RBG. Hendrie Valley, Burlington ON. January 6th.2021. I walked the length and breadth of the valley this morning and although windless and a couple of degrees above-freezing, it was hard going in sticky mud. Thanks to enforced limitations on indoor gatherings, the valley trails are getting far more use by far more people. If the weather turns mild or wet then mud is the result. I passed a woman on a usually dry high-land trail, but today it was a gooey and as we drew close, stepping carefully, she huffed, “You’d think ‘they’ would bring in some loads of gravel. This is disgraceful! GrrMmm.” I laughed, but she was in no mood to share.
Apart from we superabundant humans, the valley is now the preserve of hardy winter birdlife: mostly a few Blue Jays, Mourning Doves, American Tree Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Black-capped Chickadees and Northern Cardinals. Shortly after my encounter with the grumbler, I saw today’s Bird of the Day, an Eastern Screech Owl. He or she is another hardy winter resident and is a semi-regular sighting in a particular tree cavity, I see him or her about one in ten or twenty times that I look. I don’t know whether it is there every day but only infrequently shows itself, or it has a number of daytime roosts and its appearance is luck of the draw.
I looked at it for a few moments, appreciating its near-invisibility but soon left, recognizing that it was not a great photo opportunity and there was a lot more mud to be waded through. I’ve written about this bird before and seen it several times and it dawned on me that what had become a rather routine sighting is really a great privilege. I mean, who ever sees an owl as they go about their day? They are not particularly rare where they occur, but their being nocturnal lengthens the odds against. You need to be looking, to know what you’re looking for and when; even so, sightings are rare. Which makes today’s old friend special, even if not all that surprising. My Bird of the Day.
Good for you, Peter. Thanks for your post.