Royal Botanical Gardens. Hendrie Valley, Burlington. ON. November 21 2022. With a few days of unseasonably cold weather behind us, we walked the valley today. It was above freezing, at last, and the valley had a bruised and battered feel about it.
The birding was meagre: Black-capped Chickadees, Red-bellied Woodpeckers and White-breasted Nuthatches followed us hoping for handouts. We took several minutes to admire a male Northern Cardinal, brilliant against a rather drab background, and glimpsed what may turn out to be the last Fox Sparrow of the season.
Our walk was more about getting fresh air and exercise. Anything airborne turned out to be a late-falling leaf or so we thought, until we spotted three large black birds surfing the blustery south-west wind. Three young Bald Eagles, maybe migrants but quite possibly locals. One moment they were soaring and sliding on the opposite side of the valley and disappearing behind trees, and the next minute, one would reappear swooping up and circling around behind us. It was a short-lived performance. It endorses my view that no matter how apparently unproductive or dismal the day may be, there’s always at least one bird that stands out and makes me say (or maybe just think) Wow! Bald Eagles – My Birds of the Day today.
