Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) - Winter Warrior

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Dark-eyed Juncos, in most forms, have a dark gray or brown head and breast, sharply set off from their white bellies.   Their white outer tail feathers are conspicuous in flight.   They were once divided into four species.   Male of the widespread "Slate-coloured" type (shown above in southern Ontario) has a dark gray hood while its upperparts are almost entirely gray or have varying amounts of brown at centre of back.   Females are brownish-gray overall.   In winter, Dark-eyed Juncos are found in a wide variety of habitats.   Their songs are musical trills of one pitch, often heard in winter.

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BarrytheBirder

Asian Rock Sparrow found on Vancouver Island!!!

                                                                           Photo by Dave Kemp

My Vancouver Island birding acquaintance,  nature photographer Dave Kemp has passed along a recent photo which he took of a Rock Sparrow (Petronia petronia) on Vancouver Island.  This bird is normally found in a very long but narrow stretch of Europe and Asia, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.   How on earth this bird got to Vancouver Island is subject to great speculation, but I suppose it is within the possibility that it crossed the Atlantic in a westerly direction to North America , or perhasps it crossed the Pacific in an easterly direction, to North America.   Whatever direction, it must have been an extraordinary crossing.   Great sighting Dave!                     

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BarrytheBirder

Some of my bird carving collection...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Top: Western Grebe 1987 - by Liza Chin

Centre: Shorebird - by F. Smith

Bottom: Loon 1983 - Ron Sadler

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BarrytheBirder

Drunk Waxwings are helped to sober-up...

Photo - Wonderae - Creativity, Inspiration, Wonder

The Waxwings pictured above happened to eat fermented fruit and then fell drunk on sidewalks.   Wise passersby collected them and put them in a safe place until they sobered up.

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BarrytheBirder

Great Blue Herons have headed south...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

It's almost Christmas and Great Blue Herons which spent the summer and fall in southern Ontario have long ago headed south.   I have to say however, that over the last 20 years or so, I did see a couple of Great Blues touch down on late-autumn ponds that had a thin skim of ice on them.   However, the herons quickly moved on...heading in a southerly direction.

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Barry the Birder 

White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)

                                                                      Photos by BarrytheBirder

The White-breasted Nuthatch is a frequent visitor to seed and suet feeders in Canadian winters and is a resident from New Brunswick west to British Columbia.   It is also widespread in the United States as far south as Texas and Florida.   Despite is 'white-breasted' moniker, is does have a rusty/brown wash on its belly.   

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BarrytheBirder

North America's most abundant dove...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

The Mourning Dove

Zenaida Macroura

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      BarrytheBirder

Junco thinking about lunch...

                                                                                                                       Photo by BarrytheBirder

                                                      Frozen food?

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BarrytheBirder

Crow and raven side-by-side...

I'm not sure how I came across this picture by a photographer named Garret Lau, but I always thought it showed demonstrably the difference between a crow  and a raven.  The American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) is 17.5" (45 cm) long, while the Common Raven (Corvus corax) is almost 6 inches longer than  the crow at 24" (61 cm).   The crow also has a smaller bill than the raven.   Both birds are found in a variety of habitats, but the raven is found farther north and west in North America (including the arctic), but not in the southeast of the United States.   The crow is found throughout the U.S.A. and the lower half of Canada.

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BarrytheBirder

20-year-old coloured sketch retrieved from shredder...

My oldest daughter Allison recently came across this discoloured sketch, of a Northern  Saw-whet Owl, I had done twenty years ago and which I had inadvertently included in some papers destined to be shredded. The sketch was part of my becoming a birdwatcher.   She reclaimed the sketch and put it in a small frame and gifted it to me.   It was a delightful surprise.   This transpired at a time when Allison also had me doing a personal assessment exercise in which I was asked to select a different life career than the one I had lived for decades as a community newspaper marketer.   I told her that I would have liked to have been in the art world - either art creation or art design or perhaps artistic or creative photography.   Her gesture was quite touching and brought back pleasant memories.

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Barry Wallace

Strix nebulosa...

Great

Grey

Owl 

perches

on

girl 

photographer's 

head.

Photo by Beaumon Day

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if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Over 18,000 bird species in the world!

Turkey Vulture photo by BarrytheBirder

There are roughly 18,043 bird species in the world, according to a study published in PLOS ONE by the American Museum of Natural History.   This is almost double the previous estimate.   The study focused on "hidden" avian diversity, which includes birds that look similar or were thought to interbreed but are actually different species.

The country in the world with the most species in the world is thought to be the South American country of Columbia, at 1,917, followed by Peru at 1,892 and Brazil at 1,864.   Canada is ranked at 615 species, (5.87%) of the global share.

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BarrytheBirder   

Red-bellied Woodpecker...

 

(Melanerpes carolinus)

Red-bellied Woodpeckers regularly come to feeders, particularly for suet.   Their breeding range has been extending northward but they are rare to Maine and the Maritimes, occuring mostly in the fall and winter.

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BarrytheBirder

Personification of simple nature art...

            (Artist unknown)

                                                                               

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BarrytheBirder

Handfeeding hungry hoverers...

 

Photo - passed along by my sister Diane Wallace in Nova Scotia

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BarrytheBirder

Welcoming each other to winter...

Photo by Barry Wallace

Slate-colored Junco and Goldfinch

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BarrytheBirder

Small and hungry winter birds in Nova Scotia

My sister Diane who lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, sent along this great photo of small and hungry winter birds being fed by hand.

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BarrytheBirder

Vancouver Island birds by Dave Kemp...

Immature Black Scoter

Photo by Dave Kemp

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BarrytherBirder

December has arrived...

                                                                       Photo by Barry Wallace

Lake Jonda, Seneca College, Dufferin Street, King Township

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BarrytheBirder

Odd-looking birdfeeders...

 

Photo by Beth O'Kelly

My sister-in-law Beth O'Kelly who lives in London, Ontario, passed along this photo taken in her backyard.   The items in the photo are not hanging, decorative Christmas trees, but rather are snow-covered bird feeders.   Beth says "the birds don't care".

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BarrytheBirder

'Tis the season now...

 

Photos by Barry Wallace

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comment 

if you wish.

Barry Wallace

Snowy Owls in York Region...

 Photos by Barry Wallace

My favourite place to see Snowy Owls (Nyctia scandiaca) in York Region is on the Ravenshoe Sideroad, in the Holland Marsh, just below the south end of Lake Simcoe.   I have taken many photos of these spectacular winter visitors perched on fence posts, tops of utility poles and miscellaneous rooftops...and they're always so willing to pose for a photo.

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BarrytheBirder 

2024 Nature Canada Winning Photo Contest...

                                             Photo By Sara King

...to be featured on the cover of the upcoming 2025 Nature Canada calendar 

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Mourning Doves show off their feathers...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

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BarrytheBirder

Have trouble recognizing a Red-bellied Woodpecker?

I sometimes do.   But a while back, I got the pictures below of a 'Red-bellied' and refer to them every once in a while, as a reminder of what to look for.   I thought I might share them here...

Photos by Barry Wallace

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BarrytheBirder

Canada Geese captured by child photographer...

                     

                                                                         

Photo by Brawley Parekh

                        This photo was taken by my youngest granddaughter 

                         when she was less than 10 years of age.

BarrytheBirder

Canada Geese up close - Richmond Hill Millpond

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

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BarrytheBirder

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Trent River Cormorants

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BarrytheBirder

Birds along the Trent Canal $ystem...

Cormorants

Swainson's Hawk still here in Aurora...

Photo by Barry the Birder

The Swainson's Hawk  (Buteo Swainsoni) that has been around Aurora, Ontario, most of the summer, is still here in early September.  It is normally found in Canada's lower western provinces, the America western states and northern Mexico, and will likely head south soon to Florida, before heading chiefly to South America.   A beautiful raptor especially those with those white wing lings and long white breast to the tip of this tail.   It feeds mainly on insects, on the ground.

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BarrytheBirder

Rare Idaho Cassia Crossbills in BC...

 

   Dave Kemp photo - Vancouver Island

Dave Kemp Photo - Vancouver Island

My Vancouver Island birder friend Dave Kemp has discovered Sassia Crossbills on the B.C. island, and they are far from their usual and normal territory in Idaho, USA.   Shown above, and at top, are photos by Dave, while the photo at left is an online photo by Zach Pohlen from the Macauley Library at the Cornell lab of Ornithology.   This is  especially coincidental as I have recently shown a photo of a Swainson's Hawk (see below right) which has shown up in my town of Aurora, in southern Ontario.  The Swainson's Hawk normally is found in the central and western USA and in Mexico, but somehow has found itself blown of course into southern Ontario.   Both of the species are very unusual in the locations in which they find themselves.   The Cassia Crossbills (Loxia sinesciurus) normally occur only in the Lodgepole Pine forests in the south hills and Albion Mountains in Idaho USA.   Male Sassia Crossbills are dull red or orange with brown and grey highlights.   Females are dull olive-yellow.  The Swainson's Hawk was around all summer but now seems to have moved elsewhere.

BarrytheBirder photo

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BarrytheBirder