Almost 275

A few weeks ago was quite interesting for the Niagara Region. Found the week before, a local birder found a Townsend's Solitaire and at least a pair of Red-headed Woodpecker in one spot around Pelham! This is amazing and of course, with me being at 274 species of bird seen in Ontario, I went to look for the Solitaire to make it number 275! 

I decided the Thursday before that I would go and look for the bird on Saturday morning, and from what I was told it was an easy find. I figured I'd be there for 45 mins to an hour max, well, that was not what happened! 

When I got there there were about 15 people there already, including a few familiar faces. That being said, I talked to one of the birders I knew there and he said the bird had not shown up yet. With that being the case, he and I decided to look for the Woodpecker, which did not take long.

With the number of eyes, it took a total of about 15 minutes for someone to find it and me to snap some okay photos. 

Typically not wintering birds, Red-headed Woodpeckers are always a treat! 

After the Red-head not too many birds showed up. A couple of Red-breasted Nuthatches showed themselves which surprisingly was my first of the year, but the remainder of the trip, just one big oof...

At first, I was hopeful, but after about 2 hours, my hope faded into doubt. The Solitaire has not been found since the Friday before I showed up (to my knowledge). The landowner believes it was scared off by all of the birders, which could be possible. Another possibility is that it was eaten by the Cooper's Hawk that was hanging around the area. Both good hypotheses, but I guess we will never know! 

Congrats to all of those who got out for it! Maybe I can get out sooner next time!