This week has been interesting even in our social distancing stage of this pandemic (which for some reason has me feeling about the same as normal...weird).
The same as last week I have been doing a lot of birding on property owned by my family which has been phenomenal! Lots of cool birds kicking around, including a VERY early Gray Catbird.
Monday - I decided to just bird from my apartment. Nothing to special.
Tuesday - Did a little drive through the wetlands but did not going for a walk through. Still seeing lots of Wood Duck around!
Wednesday - Back to the wetlands again! Got some awesome pictures of Green-winged and Blue-winged Teals by sneaking up on them which was a lot harder than I thought with all of the fallen sticks from the wind storms we get around here. The best part of that night was hearing a Ring-necked Pheasant in the field behind the wetlands! Fist wild one I've ever gotten on a census. This is also the first time I've spotted the Gray Catbird kicking around back there. This was my yearly high of 37 species.
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| Green-winged Teal - Haldimand ON |
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| Blue-winged Teal - Haldimand ON |
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| Hermit Thrush - Haldimand ON |
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| Gray Catbird - Haldimand ON |
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| Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - Haldimand ON |
Thursday/Friday - I did a lot of birding from my apartment both Thursday and Friday, night peaceful indoors kind of day on the long weekend. With that not a lot of birds kicking around.
Saturday - Topped Wednesday's high of 37 with 45! What an outing! Long walk (3 hours) and seen the Gray Catbird again along with a pair of Eastern Towhee and Rusty Blackbird. Also seen my first Ruby-crowned Kinglet for Haldimand and a little Winter Wren kicking around in the brush. I also kicked up 3 Tufted Titmouse in the bush not far from a sumac bush patch.
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| Eastern Towhee - Haldimand ON |
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| Song Sparrow - Haldimand ON |
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| Blue-winged Teal - Haldimand ON |
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| Blue-winged Teal - Haldimand ON |
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| Bald Eagle - Haldimand ON |
Sunday - There has been a Northern Mockingbird hanging around my parent's place as of late and I'm excited to see if it makes a nest. These birds are very intriguing when they're nesting, they are quite aggressive towards anything except humans where they are surprisingly more passive aggressive (mainly sitting not too far from you and shouting at you for a good 10-15 minutes). We had a pair here probably 3-4 years ago at least and it would dive bomb the cats. It's safe to say that the cats were not fans of this bird whatsoever. After the rain stopped yesterday I did something very exciting, I put up our first Wood Duck house in the wetlands in the hopes that we could have a mating pair back there this year! This is super exciting with all of the commotion back there I am certain we will have at least a few lookers! Hoping to monitor the progress of the box as it is in a spot I don't walk but I can still check on with my bins from the other side of the little pond. Exciting! Now, I did not think this day could get any better than it had since the Wood Duck box was all installed and the excitement of getting a pair breeding back there was rushing through my head, but, I was most definitely wrong! On a walk through the wetlands that evening I finally spotted my breeding pair of Great Horned Owl! They have moved around a lot over the last couple years but their new spot seems like it could be one they could return to next year as well, and to top it off they have a fledgling in it (at least one I could see). This adds to the breeding birds in this little patch and I'm hoping to keep my eyes not only on the Wood Ducks but the success of the owls and Tree Swallow fighting over some of the local boxes as well. Will keep up with all of the breeding bird updates as promptly as possible!
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| Wood Duck house - Haldimand ON |
Weekly Totals:
Species: 54
Individuals: 831
Good birding everyone!
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