Recent happenings (Jan. 29)

Things have been a bit dormant on the 'ole blog for the past few weeks. We're entering into one of our slowest times of the year, but despite that there have been several pretty decent highlights!


Highlight #1
Who would've thought going for a run would be this good?! That's exactly what it turned out to be; not only do I need to lose a few lbs, but I get to find some sweet birds in the process. On Monday around 5pm I was running on my usual route and was stopped dead by the calls of a Fish Crow flying over! Pretty darn cool! I mean not too much to really say about it, but the rarity of it is cool, nonetheless. This is the second time I've had FICR in this area; the first was March 27, 2013.

Highlight #2
Varied Thrush in Kitchener http://ontbirds.ca/pipermail/birdalert_ontbirds.ca/Week-of-Mon-20150126/076747.html

I saw the bird on Monday with Nathan Miller and we were able to find it within about 30 minutes. We had decent looks at it, while it was sitting in the shelter of several Colorado Blue Spruces.

Highlight #3
Last Friday I birded from Ashbridges Bay to Stoney Creek, after coming home from Lill's parents place in Toronto. It turned out to be one of those 'good' days where everything happened without a hitch.

At my second stop I had the immaculate male Harlequin Duck. It was pretty interesting to watch it guard a female Bufflehead from 2 males.

Next, I stopped at Port Credit and had a single Yellow-rumped Warbler and a Red-necked Grebe.

From there I went for the long-staying Painted Bunting along Arkendo Drive. I was expecting to put in a good solid hour wait here, but was pleasantly surprised to see it as soon as I got to the spot! In fact, the bird was out in the open, eating with a DEJU on the ground, no more than 20 feet from me!

Phone shot of the Painted Bunting

I was pretty happy with that. Next I hit up the Burlington Ship Canal. Coolest sighting here was 129 Great Black-backed Gulls! Haven't seen that many in one spot in a loooonnng time.

After this I checked the warm water outflow of Red Hill Creek in Hamilton.For such a dirty/ugly spot, there are some decent winter birds. I had several year birds here: Nothern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Double-crested Cormorant, Northern Mockingbird, etc.

Highlight #4
And to think we're in the middle of the winter without any hope of spring?! Lo and behold, a Song Sparrow near my office in Waterloo was trying to sing yesterday! A good bird up in my neck of the woods.