Week 8 (February 16 - February 22)

Sunday was a great day! Got to do a lot of birding in going to two cemeteries in Burlington, one to find a little Screech-Owl and the other to find the pesky Shrike I missed a few weeks ago!

Starting with the Shrike, I showed up at about 1/4 after 9. I was there for over and hour and tried and tried to find this Shrike. I seen a coyote and a lot of Bluebirds, but still no Shrike! I was just about to give in to the little guy once again and I tried a hail Mary, I went to the building at the front of the property, and there is was, perched at the top of a tree! Finally, Northern Shrike!

Next up was the Screech-Owl, this was the same story. I showed up, and I walked around for what seemed like forever. This time though I had a little help, a guy showed up, probably around the same age as me, and he let me know where the Screech-Owl likes to hide out, and low and behold there it was. Eyes closed, hiding from the world, and the best part; it was right above where some photographers walked and they could not find it! Win for the birds today!

Also visited some spots in Hamilton; Burlington Ship Canal, Bayfront Park, the works. Picked up an Iceland Gull. Great day for birding. Did get some awesome pictures of Trumpeter Swans though!

Northern Shrike - Halton ON

Cooper Hawk - Halton ON

Eastern Screech-Owl - Halton ON

White-breasted Nuthatch - Halton ON

Trumpeter Swan - Hamilton ON

Monday was a big thing, back to banding! That's right Ruthven did a little a little banding on Family Day and what a great time it was! It helped me get the rust off before we start banding in just over a month. We banded 18 new birds and 20 retraps. I myself got to band a quite a few as well as grab the census count, nice to be back! Nothing rare really, however we did get to spot a pair of Trumpeter Swans and a pair of Bald Eagles!

Immature Bald Eagle getting it's adult plumage - Haldimand ON

Adult Bald Eagle - Haldimand ON

Trumpeter Swan (V18) - Haldimand ON

Did a little traveling this past week, Nashville Tennessee, City of Music. What a beautiful place, the only problem, it was still cold! The one morning it snowed and another there was frost. For being close to Georgia you would think it would at least be warm! Anyhow, it was definitely still nicer than southern Ontario this time of year. Racking up some migrants I usually only see in the spring and the infamous Carolina Chickadee that I can't see in Ontario. I was at a work convention and the place where the convention was was amazing! They had 3 rooms of all plants, 3.. that is crazy to think about. And not to mention the explosion of Northern Mockingbird, there was only 1 day I didn't see at least one, they're just crazy common down there. I did not bring my camera however so I didn't get any decent bird pictures but still amazing. Would definitely recommend going!

Week's end totals:
Species: 49
Individuals: 1,205

The convention was at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel - Nashville TN

Gaylord Opryland Hotel - Nashville TN