Week 16 (April 13th to April 19th)

The travel ban continues. With the COVID-19 cases continue to climb even around Haldimand County let alone the remainder province and it does not seem like it'll come to an end anytime soon which is unfortunate. This looks like I will only be banding once this spring unfortunately.

I have been trying to get out as much as I can with the intermittent snow storms and wild wind. This is so typical for April, but it's usually the beginning of April, not the end. This can definitely interrupt my migration monitoring of the private property.

Saturday was definitely a good day, 43 species and seen a personal high of 19 Green-winged Teal in the couple hours I went out. Moved up to 114 species in Ontario this year. I did get out to see the Great Horned Owl nest, the fledgling is getting really big now, almost as big as the mom.

These past few weeks have been quite slow unfortunately, but this will all be better once the outbreak is better which may still be a while yet. It will be better at some point we all just need a little patience!

Good birding everyone!

Weekly Totals:
Species: 44
Individuals: 413

Great Horned Owl - Haldimand ON

American Robin - Haldimand ON

House Finch - Haldimand ON

Field Sparrow - Haldimand ON

Tree Swallow - Haldimand ON

Snow...Again.

This year has been just a roller coaster for Haldimand County with a couple bouts of bad snow storms and immediately afterwards was the epidemic and since that has started we have had a wind storm at speeds of 90 km/h. Now we have set for snow today and the last 2 days before today. 

I can only think about the birds in the wild having to deal with these cold weathers they migrate to avoid (it was -1°C this morning and -5°C yesterday morning). The Hermit Thrush and a lot of other birds can deal with the cold better than other as I have seen Hermit Thrush into November but the Gray Catbird could be in rough shape, I will not be able to get out to look this morning. 

I did get some shots of a Field Sparrow chilling in the bush in front of my parents' place and an American Goldfinch and Downy Woodpecker sitting on the deck behind their place. 

I think I speak for as all (including the birds) when I say I am done with winter and want spring to be back again! 

Female Downy Woodpecker - Haldimand ON

Male American Goldfinch - Haldimand ON

Field Sparrow - Haldimand ON

Week 15 (April 6th to April 12)

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.

Green-winged Teal - Haldimand ON

Blue-winged Teal - Haldimand ON

Hermit Thrush - Haldimand ON

Gray Catbird - Haldimand ON

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.

Eastern Towhee - Haldimand ON

Song Sparrow - Haldimand ON

Blue-winged Teal - Haldimand ON

Blue-winged Teal - Haldimand ON

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!

Wood Duck house - Haldimand ON

Weekly Totals: 
Species: 54 
Individuals: 831

Good birding everyone!