Peckdipper

The swamp at Boisé Sainte-Dorothée

Black-backed damage?

Welcome to 'ell

Red-shouldered Hawk Buteo lineatus

American Tree Sparrow Spizella arborea

Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura

  Went for a quick twitch to Laval today with Dan, in an effort to spot an erotic Black-backed Woodpecker that has been seen haunting some woods there. We got our asses kicked by bugs there in June chasing after some warbler, and we didn't fare much better today. Cold noses and toses did the ass-kicking this time, and we dipped hard, in spite of finding some trees with suspected Black-backed flaking to their bark.
  There were upwards of 15 other birders there trying to twitch the bird, although my birder math gets shaky when there are just five pairs of binoculars spread among a group that size. They were often huddled and chatty, which I suspect is not the most efficient method for finding a shy and easily overlooked bird like the Black-backed Woodpecker. Listen to me, all up on my high horse, ha ha.