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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Backyard Merlin chats up a squirrel in Oak Ridges...

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Barry the Birder

Photos by Kathleen Fanstone

Hummingbirds stayed 98 days this year...

                                                                                                                Photo by BarrytheBirder

'Hummers' stayed 94 days this summer

Pat Cromie of Delmanor Retirement Residence in Aurora, Ontario, has taken down our Ruby-throated hummingbird feeders after 98 days this summer (May 28 to Sept. 3).   The last 'hummer' to leave, on the last day, was a first-year youngster.   At the height of the season there were 60 to 70 visits a day at the feeders, lasting everywhere from 15 seconds to 2 minutes each time.

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BarrytheBirder

Last of the hummingbirds leaves Delmanor in Aurora...

                     

  Photo by BarrytheBirder

The first Hummingbird of this year arrived at Pat Cromie's balcony, at the Delmanor Retirement Residence in Aurora, on Tuesday, May 28th.    The last 'hummer', above, was seen on Tuesday, September 3rd of this year.   That's a 94-day season for these jewels of the birding world, and they raised a batch of young 'hummers', before heading south. The males of this small flock headed back south during the first week of August, while females left a week later.  But the new youngsters took a whole month to fatten up before heading south.   God-speed wee feathered friends. 

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 BarrytheBirder   

West coast swallow by Dave Kemp...

 

                                                                                                                       Photo by Dave Kemp

 Tree Swallow 

Tachycineta bicolour

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BarrytheBirder