Tuesday, January 27, 2009

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(?)

Sunday, January 25, 2009

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.