Feathered friends at our frigid feeders

Photos by Barry Wallace                                                                                                                          Female Downy Woodpecker

                                                                                                                                                                            White-breasted Nuthatch

                                                                                                                                                                             American Tree Sparrow

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BtheB

Volumes 1 to 9 are at King City Library

Yesterday, I made mention of the Handbook of the Birds of the World and the photo contest sponsored by the Spanish publisher, Lynx Edicions.   I should have mentioned that Volumes 1 to 9 of this incomparable series are available to patrons of the local library in King City, Ontario, where I live.   The first 9 volumes were donated to the our library by a patron, a couple of years ago.   Internationally, the series is finally completed at 16 volumes, the cost of which is $160 (Canadian) per volume, or $2,560 for the set.   The price is a bit steep for most birders, which makes the books at the library very appealing.   The volumes at the King City library cannot be taken off the premises, but there are lots of comfy places to sit and peruse what are arguably the finest bird guides in the world.   They are a joy to behold.
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BtheB 

Trumpeter Swans near Glenville Pond

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Passersby in the area of Glenville in King Township have become accustomed to seeing these tagged Trumpeter Swans which seem to be year-around residents on one of the private ponds.

The property owner has installed a pump that is keeping a pool of open water open during the winter months.   Even in the cold of February, the scene is one of blissfulness.

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BtheB

A drift of Snow Buntings

Photos by Barry Wallace

400 to 500 Snow Buntings

400 to 500 Snow Buntings greeted me on Thursday afternoon as I drove over a hill on the 11th Concession of King Township, just south of Highway 9.   I have seen flocks of one or two dozens of these beautiful birds many times over the years, but this flock was by far the largest I have ever seen.   I stopped counting at 300 and guesstimated another 100 or 200.   They kept flying off as cars swept by and then returned to the section of road where they searched for seeds and dead insects.   An imminent snowstorm that is to dump anywhere from 10 to 25 cm tonight, willd certainly make for slim pickings when they forage tomorrow.   How do they ever find enough to keep themselves alive all winter?   Below is a photo of Snow Buntings that I took a few years ago, very near to this same spot.   It shows the bunting's wonderful winter markings, which are different from their summer breeding plumage.   This bird has been called the "Snowflake Bird" in certain parts of the country over the years.   They are a joy to see.

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BtheB    

One-day thaw suits Elvis & Costello

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Winter disappeared today up on the King Ridge, at the Pine Farms Orchard, between Keele and Jane Streets, on the north side of the 16th Sideroad.   It suited the resident Muscovy Ducks, Elvis (on the left) and Costello (on the right) who embraced the 11-degrees temperature and the wet, bare ground.   This winter is resembling last winter, more and more, much to the satisfaction of snow-shovellers and certain ducks.

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BtheB

Red-breasted Sapsucker by Dave Kemp

Photo by Dave Kemp

                    Red-breasted Sapsucker

Sphyrapicus ruber

My friend Dave Kemp from British Columbia slipped state-side recently and one of the bird photos he took was of this Red-breasted Sapsucker at Coupeville, Puget Sound, Washington State.   The Red-breasted Sapsucker inhabits the west coast of North America, from Alaska down to California.   It won't be seen in Ontario any time soon, so I'll have to head west if I want to see one.
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BtheB

Snowy Owl at Holland Marsh

Edward Avenue ~ just west of Jane Street

Fair amount of brown streaking on breast and wings ~ probably a female

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Goldfinch has spring colours in January

Photo by BarrytheBirder

The American Goldfinch pictured above (Jan.13) at the backyard feeder was a bit of surprise, in that its bright yellow colouring was advanced by about three months.   It stuck out like a sore thumb among the other goldfinches, which won't take on the bright yellow colouring until April.   The nearby Redpoll seems somewhat impressed by his colourful feeder-mate.   The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has declared that the American Goldfinch is one of the strictest vegetarians in the bird world.   It eats seeds almost exclusively and is therefore described as being granivorous.   Now there is a word I have never heard before.

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BtheB   

150 Redpolls at a time

Photos by BarrytheBirder

There have been approximately 150 Redpolls at the backyard feeders since just before Christmas.   This is the most we have ever had at one time in the 25 years we have had these feeders.   The Redpolls come in all sorts of colour configurations as you can see in the photos above.   Some have no red, except for the spot on the top of the head, others have considerable red on their breasts.   Some have noticeable brownish-grey striping on the sides of their breast and others have little or none.   Then there are ones with some form of leucism that turn all or some of the feathers completely white.   Leucistic white feathers can occur in small or large blotches or in stripes.   The bottom photo above, while in poor focus, does show vertical white stripes up the back of a Redpoll with a touch of leucism.
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BtheB 

B.C. birds by Dave Kemp

Photos by Dave Kemp

A Bald Eagle and Red-breasted Merganser, with flounder, are two of Dave Kemp's recent photos from Terra Nova Park, Richmond, B.C.   See more of my friend Dave's bird photos at pictureperfect.nu.photogallery
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BtheB

Icy nap near Dufferin Street

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Trumpeter Swan

Cygnus buccinator

First snow at the feeders this winter

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Five Starlings (above) showed up at the feeders today and the White-throated Sparrow (below) that arrived yesterday, was back again today.   This brings the latest winter feeder count up to 19 species.

The record for Mourning Doves at the small square feeders, seen above and below, is six birds at one time.   Even the small juncos, redpolls, goldfinches and Tree Sparrows limit themselves to four or five at a time.  All of those four smaller birds are showing up in large numbers early in this winter season.

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BtheB

The Blue Jay

                                                                           Photo by BarrytheBirder

The Blue Jay

by Emily Dickinson

No brigadier throughout the year

                                So civic as the jay.

                                A neighbour and a warrior too,

                                With shrill felicity

                                

                                Pursuing winds that censure us

                                A February day,

                                The brother of the universe

                                Was never blown away.

                                The snow and he are intimate;

                                I've often seen them play

                                When heaven looked upon us all

                                With such severity,

                                I felt apology was due

                                To an insulted sky,

                                Whose pompous frown was nutriment

                                To their temerity.

                                The pillow of this daring head

                                Is pungent evergreens;

                                His larder - terse and militant -

                                Unknown, refreshing things;

                                His character a tonic,

                                His future a dispute;

                                Unfair an immortality

                                That leaves this neighbour out.

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BtheB

White-throated Sparrow on Christmas Day

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Zonotrichia albicollis

This morning, Christmas morning, there among the juncos and sparrows and redpolls was a solitary White-throated Sparrow.   A shy bird at the best times, this little bird was very wary about the dozens of other birds jostling at the feeders and on the ground below.   The south sides of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie are the the usual northern limit for these lovely little birds in winter.   I don't know if this one is a late migrant or was sent here, just for today, as a special harbinger of Christmas.

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BtheB

Trumpeter Swans at Glenville

Photos by BarrytheBirder

The southernmost pond at Glenville, south of Hwy. 9, on Dufferin Street, is partially frozen over, but these four Trumpeter Swans, two adults and two juvenile birds, were quite busy dunking their heads and feeding on the bottom of the pond.   The two cygnets are grey in appearance and will be completely white after their first year.   The two in the lower photo are nearing maturity as their grey colouring is limited now to the neck and some flight feathers.   Trumpeters are the largest extant waterfowl species on earth.   The largest known Trumpeter was 183 cm (72") long, with a wingspan of 3.1 m (10 ft) and weighed 17.2 kg (38 lbs).   The birds above are tagged and undoubtedly part an introducing breeding program that is meeting with some success in eastern Canada and the United States.
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BtheB

A.K.A. abbr. also known as

HOUSE FINCH  ~  COMMON REDPOLL  ~  DARK-EYED JUNCO

Pictured above are three of the many species of small birds at the backyard feeders today, a day which turned cold and very windy, compared to the past several days.   As I watched these birds feeding, I was recalling all their common names.   For whatever reason, I started to wonder what my grandfather, who emigrated from England to Canada in 1911, might have called these same birds back then.    Back in 1911 of course, he would have heard some new names, no doubt...names that were purely north-american and most of which probably had their origin in the United States.   I did some quick research and discovered the following obsolete English names for the birds pictured above plus a couple of others.   They are in no particular order.

Dark-eyed Junco: a.k.a. Baird's Junco / Carolina Junco / Grey-headed Junco / Guadalupe Junco  /  Laguna Hanson Junco  /  Montana Junco  /  Nevada Junco  /  Oregon Junco  /  Pink-sided Junco  /  Point Pinos Junco  /  Red-backed Junco  /  Ridgeway's Junco  /  Shufeldt's Junco  /  Slate-coloured Junco  /  Thurber's Junco  /  Townsend's Junco  /  White-winged Junco  /  Snowbird.

  

Common Redpoll: a.k.a. Redpoll Linnet  /  Greater Redpoll /  Holboell's Redpoll  /  Labrador Redpoll  /  Lesser Repoll.

House Finch: a.k.a. Crimson-fronted Finch  /  Rose-breasted Finch  /  San Clemente Finch  /  San Lucas Finch  /  California Linnet  /  Guadalupe Linnet  /  McGregor Linnet  /  Burrion.

American Goldfinch: a.k.a. Wild Canary  /  Yellow-bird  /  California Goldfinch  /  Eastern Goldfinch  /  North-western Goldfinch  /  Pale Goldfinch  /  Western Goldfinch  /  Willow Goldfinch  /  Yellow Goldfinch  /  Thistle-bird.

American Tree Sparrow: a.k.a. Mountain Sparrow.

The obsolete names listed above are from a list created,  by Richard C. Banks of the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Centre, National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

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BtheB

Canada Geese at Seneca

Photos by Barry Wallace

On Thursday it was a thousand Canada Geese at the Beasley Farm on the 8th Concession of King and Friday it was approximately 500 Canada Geese on Lake Jonda, at Seneca College's Eaton Hall Campus.   Slowly but surely, our township's lakes and farm ponds are freezing over, leaving the geese and ducks and gulls to reconsider their options about where to go next to find open water.   Decisions, decisions.

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BtheB 

Canada Geese like the Beasley Farm

Photos by Barry Wallace

The two ponds, near the barns, at the front of the Beasley Farm, on King Township's 8th Concession may not be big, but they are apparently perfect for the almost 1,000 Canada Geese that have been hanging out here for many days now.   In fact, there may be more than a  thousand, as I was not able to guesstimate the many more geese over a hill and farther afield.   Apparently, there is some special combination of security, water and good gleaning to be had on the Beasley Farm.
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BtheB

Dave Kemp photos at Boundary Bay

SNOWY OWL

SHORT-EARED OWL

Photos by Dave Kemp

Dave Kemp from Richmond, British Columbia, sent me these two photos, which he took on Dec. 7, down in the Boundary Bay area, south of Vancouver.   I don't know exactly what it is about owls, but one does not just take pictures of owls - one is compelled to take owl pictures.   Is it their aerodynamic perfection, the silent flight, or is it their eyes?   I believe it's the eyes...that the look in the eyes must be captured.   Really nice shots, Dave.

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BtheB  

Mpho cheers summer

My friend Mpho Phiri, from Mahikeng, South Africa, has just posted his first blog in almost six weeks.   The past winter has been especially hard in and around Mahikeng, including the Modimola Dam where Mpho does a great deal of his birding.

Here's what he wrote back in October: "The recent dry weather conditions and lack of rain in and around Mahikeng had a devastating impact on the Modimola Dam...We hope sooner or later the rains will come as the dam is gradually shrinking".   Now in early December, Mpho has resumed his birding and blogging.   There is a hopeful tone in his latest blog as his prose borders on 'prose idyll' or 'prose poetry'  with its wording and imagery: "We had two days of silent showers as a welcome relief to the drought-stricken areas around Mahikeng.   With the first rays of sunshine, this afternoon, I went out birding.   One could hear the sounds of birds again amidst the fresh rain-soaked ground around the trees.   I was first greeted by the Red-backed Shrike (see photo above), the common summer visitor, perching conspicuously on a branch.   Hooray!!!   Summer is here."   So winter is settling in, here in King City, Ontario, Canada, but is saying goodbye in South Africa.   Good birding, Mpho.

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BtheB