Bald Eagles

12 January 2016. LaSalle Park, Burlington ON. Snow squalls blew in from the lake today; ‘Lake effect’ snow it was.  It occurs when relatively warm winds blowing across one of the Great Lakes pick up moisture and drop it as blizzardy streamers, sometimes reaching far inland. For me, attending to domestic duties necessitated travel on wet, snow-covered roads. It was not a day for birding but curiously almost all of the birds that I did see were notable and evoked small gasps of surprise.

Making my way down a winding backroad I spotted a Turkey scampering from the roadside looking for anonymity in a small copse nearby. Later, glimpsed as not much more than a distant something in flight, an American Kestrel – or perhaps a Merlin. Whichever it was, it was moving fast and arrow-like on pointed wings. I didn’t see it for nearly long enough to do any better than know it was a small falcon, Kestrel or Merlin. Then my Birds of the Day: as I headed home along a quiet, rather high-end residential road that cuts through a nice stand of White Pines, a pair of low-flying adult Bald Eagles crossed overhead in front of me. I have seen Bald Eagles hanging around this well sheltered forest in previous winters. It borders the large industrial harbour, a place with plenty of food for opportunist scavengers like Bald Eagles; I was wowed by them.

While Bald Eagles are still not commonplace, they have become increasingly well established in the past half-decade. They used to be a sensational sighting, now they’ve slipped a bit but are always worth including among highlights for the day.

Finally as I parked my car in my now white parking space, a Carolina Wren was purring not far away. Always vocal, Carolina Wrens either sing full volume in spring and summer to claim the neighbourhood, or chatter and purr loudly as they wander around checking dense, debris choked corners for food or maybe next season’s nest sites.