Author: Peter T

November 2 2012. Ruthven Park Cayuga ON.   As often as not it’s not the bird, or at least not the species, that makes it as Bird of the Day, it’s the spectacle of an individual bird.  Today at the bird observatory an adult Bald Eagle and a female American Kestrel soared overhead together.  The eagle was way up high, but the kestrel was low and it made one of those characteristic slow, wheeling turns that raptors in particular seem to be so good at.  With its wings spread, tail fanned, and the sun back-lighting it, it was a MasterCard ‘Priceless’ moment.

The upset of Tropical Storm Sandy had pretty much moved on today. Our early morning skies were still a bit troubled but not quite as lumpy or tumbled looking as they had been for the past few days.  By mid morning wide blue gaps reappeared; a sky on the mend.  The storm has stripped the trees bare revealing their bones and uncovering a raw landscape.

One of my census walk companions said she loves November, particularly since she’s discovered the joy of greys; then became all wistful as if it were babies or grandchildren she was talking about. She also told us she’d just learned she has the hearing of a 25 year-old, which she promptly proved by picking out some little ‘tseep’ sounds that turned out to be a group of five Golden Crowned Kinglets lurking in a dense riverside clump of willow and clematis.  Then for a long while there was precious little more except a solitary Mallard flying up river, a pair of Brown Creepers exploring the top of a small Black Walnut and occasional maybe-woodpecker sounds that we couldn’t quite pin down.  We watched two Red-bellied Woodpeckers squabble over tree ownership and could hear Eastern Bluebirds, American Goldfinches and Pine Siskins calling all around us.  But it’s inescapable, the days of little pretty birds are behind us; Slate-coloured Juncos and American Tree Sparrows (although handsome in their own right) have moved in, it’s definitely November.

November 1 2012. Burlington ON.  Oh wow!  Golden Eagle! … and I am generally not very demonstrative; I use outrageous and extreme superlatives sparingly; you may have noticed.

My morning was taken up with some early domestic errands followed by some voluntary archiving work at the botanical gardens; indoor work. I headed home shortly after one-o-clock, but had hardly gone a hundred yards when I caught sight of a fast flying mystery bird.  I thought that maybe it was a Goshawk, so I tried following it, but without success.  Well, that put me in a birding frame of mind, so setting aside the prospect of lunch, I went to a nearby cemetery which, because of its heavily wooded edges and location beside the west end of Lake Ontario, can be very bird-productive. It was there that I found another birder looking for some avian excitement.

We were still reverberating from the pummeling of Tropical Storm Sandy, so the day’s skies were heavy, ragged and disconsolate, strong buffeting winds were out of the north and west; just the sort of weather that gives late fall-migrants an added push.

To cut what could be a rather long and needlessly breathless story short, we soon realized that there was a major hawk migration passing over our heads.  It all started with a high-speed Merlin seen in a swooping turn and passing quickly out of sight.  A steady stream of Red–tailed Hawks appeared over the treetops and Turkey Vultures soared and side-slipped in the winds.  Accipiters, a Goshawk and two Coopers Hawks, skimmed the treetops; they seemed to be eyeing the flocks of Cedar Waxwings. A young Bald Eagle sailed effortlessly through followed five minutes later by an adult.  And then the Golden Eagle, the first inkling of something exciting came when I caught sight of an accipiter harassing something large, but quite a long way off and only intermittently visible behind the rim of trees.  I stayed focused on the general area and then moments later the eagle appeared above the trees, heading straight for us, large and very dark.  At first it looked like an oversized and tidied-up Turkey Vulture with a steady even-keeled flight.  Tom called it first: “Golden Eagle!” and then it all came together for me, even the neck feathers briefly showed a glaze of gold. We enjoyed some good, though not leisurely, looks at it until it vanished into the valley behind us, and then everything seemed to go kind of quiet; or maybe I’m overdramatizing it.

I’m not a one to keep life lists, year lists or any kind of list, so I don’t celebrate milestones called lifers.  But I know I have never seen a ‘wild’ Golden Eagle before, it made my spine tingle, this is THE bird in my world.  Bird of the Day; probably Bird of the Year – but let’s not get too demonstrative.

October 26 2012. Ruthven Park Cayuga ON.   There’s something otherworldly about high flying ducks at this time of year.  Here we are stuck on the ground in the company of picnic tables, coffee cups and half eaten bagels, while up there it’s, well anyone’s guess.  Where have they come from? Where are they headed to, and why? And quite often, what kind of ducks are they anyway?

This morning at the bird observatory we were doing all the usual earth-bound things, checking nets, musing about the warm weather and taking note of birds around us, when the call went up: ” Look up! Loons. Two of them heading our way.  No, three of them!’   And so it was, three Common Loons flying fast and direct, heading south, they could probably see Lake Erie from where they were; and if not see it, then feel it.

As they disappeared I said: “They’re probably the Bird of the Day.”  The others seemed to agree.

That was just the start of the excitement, for moments later an Osprey and a Bald Eagle flew by just above treetop level, both illuminated so that their white heads showed a touch of salmon pink in the early sun.  Then a squadron of 11 ducks in a tight V formation followed the same line as the loons, high, fast and direct.  We debated the identity of them, I fancied Canvasbacks but based only on general shape, Rick thought Widgeon, so I rebutted with Unidentified Duck; we’ll never know for sure.

October 24 2012. RBG. Burlington ON. Yesterday it rained all day, but today the rain has moved on, leaving in its wake perhaps the most incredible migration surge in many weeks.  There’s nothing like bad weather to supercharge the fall migration.

I walked around a circuit of woodland, pond margins, riverside and old cemetery this morning and the sheer numbers of White-throated Sparrows, Cedar Waxwings and Golden-crowned Kinglets on the move was amazing. On my two kilometers walk (one and a bit miles) I estimate that I saw perhaps 300 Cedar Waxwings, they’re easy enough to spot, but less conspicuous although just about everywhere I looked for them were White-throated Sparrows and Golden-crowned Kinglets.

The best of the day, and Bird of the Day, came towards noon when I happened upon a seemingly endless stream of Golden-crowned Kinglets working through some low weeds beside a pond.  They showed no fear of a big-lens photographer or me as we moved close for a good picture.  They’re constant movers, always flitting, hovering and hopping, and from 60 or so shots I think only one or two do them justice.

There was other good stuff around too. I found a single Fox Sparrow among a group of White-throats and mused that Fox Sparrows may be the Pavarotti of sparrows; good singers and a little on the heavy side.  And while we’re on show business, as I gazed at a group of ducks, I was prompted to wonder if Walt Disney’s inspiration for Donald Duck came from the funny spatulate bill of the Northern Shoveler.

Back to Cedar Waxwings though, I spent a while photographing large flocks of them in the tops of some nearly bare trees.  They were feeding on Tartarian Honeysuckle berries, which partially explains how this invasive non-native shrub has spread so successfully.  Not that I blame the waxwings, they have to eat.  And It was interesting to see that some juvenile waxwings were still begging food and were obligingly attended to by adults.  Then just as I framed a tree-top group of waxwings for a photo, a Coopers Hawk swept by causing the panic captured in this photo.

October 23 2012. It’s pouring rain as I write this.  Outside my office/den window I’ve hung a bird feeder, one of those Nyger seed feeders with the tiny holes for the small black seeds that are favoured by goldfinches and other small finches.  It works like a charm, we get American Goldfinches, Pine Siskins and House Sparrows on the feeder itself and White-throated Sparrows and Slate–coloured Juncos cleaning up on the ground below. No squirrels though.

Most White-throated Sparrowsgo farther south for the winter, they still have some migration to do and need to fuel up, so they’re feeding despite the rain.  For that they have my admiration and are my Bird of the Rainy Day. Some days you don’t even have to leave home.