Red-tailed Hawk over NDG

Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis

  I spotted this guy circling low and hard over NDG, a typically tree-rich area of Montreal. I got a snapshot of it with a small digital camera, but it was low enough that you can make it out. The squirrels I saw further on down the street looked worried, and rightly so. Reminded me a lot of the Buteo buzzards I ran into in Korea, only squatter.
  Dan and I are headed out for a bird wander on Thursday, at some spots to be determined. We'll probably just make it up as we go.
  I keep daydreaming about spending a couple of months of solid birding on Korea's Yellow Sea islands in April-May. Just go there unemployed and bird from dawn til dusk every day. Hmmmm.
  Sounds like the start of a solid Plan B, because lord knows my Plan A is not looking too good.

Birding Memories: Morgan Arboretum, September 9, 2011

Feel the warm breeze

American Red Squirrel Tamiasciurus hudsonicus

Black-capped Chickadee Poecile atricapillus (looks similar to the Marsh Tits I saw in Korea)

Northern Green Frog Rama clamitans - very lethargic

After a gentle prod - no, it's not dead.

Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura - They've been moving north

Common Garter Snake Thamnophis sirtalis

Eastern Chipmunk Tamias striatus

  Because it is so hellishly cold, here are some nice warm memories of an Arbo trip that now seems like a long time ago. That balmy day saw a fun mix of birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals.

Hoary red-Poll

  That's what I become when it's -30 out.

Plus ca change...

Then

Now

  Here are Dan and I at the arbo trying to feed Chickadees. One pic was taken today, the other was...not.

Montreal, Morgan Arboretum, January 16, 2013

Mourning Doves Zenaida macroura

Common Redpoll Acanthis flammea

Dan fails with the Redpoll

Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis

Great Gray Owl Strix nebulosa

White-breasted Nuthatch Sitta carolinensis (leg-banded)

Hairy Woodpecker Picoides villosus

Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) Junco hyemalis

Owl meat (American Red Squirrel Tamiasciurus hudsonicus)

Jet-lagged and livin' the dream!

Dan being a goofy-ass

Arbo fields

Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus

  It was a mild and sunny January day on my first Montreal birding expedition in over a year. Upon arrival at the Morgan Arboretum (at the northwestern tip of the island of Montreal), Dan and I were surprised to see a flock of Common Redpoll actively feeding in the sunlight. This winter has seen an influx of Redpolls in Quebec. I believe this was a first for me! Great-looking bird.

  This winter has also seen a spike in the sightings of our other two ‘interesting’ species of the day – Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Great Gray Owl (!). The Red-bellied Woodpecker stuck to the high treetops, and was apparently not very aptly named. Also of note was a leg-banded White-breasted Nuthatch. I’ll try to decipher the markings on the band and pass the info along to the banders, most likely the McGill Bird Observatory (http://www.migrationresearch.org/mbo.html).

  Dan, my birding compadre for at least 25 years, almost rugby tackled me as we were walking down a narrow trail between two large fields, and hissed ‘OWL!’ in my ear. There was a Great Gray Owl perched casually above our heads. It just sat there scanning the fields, lazily swivelling its alien-turret head around to sternly glare at us every few minutes. Good times! The next week will see an end to this unseasonably warm weather, as an arctic cold front moves down to turn runny noses into ice. Here’s what we saw:

Red-tailed Hawk – 1

Mourning Dove – 7

Great Gray Owl – 1

Red-bellied Woodpecker – 1

Downy Woodpecker – 5

Hairy Woodpecker – 2

Blue Jay – 1

American Crow – 10

Black-capped Chickadee – 24

White-breasted Nuthatch – 3

Red-breasted Nuthatch – 2

European Starling – 8

Northern Cardinal – 2

Dark-eyed Junco – 1

Common Redpoll – 40+

The winds of migration...

Pallas's Reed Bunting Emberiza pallasi

Trouble on the horizon

...shall very soon sweep this Snowy Owl back to the frozen wastes of Quebec. I took time out from being exhausted and stressed and went out for my first (last?) Korean bird walk of 2013. Definitely bittersweet, much as my year has been. I got good long looks at a group of Pallas's Reed Buntings perched in a small tree. Strange, as usually they're seen flitting nervously through reeds. These guys were just sitting there watching me watch them watch me. I took it as a sign of some kind. Hopefully this great little strip of habitat will still be here in a year. Already flanked on two sides by canyons of apartments, the worker ants were busy today ripping up more and more reedy habitat to put yet more apartments in. Sigh. Ok, time to get back to being exhausted and stressed.

Igidae, Busan, December 31, 2012

Varied Tit Sittiparus varius

female Eurasian Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula

Long-tailed Tit Aegithalos caudatus

Goldcrest Regulus regulus

Grey-capped Greenfinch Chloris sinica

mysterious 'rufous-gorgeted' Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus

  I had the pleasure of spending the last day of 2012 with Dr. Moores, a remarkably intelligent birder/conservationist, and all-around good bloke. We scoured Igidae at a leisurely pace, and while we didn't run into anything super rare, we had a great day getting to know a lot of the more common birds a bit better. It started to get frigid by day's end, and indeed, a large system of cold weather is pushing through Korea over the next week. We'll see if any birds come down with the system...

Snow birding on Geoje

Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago

Buff-bellied Pipit Anthus rubescens

Olive-backed Pipit Anthus hodgsoni

Red-flanked Bluetail Tarsiger cyanurus

Little Bunting Emberiza pusilla

Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus

Eurasian Magpie Pica pica

Large-billed Crow Corvus macrorhynchos

Bull-headed Shrike Lanius bucephalus

Far Eastern Skylark Alauda japonica

  A heavy snowfall overnight painted a bright new landscape around my local patch, and there was plenty of interesting bird activity, with close to 60 species seen. I saw a few personal Geoje firsts, some unexpected birds, and a lot of the birds seemed to be acting edgy and strange because of the snow. ‘Hungrier’ all of a sudden, maybe. I was stunned to see a Bull-headed Shrike locked in a life-or-death dogfight with a bite-sized Eurasian Wren, and they flew around me at close range before vanishing behind a group of trees.
  Also acting uncharacteristically aggressive was a reddish Eastern Buzzard that was actively cruising the fields at low level, perhaps taking advantage of how visible small birds were against the snow.

  Most of the action was going on in a scrubby/reedy corner of a large set of fields. Two Little Buntings (a personal Geoje first) were confiding in a ditch, while a Far Eastern Cisticola and Pallas’s Reed Bunting were a lot less open, skulking in the reeds. A group of 25 Skylarks, not usually seen on this side of the island, shimmered nervously through the fields as a Northen Goshawk, Eastern Buzzard, and Eurasian Kestrel took turns making low passes over the field. Also in the fields, a flock of close to 30 Chinese Penduline Tits, dozens of Buff-bellied and Olive-backed Pipits, and perhaps six Common Snipe.

  On the mountain trails, several Hawfinch (also a personal Geoje first), a confiding male Red-flanked Bluetail and later at least a half-dozen females. I also ran into the resident small flock of Eurasian Bullfinch, made up of five females, a male rosacea, and a male ‘griseiventris-type’, which I photographed earlier in the week.

  The nearby canals and especially the harbour were teeming with winter bird activity. Common and Black-headed Gulls outnumbered Black-tailed Gulls where the canal meets the harbour, and at least a hundred Great Crested Grebe formed loose rafts further out. Also on the harbour, about 60 Common Pochard, and a handful of Greater Scaup, Tufted Duck, and Common Goldeneye.