Ottawa road trip birds

Endless geese

Roadbirding

Spring is here!

  Even though it wasn't a birding trip to Ottawa, the binos were out and a decent number of spring birds were spotted. Heading to Ottawa on March 30th, endless skeins of Canada Geese were stacked all the way back to the horizon. Another good sign of spring in the area were the countless Red-winged Blackbirds perched along the highway as regularly as mile markers. Poo-chick-o-reeeee! We spotted the odd Common Grackle along the road, and even in downtown Ottawa. Also of note were two Great Blue Herons spotted flying high above the highway.
  On April 1st, the trip back to Montreal saw a lot fewer Canada Geese flying (perhaps due to the extremely strong winds), but we did spot smaller groups in fields, and even saw a large group of Snow Geese resting in a farmer's field.
  I feel like spending spring on some small Yellow Sea islands birding from dawn to dusk.

Northern Cardinal

Northern Cardinal Cardinalis cardinalis

  I have noticed a few vocal male Northern Cardinals out and about in NDG over the last couple of weeks.
  Lately I have been gleefully fussing over my birding gear in preparation for spring. Spring! And I've got some big old birding plans for spring.
  Oh, on the subject of cardinals, here's a cool link I saw on the BPQ group about a gynandromorph cardinal - half male, half female: http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/a-gynandromorph-cardinal-one-half-male-the-other-half-female/

Ozzie memories 2 - May 24th, 2008 - Epic!

Black-shouldered Kite Elanus axillarus

Eastern Yellow Robin Eopsaltria australis

Galah Eolophus roseicapilla

Grey Fantail Rhipidura albiscapa

Laughing Kookaburra Dacelo novaeguineae

Little Corella Cacatua sanguinea

Purple Swamphen Porphyrio Porphyrio

Rockwarbler (Origma) Origma solitaria

female Superb Fairy-wren Malurus cyaneus

White-eared Honeyeater Lichenostomus leucotis

White-throated Treecreeper Cormobates leucophaea

  Of course summer is winter in Australia, just to keep visitors on their toes. Here are some pics from what was probably my most epic day of birding to date. On a sunny Friday in May I met up with an amazing birder, Keith Brandwood. Originally from England, Keith has been living in the Hawkesbury District northwest of Sydney for the better part of four decades, and he took a whole day to show me every nook and cranny of his patch, which he knows well.
  We ended up seeing 99 bird species that day, 2/3 of which were lifers for me. Whoa. Apparently we were pretty lucky to have spotted the Rockwarbler, which is high on the wishlist of even local birders. When I saw and heard my first Kookaburra, everything seemed right with the world.
  It was epic. EPIC! Thanks again, Keith.

Ozzie memories - Summer 2008

Australian White Ibis Threskiornis moluccus

male Australian Wood Duck Chenonetta jubata

female Australian Wood Duck Chenonetta jubata

male Chestnut Teal Anas castanea

female Chestnut Teal Anas castanea

Masked Lapwing Vanellus miles

Australian Magpie Cracticus tibicen

Australian Magpie Cracticus tibicen

Silver Gull Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae

Crested Pigeon Ocyphaps lophotes

Common Myna Acridotheres tristis

Noisy Miner Manorina melanocephala

  Slow bird week, I've been busy. I'll have to get out there soon though, spring is knocking. The Red-winged Blackbirds are back, along with the gulls. Funny, in Korea, winter is when the gulls come back in force.
  So here are a few pics from my memorable trip to Australia in May-August of 2008. It was glorious! The first installment is stuff from the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney. Strewth!

Île-de-la-Visitation, March 9th

House Finch Haemorhous mexicanus

Pigeon! Pigeon!

  It was a super sunny and warm day to join a BPQ field trip. Always good to compare notes with other birders. Pretty quiet day overall. Spring soon! Oh, I saw a squirrel with no tail, and it was hideous.

In search of Snowies - St-Hubert, March 4th

Snow Bunting - unmistakable pied wings

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Horned Lark (female)

Horned Lark (male)

Roadside Snow Buntings

Lost in suburban hell

Snow Bunting / Horned Lark location

  Dan and I decided to have a nosy round St-Hubert airport to scope for Snowy Owls today. We hallucinated quite a few Snowies made of actual snow, then proceeded to get lost in suburbia hell. After finally making it back to the fields around the airport, we spotted a bird flying low across a farmer's field. The wings flashed a bold pied pattern and Dan quickly had it tagged as a Snow Bunting. We eventually encountered a roving flock of 24, and got great long views of them as they flew back and forth between the fields, a large dirt pile, and the gravel at the side of the road. After looking at a few field guides, I'm going to guess that most of them were adults in the process of assuming breeding plumage (darker blackish backs/very little breast banding, while retaining brownish on the head and yellow bills).
  These were soon joined by a few more small 'ground running' birds that turned out to be Horned Larks. We counted about a dozen.
  The other bird of note was a large Rough-legged Hawk patrolling near the Armed Forces choppers. It was not a great day weather/light-wise and we didn't get our owl, but we both got a pretty big kick out of prolonged views of birds we don't have much experience with.
  One of these days I'll get a proper picture editing program and learn how to edit pics properly.

The Forest Rangers - 'The Bird Watchers'

  I used to watch repeats of this nutty old show back in the day. The birdwatchers in this episode are tangental to the silly Hardy Boys-esque backwoods tale of intrigue. Still, it's fun and cringe-worthy watching the stodgy British birder do his thing.

Click here to watch the episode

Morgan Arboretum, February 23rd, 2013

Picking through the Redpolls

Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus

Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura

  It was a snowy and warm Saturday, with plenty of dog walkers on the trails. We finally spotted an unmistakeable Hoary Redpoll mixed in with the Common Redpoll near the main lodge. Another highlight was long looks at a Red-bellied Woodpecker, this time a male. Nothing owly to report.