Tommy Thompson park - negative 4 degrees celsius, snow, and 45km/h winds.

Today I went birding at Tommy Thompson Park. It was -4 degrees, was pelting snow, and there was 45km/h winds. Yeah, what a great day. That didn't stop me from getting 7 new species though!

Here's what I saw:

1 American Kestrel
1 Great Horned Owl
600 Long-tailed Duck
200 Common Goldeneye
100 Greater Scaup
50 Bufflehead
10 Redhead
20 Mallard
10 American Wigeon
50 Gadwall
10 Red-breasted Merganser
8 Trumpeter Swan
3 American Black Duck
10 Black-capped Chickadees

Here are some shots:

Mallards

Hooded Mergansers 

Common Goldeneye - 6 males, 1 female

Common Goldeneye flying through the snow - 3 males, 1 female

American Black Duck (left) and Mallard (right) 

Long-tailed Duck

Long-tailed Ducks, Common Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Gadwall, and Redhead

Toronto skyline

Long-tailed Duck

Bufflehead

Red-breasted Merganser

Great Horned Owl - my first owl I've ever seen!

Long-tailed Ducks

Please comment!

Happy birding!

-Owen

Local ravine and my new bird feeder - a great photo day!

I would like to start off by saying sorry that I haven't been posting anything lately.

I made a birdfeeder complex last weekend:

I have seen 11 species eating on it this past week!

- Northern Cardinal
- Blue Jay
- House Finch
- Black-capped Chickadee
- Mourning Dove
- Carolina Wren
- House Sparrow
- Downy Woodpecker
- Dark-eyed Junco
- White-throated Sparrow
- White-breasted Nuthatch

Here are some shots from my yard:

Mourning Dove closeup

Downy Woodpecker closeup

Dark-eyed Junco - my personal best shot!

 House Finch male on my feeder!

Carolina Wren - my personal best shot!

Black-capped Chickadee - my personal best shot!

Carolina Wren enjoying my suet

Mourning Dove

I can even hand-feed the Chickadees!

Now... I went to my local ravine today to see if there was anything left there.

Here's what I saw:

2 Dark-eyed Juncos

4 Winter Wrens

1 Cooper's Hawk

2 House Finches

6 White-throated Sparrows

2 Downy Woodpeckers

2 White-breasted Nuthatches

3 Northern Cardinals

and that's about it. 

Here are some shots:

Scenery - there is even a rainbow in the bottom middle/left!

Winter Wren! My personal best shot!

Downy Woodpecker female

Hope you enjoyed my shots!

Please comment!

Happy birding

-Owen

Bad birding morning - great photo morning!

On this cool 7 degree October morning, I went back to my local ravine. Terrible birding outing, but I got a few great shots!

Here's what I saw:

30 Golden-crowned Kinglet
6 Dark-eyed Junco
7 American Goldfinch
3 Northern Cardinal
2 Black-capped Chickadee
12 Hermit Thrushes
1 Hairy Woodpecker
10 Downy Woodpecker
1 White-throated Sparrow

Here are some shots!

Downy Woodpecker male

Hermit Thrush!

Hermit Thrush eating berries off the side of my neighbour's house!

My best Hermit Thrush shot ever!

Golden-crowned Kinglet - many of them on the paths!

White-throated Sparrow pose

Dark-eyed Junco

Please comment!

Happy birding!

-Owen

A cold evening birding...

Went to my local ravine last evening, sorry for the photo quality, it was cold, and dark...

Here's what I saw:

1 Swainson's Thrush
1 Song Sparrow
2 Chipping Sparrow
10 White-throated Sparrow
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Hairy Woodpecker
30 Golden-crowned Kinglet
5 Winter Wren

Here are some shots:

Perfectly posed Chipping Sparrow pair!

Hairy Woodpecker female with dinner...

Winter Wren!

Many of these Golden-crowned Kinglets on the path in front of me, many more in the trees!

Full moon!!!

Please give me feedback on how to improve my blog!

I will post a new blog entry every 3 days or less - stay tuned!

Happy birding!

-Owen

Northern Ontario, Sparrow Bonanza!

Went to Owen Sound, Ontario this Sunday for Thanksgiving, and saw many birds, including 7 sparrow species:

-Swamp

-Field

-Song

-Chipping

-White-crowned

-White-throated

-Lincoln's

Here are some shots!

Swamp Sparrows - two of 15

White-breasted Nuthatch

Turkey Vulture

Song Sparrow - one of 10

 White-crowned Sparrow - juvenile. One of 5

Swamp Sparrow pose!

Yellow-rumped Warbler - wouldn't usually include this shot, but it was on the roof! 

Scenery

Cows staring me down

Moon

Please comment!

- Owen

Tommy Thompson Park - a 12 lifer affair!

Was not disappointed this weekend at Tommy Thompson Park, as I got 12 lifers in 4 hours! Tommy Thompson Park is a notorious waterfowl hotspot - throughout the winter, I will bird there looking for waterfowl, owls, larks, buntings, raptors, and possibly longspurs.

Here are the new birds I saw:

1 Peregrine Falcon
1 American Coot
1 Black-billed Cuckoo
1 Ring-necked Duck
1 Lesser Scaup
1 Green-winged Teal
9 Trumpeter Swan
10 Canvasback
15 American Wigeon
20 Redhead
30 Greater Scaup
30 American Pipit

Here are some photos:

Palm Warbler - one of 10

Brown Creeper - one of 7

Yellow-rumped Warbler - one of 50

Creepy Herring Gull - one of 10

Black-billed Cuckoo 

Canvasbacks - 10 of them in the group

Lesser Scaup: leftmost bird   -   Greater Scaup: 3 rightmost birds

Northern Shovelers

Greater Scaup

-Owen