We arrived home from our North trip late Monday so I included that day as part of the North Trip rather than day 1 of week 6. A Slaty-back Gull was found in Welland on the Sunday and then seen at the same location on Monday so early Tuesday morning we headed back out on the road for Welland. We arrived around 10 and the bird had been seen around 9 so I was worried it would not be there but a group of people were there and had it in their scope sleeping on the ice in a group of about 70 other gulls. Whew! 132 and a very good rarity to get, giving me 10 rarities seen this year. We had time to watch the gull for a bit, waiting for it to wake and stand a bit then they all flushed and re-landed and I managed to find it again in my scope tucked behind a Herring Gull. We checked out the other gulls and took more pics and then headed into Hamilton to see Jerry’s Mom.
On Wednesday we stayed at home for a well deserved rest and caught up on groceries and cleaning. In the evening we decided to try for a Northern Saw-whet Owl that had been reported calling in a neighbourhood in Cambridge. It was not the best situation as there was little room to pull over on a narrow road and the owl had called in the backyard of a home so we were reluctant to hang out front of their house for long. We parked and walked up the road and back and then drove slowly past again and finally heard the Owl with its familiar “toot-toot-toot-toot” call. It called and stopped and then called again and again over a 10 minute period giving us plenty of chances to hear and confirm the call. We now have all the 7 southern species of Owl and just the 3 northern species to see. We hope to see a Saw-whet to get a picture later this year but for now the call lets us add it to the year list as Heard Only. Below is a picture of me holding a Northern Saw-whet Owl at a banding night at Ruthven in Caledonia in 2018. It was awesome to see these little guys up close and to release it after it was banded!
The rest of the week had temperatures hitting 17C for one day and 12C another so very crazy weather for the second week of February and we took the lull in no rarities reported to socialize with some friends, have two grandkids for a sleepover and watch another play in a hockey tournament. We got out and walked and birded a couple of days but no new birds were added as the temperatures dropped again.
WEEK 6 1 more rarity added for 10 rarities for the year, 1 more owl added, 2 new species 133 total species