at the feeders. These little birds are so much fun to watch. The whole area is full of them, and also a lot of goldfinches; but the goldfinches did not come to the feeders like the other finches did.

There were reports of a Brown Thrasher, and a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers, but we didn't manage to see either of those species. We also didn't see the little Screech Owl that has taken up residence there.

Yesterday, we went to Ashbridges Bay in the hope of seeing the Western Grebe, that was reported there all week. We were out of luck. I did manage to get some great shots of young Greater Black-backed gull that was flying around, as well as ones of an Icelandic gull.

The funny thing was that I managed to get some shots of some White-winged Crossbills in the city after all: there was a flock of them feeding on the jack pines, and the alders.

Looking for Crossbills Again

I took my dog to the dogpark again, and I brought my camera along. It was my secret hope that I would get some pictures of the crossbills I saw a couple of weeks ago.

On the way, I looked up, and just over my head was a fast moving hawk. I tried to get a shot of it, but my lens would not cooperate. It was a beautiful and sunny day. The lens was set on automatic, and it just wouldn't focus. By the time, I switched to manual, the hawk was quite a ways over my head. It seemed to be trying to catch itself a pigeon.

The pigeons eluded the hawk beautifully. They just swooped around and around in a large circle, and I think this confused the hawk. I don't think it managed to get any of them. I found out later, when looking at my photographs that it was a Coopers Hawk.

I continued my walk over to the dogpark, and let my dog off the lead. I waited for what seemed to be a very long time. I didn't see anything. After, what semed to be half-an-hour, I heard some birds communicating with each other when a large German Shepherd came into the park.

About half a dozen juncoes materialized from the jack pines. They let me photograph them; which was wonderful. However, my pictures were all blurry. The only shots of them in focus where when they looked away, or when they were obscured in some way. Aaargh!

When I got home, I took the garbage out through the backyard. Some starlings, and some small dark birds landed in the lilac tree in my garden. I couldn't figure out what these birds were. They looked like mini starlings; they were so dark. However, the bill shapes were not right.

These little birds started to preen themselves, and their appearance started to change. It turns out, that they were House Sparrows. My husband thinks they must have been bathing in a dirty puddle, or something. Or a chimney flue, I thought, from the looks of them.

Ducks galore

We went to Bluffers' Park in Scarborough, yesterday in the hope of seeing the Harlequin that was spotted in the marina.

We had no such luck but we did see many scaup, buffleheads, mallards, gadwalls, mergansers, and goldeneyes. We also saw a 'blond' mallard; something we had seen in Coburg, although that may have been another species.

There were also a ton of gulls. We had such a difficult time trying to figure out what was what. There are so many different gulls, and the juveniles tend to look alike.

We saw an Icelandic Gull, and we think, our first Thayer's Gull. What we didn't see were any songbirds, not even house sparrows, so that was strange. There were a lots of pigeons, however, that kept circling the marina over and over again.

All in all, it was a good birding day.

The Merganser Versus The Sunfish

My husband and I went to Humber Bay East Park, yesterday, in the hope of seeing the Harlequin ducks, again. We saw mergansers, scaup, goldeneye, widgeons, mallards, swans, buffleheads, and gadwalls. We didn't even see one sparrow, or small songbird of any kind.

The ice was still thick in many places, so the ducks were pretty far out. Nonetheless, there were areas along the points that were not frozen, and we managed to get some good shots.

One set were of a Common Merganser whose eyes were too big for its stomach. It must have been a juvenile, because I don't think an adult bird would have made such a mistake; nor had persisted so, in swallowing its catch. This bird tried again and again. It had dropped the fish several times, and then would pick it right up again for another go.

At one point, another Common Merganser came over and claimed the fish. It, too, was no better off, but at least it quit after the first attempt. I think the other one was happy to have left its catch.

Snowy Owl Encounter

Yesterday, my husband and I went to Tommy Thompson Park to find some birds. This park is also known as the Leslie Street Spit. It is a landfill site that has been turned into a park. It is now an Important Bird Area, because many birds have stopped there.

As it was, we were scouring the shoreline in hopes of seeing the King Eider ducks again. What we did end up seeing were a pair of Snowy Owls. We flushed one by accident, and it ended up flying over to where the other one was. The first was very white; much whiter than the one we saw a couple of months ago. Of course, that one was the second bird: it was more heavily barred than its companion.

One of the birds had been rescued by a nearby homeowner, and released. It seems to be quite content. The other is a juvenile, and the subject of much attention. Some birders seemed to think that it was being harassed...well, it hasn't gone anywhere so I guess it must be happy here,too.

We saw some gulls, scaup, mergansers, redheads, and buffleheads.We saw what appeared to be an injured song sparrow, and finally the northern goshawk, and a juvenile northern shrike. Not too bad by any standards, I would say.

White-winged Crossbills in Toronto

I took my dog to the nearby dog park yesterday, and I brought my camera along in the hope of seeing a cardinal or two in the pine trees.

To my surprise, I heard and saw a flurry of movement that I recognized as Crossbill activity! I couldn't believe it. The birds were moving about quickly, and they were not too visible. Before I knew it most of them had flown off or disappeared. I was not happy, to say the least. To top it off, I had trouble with my lens, and I couldn't get it to cooperate at all.

What I did see were juncos, chicadees, and goldfinches. I told my story to my husband, but when he looked at my blurry shots, he told me that I was taking pictures of juncos. D'uh! I knew they were juncos! I got the feeling that he didn't believe me.

Well, I went back today with a pair of binoculars, and my dog, of course. I spotted a bird perched at the very top of a pine tree...When I got there, I heard Crossbill chatter, but this time, one or two showed themselves to me.

I managed to observe about 4 males, and 1 female. I was over the moon. I took my dog back home, and I foolishly decided to return with camera in hand. So, what happened?
NO CROSSBILLS!!! Just some juncos that decided to take pity on me.

That is why I am not posting a picture today.It just may be that the crossbills want to keep their presence a secret(?)

Winter in Algonquin Park

My husband and I took a day trip out to Algonquin Park, yesterday. For those of you who don't know about Algonquin, it is a place of quiet, rugged wilderness in Northern Ontario that's about 8,000 square kilometres in size.

Algonquin is full of granite, water, and pines. The granite highlands poke out of the landscape like turtles' backs. Everywhere, there is snow and silent forest. The water runoff from the hills is frozen on the rocks.

The drive through the park is about 60 kilometres long, and the Visitor's Centre is at the East end of the park. Out on the deck you get some idea of the vastness of the place. You also get a close up view of some of the boreal birds species that live there. We saw our first Pine Grosbeaks, and I saw Pine Siskins for the first time. The grosbeaks were so beautiful. There were 2 males and 2 females that came to check us out.

Out on the trails we came across a pair of Gray Jays, or Canada Jays, as they were once called. They didn't fly off in fear like most birds, and they just stayed perched in the trees just above our heads and watched us. They were gorgeous. The chicadees kept fluttering around us in the hope of a handout, but we came unprepared.

Walking into the forests was another thing altogether. The snow blanketed the trees in every crevice imaginable. The beauty of it all was astonishing.