Costa Rica is often the first destination for birders that want to see South American birds. With over 900 bird species reported in this very small country it is easy to see why it is a popular destination for birders. Many week long birding tours see a few hundred species and 21 day tours can see 500-600! Tours allow you not to worry about anything but they are also very expensive. I was hoping to spend half of what a tour for both of us would cost. After 3 years of chasing numbers with the Big Years I was not interested in quantity, and rushing from place to place in an effort to see as many birds as possible. I wanted quality birding. I wanted to immerse ourselves in the country, in the birding. So instead of just booking a tour I made up one for us, loosely based off a 21 day tour but staying longer at lodges and missing some areas of the country. I booked the best known birding lodges for 2-3 days each knowing that we would have guides to help us and then I found birding spots to stop at on travel days between the lodges. I wanted things to be relaxed, so there would be time for birding walks each morning, breakfast at the lodge and then a 2.5-4 hours drive to the next destination with a birding stop or two along the way. That sounded heavenly compared to our Big Year birding with 10-12 hours drives between places.
Screenshot
Car rentals were not easy to figure out – many comments on Costa Rica Travel FB sites warned me of the extra insurance that is often not mentioned in the first booking and you find the price doubles when you pick up your vehicle because of this mandatory Costa Rican insurance. Jerry had booked something and we found out that the cheap price would indeed double on pickup due to the insurance not mentioned and so we canceled and looked for something else.
I found a car from Costa Rica 4×4 Car Rentals with profits going to the Wet Nose Dog Rescue. We are not dog people as many of you know but we are always keen to give back to the local community when we travel rather than the big corporations. Who am I kidding? It was way cheaper! That is the real reason! The cars, however, are 10-20 years old which made me a bit nervous (a lot nervous actually) having never owned a car older than 7 years. But, I figured worse case we could always find another car if something happened. Look at me, being all Pura Vida! before the trip even!
Once things were all booked we focused on familiarizing ourselves with as many of the birds as we could. We spent many evenings going through the illustrated checklist for Costa Rica on ebird and looking at photos, listening to calls and then trying to remember names the next day. Slowly, we became a bit more familiar with a number of the birds we hoped to see.
And suddenly, it was time to pack our bags and head to Toronto…
Our Air Canada flight landed at 10:45 pm in San Jose. We cleared immigration and customs in minutes, the advantage to arriving late at night. I had read stories on FB about people taking 3 hours to get through immigration!! We met Adrian with our car, an 11 year old Toyota Rav 4×4 right outside the airport and signed documents, paid and were on our way to the hotel 20 minutes away. The ride was quick but with no street signs we just turned when Waze told us to and for the most part the streets were empty of people and cars making it a pretty easy drive.
We heard our first two birds of the trip when we checked in just after midnight. Ferruginous Pygmy Owl and Common Pauraque were calling on the hotel grounds but neither of those birds were lifers having seen and heard them in Texas years ago. We fell asleep quickly but I woke up at 4:30 to the strange calls of a bird and just had to put Merlin on to find out it was our first lifer, a Clay-coloured Thrush, which is also Costa Rica’s national bird. Not one of the fantastically coloured birds but this rather drab looking bird with a fantastic, powerful song.
We tried to go back to sleep for a bit and were up again and dressed by 5:30 to head out into the garden that was full of bird sound. It was overwhelming to see and hear birds we had not seen before. I used Merlin to give us the heads up about what was possibly singing and we used that to search out and confirm our identifications. We were surprised by how many we did recognize from all our memory work before the trip. We met a couple from Guelph and we worked on some ID’s together and then passed each other numerous times over the next couple of hours.
Hotel Bougainvillea is a known hot spot for birders and often the chosen destination to start any Costa Rica trip. It has 10 acres of gardens and water features that host a few hundred species of birds. They are not all there all the time obviously but we hoped to use this time to get familiar with the common species. After leaving the drabness of Ontario in March the gardens were a feast for our eyes!
We quickly had lifer Red-billed Pigeon, Social Flycatcher, Melodious Blackbird, Rufous-backed Wren, Crimson-fronted Parakeet, White-fronted Amazon, Hoffmann’s Woodpecker, Cabanis’s Wren, Rufous-tailed Hummingbird and Gray-headed Chachalaca. The bird I had really hoped to see was a Mottled Owl that roosts in the huge bamboo near the pool but despite usually being seen, it was not found that first day. We heard a very sweet song in one corner of the garden, Merlin ID’d it as a Rufous-browed Peppershrike. We listened and kept listening trying to zero in on where the bird was, Heather and Greg from Guelph joined us. Eventually Heather saw it in a different tree but the rest of us did not get on it as it quickly disappeared. We added it to our lifer list because we had actively heard it singing for a significant amount of time and I hope that we will get a chance to see it.
By 7:15 we were starving, our dinner on the plane was hummus and crackers so we were ready to fuel up but it was super hard to leave the birds and take the time to eat. The buffet was included in our stay and gave us our first taste of the famous Costa Rican Gallo Pinto, which is basically rice and beans mixed with onion, peppers and cilantro. The breakfast was yummy and we chowed down quickly and then dressed down as it had gotten quite warm and headed back to the gardens.
We had missed seeing a Lesson’s Motmot the first session and we ended up having the experience of the day with one after. I had spotted the first one on a shaded path right above Jerry’s head but the second one was out in the open and this one showed us the wonderful “swinging” of its tail before flying off the branch directly at us and landing on the grass near our feet for the briefest of seconds, (long enough to pick up an insect) and flying back to another branch. I was in awe of the brilliant turquoise colour. Just stunning.
Lesson’s Motmot
Things were starting to slow down, there were less calls and song as the temperature soared to 27C. By 11:30 we decided to take a break. We wanted to grab some beer and snacks from the supermarket a 10 minute walk away so we did that in the hottest part of the day. After a refreshing cold beer and some chips we took a much needed nap.
We headed back out around 3:30 but things didn’t pick up until 4:30-5:00. We added a couple of lifers, Lineated Woodpecker and White-tailed Kite. We did find 2 more Lesson’s Motmots in the front garden that gave us great views and video. Dusk was coming and night happens swiftly here so we went to shower and dress for dinner.
We were up again just after 4am not being able to sleep more and caught up with more pics and the blog notes before heading downstairs for 5:30. The Mottled Owl we missed yesterday was the bird I most wanted. We headed for the bamboo stand right away and the maintenance staff came out to help us look and quickly found the owl right by the path and in clear view. It was still quite dark but Jerry managed to lighten things on his camera and my phone camera did a decent job considering the low light.
Mottled Owl
The next agenda item was to see the Peppershrike we heard yesterday but could not find. We heard it sing within minutes but again could not find it before it flew away and sang again from the adjacent property.
We added a few more lifers, Boat-billed Flycatcher and Orange-chinned Parakeet and had better views of some of the other birds. A really good morning and by 7:30 we headed in to have breakfast excited to head out to our next destination.
Crimson-fronted Parakeet
Blue-gray Tanager
I am glad we decided to stay at Hotel Bougainvillea, it was a nice beginning to our trip, the grounds and gardens always hold new surprises each day. It is a gated hotel with security on the street 24/7. The rooms were comfy, the food was delicious and the staff very friendly. Jerry lost a camera battery on the grounds and a British birder picked it up and gave it to the front desk so when we asked on the off- chance it had been found the staff were happy to hand it back to him. It is popular and can be pricey if you have to take a more expensive room, as we did, so I can understand why people might hesitate to stay and in our case we paid for a “night” that we were only there from midnight on. I would probably skip this on a return trip and find something cheaper and closer to the airport before heading to other destinations. But it was a great introduction to some of the birds. We opted to stay at the much cheaper Holiday Inn right beside the airport the night before our flight back.
Hotel Bougainvillea – We saw 43 species of birds with 24 of them Lifers
Finally February! I’m one of those people that struggle through winter – I hate the cold, hate the snow, ice, wind. Hate the multiple layers, thick mitts, puffy coats, big boots making movement and birding a huge effort. Birding at least gets me out of the house but I have to admit that this year without a goal its hard to get me out of PJ’s. I think I have hit a record number of days spent in my PJ’s this last month with the continual double-digit negative temperatures and constant winds and squalls. I’ve enjoyed watching the birds at our feeders and I have made an effort to get on the treadmill in the basement and shovelled snow to at least keep up some semblance of physical activity. I’ve also been reading a few books a week, completed 8 jig-saw puzzles and been making all our favourite comfort foods. Hoping my clothes still fit in another month LOL.
We put in a display at our local library for February titled “Blind Date with a Book” where we wrap up books and just write a little blurb on the front to peak interest so in that spirit I’ll share some book recommendations in case some of you are looking for something new – I am an eclectic reader and willing to read anything interesting.
Careless People – Sarah Wynn-Williams – memoir from a FB employee!
Three Days in June – Anne Tyler – classic relationship story from Anne Tyler
Atmosphere – Taylor Jenkins Reid – women and NASA!
All Her Fault – Andrea Mara – mystery with lots of twists
Whistle Linwood Barclay – thriller in the Steven King style
The Reason You Walk – memoir Wab Kinew (Premier of Manitoba) current read – future first Indigenous PM?
But you want to hear about the birding, right? We have only gotten out 8 times in the last month. Quite a difference from last year when we took a trip to BC and out birding most days. Back on Jan 12 we tried for local owls at Brant Park and flushed a Long-Ear Owl that was in a tree close to the road. We always feel bad when they flush as we know they need the rest. It flew out right overtop of us and went deeper into the forest where hopefully it was not disturbed again. A few days later on our way to a hockey game in Oakville we decided to actually “chase” a rarity and headed to Desjardin Canal where a Greater White-fronted Goose had been reported. Unfortunately it had flown off just before we arrived so we continued onto LaSalle Marina and checked through all the ducks again adding another 4 duck species for the year.
Pied-billed Grebe the consolation for no GooseHooded MerganserTundra Swan – note the yellow below the eye!
Two days later we were out again meeting up to bird with Angela and Michael. What a crazy day! Snow Squalls were in the forecast and boy did we get hit. We had been in beautiful sunshine at Bayfront Park and drove 3 minutes over to Pier 8, got out of our cars and were hit with a wall of snow. I wish I had taken a pic of us! We walked/ran to Williams Cafe and arrived looking like snowmen! We opted to grab hot chocolates and talk about birding instead of trying to bird. Once things had cleared up we headed to Windemere and Sayers Park adding another couple of birds for the year. The real purpose of the day was to grab some yummy Mexican food at Mesa on James Street. Always a fun time with Angela and Michael with soooo much laughter!
It would be another 10 days before we birded again due to the weather- lots of PJ days. We drove local roads for Snow Buntings, Jerry had added them to his list a few days before while running errands, and we managed to catch up with a few flocks but at a distance in the fields. We then headed to Waterworks Park and spent a lovely afternoon hiking along the river. We scanned carefully as you never know what rare goose might be tucked in with the hundreds of Canada Geese that rest along the riverbank.
Taking a “short-cut” back left us in deep snow
Two hours after we got home a report came in that a Snow Goose had flown in. Yeesh! The following day Bill saw it first thing in the morning, we headed to yoga, and he confirmed it was a Ross’s Goose – a “bigger” rarity. We headed out after yoga but worried the goose might have gone off to feed as they are apt to do and indeed it was not seen after 10:30. We opted to visit Babi first and then walked the river just before dusk hoping we would catch it flying back in but it was never seen again. Not having much luck chasing things.
Grand River – Waterworks ParkBrown CreeperWhite-breasted Nuthatch
A couple of days later, on a sunny, cold, calm day we opted to visit the Burlington Canal at the Liftbridge. In very cold winters with a lot of ice along the shores of Lake Ontario the wintering ducks will congregate in the canal giving birders close up views of thousands of ducks. We were hoping to find Surf and Black Scoter to add to our year list but again dipped on both species.
Burlington Canal at the LiftbridgeThousands of Long-tails,Golden-eyes, Scoters, MergansersRedheads, Common Goldeneye, White-winged Scoter, Long-tailed DucksRed-breasted Mergansers
The next day we drove up into Mennonite Country northwest of Kitchener the known spot to see Snowy Owls. We headed to the road where reports had come in and saw another car pulled over. That is almost always another birder and sure enough it was Bob who we have run into before around Hamilton and up in Rainy River.
Screenshot
They had not seen any owls although people had 5 the day before. We drove around and then ended up crossing paths again with none of us seeing anything. Shortly after I saw a weird lump out in a field and stopped for a look. I asked Jerry to take a pic to confirm and he said it was just a lump of snow.
This is what you are looking for if you are not lucky enough to have an owl sitting on a pole or fence
I couldn’t let it go. Something about it just did not seem like a lump should be there and the colouring was more white than the blue-white of snow. I insisted we get out the scope and IT WAS A SNOWY OWL – a beautiful Male, pure white.
Snowy Owl looking like a lump of snow
I called Bob and he headed to where we were. It was so far back in the field but it was our first Snowy this year and we sure were not disturbing it. Bob had family with him and they had nice views in the scope. We got back in our car and drove a bit more and then headed a bit further north where other owls had been reported. Turning onto another gravel road a car was pulled over with a birder out of the car so we pulled over. He had 2 Snowies, one female on a silo and a male in the tree line. A Rough-legged Hawk flew past at a distance. The Owls were also quite a distance away but we got out and got the scope out and suddenly cars were stopping all over and I had a line-up at the scope for people to view the owls. It was bitter cold but I love sharing those moments with people that are thrilled and excited to see something for the first time. They are always amazed at how close the bird is in the scope. We finally moved on as did the owls and drove up a bit further to see our 4th Snowy of the day up on another silo at the next crossroad. A fun-filled birding day.
Number 2 SnowyNumber 3Number 4
So here we are closer to spring every day. While Bluebirds overwinter in this area their bright colour at the feeder makes us think of warmer days. We have been leaving some mealworms for the Virginia Rail that made it through the coldest week and Jerry got a cute pic of a curious Tufted Titmouse doing a drop-off.
Eastern BluebirdTufted Titmouse
I have spent many, many hours in the last month planning a trip to Costa Rica in March and that has been a tad overwhelming. The number of bird species typically seen over a few weeks can top 3-400 and the vast majority would be lifers for us. The birds come in every colour and the names are crazy – Golden-browed Chlorophonia, Bare-necked Umbrellabird, Three-wattled Bellbird, Scaly-throated Foilage-gleaner, Checker-throated Stipplethroat, Purple-crowned Fairy. And hundreds of other names that are hyphenated and similar to other names. We are scrolling slideshows every few days hoping that some of the names and pictures will stick so we will not be totally overwhelmed when we get there. I am taking the approach of quality over quantity and just planning on spending time at the different eco lodges that offer birding on their grounds with guides. Most people take tours where they can see hundreds of birds over a short period but I hope to make this a bit of a relaxed tour with time for afternoon swims and leisurely drives. It will be tough to get great pictures in rain forests but we hope to have the time to be patient and wait around to see and get as many pics of birds as we can, a luxury that many of the tours do not have.
I promised in my last blog a Birding Spectacle Blog coming but I still have not composed it so bear with me and I hopefully will get to it in the next few weeks or it can wait till later in the year.
Most of you know when I post a blog because you follow on FB but I know a few of you have left FB or do not have it. I plan on setting up a notification with email so if you would prefer to sign up for an email notification when I post a new blog let me know and I can add you. Send an email to ellyhorak at gmail dot com.
No alarm was set for January 1 but I was awake at my usual winter 7:30am time and saw my first bird of the year on my way to make tea – a beautiful male Northern Cardinal. I started a list and saw 11 species over the next 1.5 hours. Jerry opted to stay in bed and so he started his own list later – the horror! separate lists! it had not happened often in the last three years. I had seen a Cooper’s Hawk shortly after I got up so after he added the usual suspects I was AHEAD of him by 1 bird! LOL This is of course all in jest. After being tied to one another for 3 years and sharing almost all our birding moments it was refreshing to not. We trash talked a bit, kibitzing back and forth about competing with each other this year, and of course the Cooper’s Hawk returned and so we were again – even.
We opted to head out and see if we could add two rarer birds to the year’s list but had no luck with the White-winged Crossbill or the Dickcissel that we saw at the end of 2025. And you may ask why were we even “chasing” something on the first day of January? All I can say in our defence is it is a bit of an adjustment and hard to break habits. Over the next few days we discussed what this year would look like and decided that we would not be chasing rarities unless they were lifers or maybe a new bird for Ontario. We would rather just plan birding outings to favourite places to bird and see what we turn up. I do not want to chase the 300 year after year either. We know what kind of driving is involved with getting to that number. We decided we were going to practice “non-urgent birding” for at least this year.
The grandkids came for a sleepover on the weekend and we stopped at F.W. Dickson so they could feed the birds and we could show them the wintering Virginia Rail. We waited patiently for 20 minutes, in the cold, the kids were both really quiet and still feeding birds and waiting but no Rail appeared. At 25 minutes the patience had worn thin, I negotiated 5 more minutes explaining that you had to be patient for bird watching, sometimes for hours, they were not impressed. At 30 minutes we started to walk away and I stopped to chat with a birder when a shout came from behind, “It’s here!” We quickly back-tracked and the kids had good views as it came out to the tiny puddle that remains unfrozen. We happily watched for another 5-10 minutes as it moved about. Hunter saw it flap its wings as a squirrel chased it from the tangle. They were suitably impressed and excited that indeed, their patience had been rewarded.
Virginia Rail
Not a great pic but we opted to give the bird space, you can see some of the meal worms rehydrated that we left for it.
At lunch I asked if it might have been their “spark” bird but they answered in the negative. I remain hopeful that one of my four grandchildren will become a birder but at least they all know bird names and love nature and birds.
On Sunday we participated in the Brantford Christmas Bird Count checking our usual areas. We started a bit later in the morning this year hoping there would be more activity as the day warmed up and it seemed to work as we added more species at each stop than our previous years. A number of the birds were FOY ( First of the Year) birds for us too.
Last year, if you remember I could not find a Brown Creeper for 28 days in January and of course this year I have already seen a dozen. How strange birding can be. We have two Cooper’s Hawks, an adult and a juvenile, using our feeders as an all-you- can-eat buffet. They seem to hunt every 2-3 days and it seems to take them 4-5 attempts before they are successful. Doves are their main prey and we have watched 4 disappear in their talons in the past weeks. We have about 30 Mourning Doves coming to the feeder so they seem to be set for the winter months. When we visited Babi this week and took her for a walk on that one warm day we saw a Cooper’s Hawk catch one of the Rock Pigeons that frequent the gardens there. Everything needs to eat.
Weather and home jobs kept us from birding for the next few days and finally on Thursday the sun shone and the temperature climbed. We opted to go to LaSalle Park and Marina, a favourite spot for wintering ducks and swans. It was lovely to have no agenda, no “must-sees” and I noted to Jerry as we walked the path that in the previous years I would have been constantly thinking about what else we needed to add or where we should go next. It was quite freeing to just be and enjoy the birds.
Horned GrebeMute SwanTundra Swan
Check out that huge Grebe foot! Their feet are at the very back of their bodies making it impossible to walk on land. You can tell a Tundra Swan by the bit of yellow beside its eye. They are also noticeably smaller beside Trumpeter Swans. Below is a video of the bonding ritual head bobbing of the many Trumpeter Swan pairs that spend the winter at LaSalle in Burlington.
We added a few more birds on a local walk Friday at Cavan Flats. The Northern Mockingbird is not often found in Brant County so it was exciting to see one locally.
Northern MockingbirdDowny Woodpecker
I have weaned myself from most of the birding information that was my normal routine for the last few years. Instead of hourly needs and rare bird alert emails I now just get one rare bird email a day. I still get rare alerts on Discord for all the counties in Ontario but I don’t check them as often and as spring ramps up I will likely just subscribe for the local areas that I am in. I still find myself checking the “Top 100” listing every few days, not to see where I am but to see if anyone is attempting a Big Year. We’ve seen 63 species in these first weeks and plan to have an owling adventure and a winter lake watch to see more wintering ducks over the next weeks. We are also planning a trip outside Canada to open the door to world-wide birding – a scary expensive proposition. I also have a first birding spectacle to share with you in an upcoming blog. I know, I know, how dare I leave you hanging in anticipation LOL. Til next time…
After more days on the couch we finally ventured out for a short hike at the end of Week 50. A wintering Virginia Rail was found at F.W. Dickson just 5 minutes from home. The boardwalk is a favourite spot in the winter to hand feed the chickadees and nuthatches and a family of Titmouse have been in residence for a number of years now. The Rail was coming to a very small opening of water just off the boardwalk allowing for great pictures and some videos.
We don’t always appreciate the common birds we see everyday so I’ve added this video of a Blue Jay .
On Sunday another Purple Sandpiper was reported on Gull Island at Presquile and so we made plans with Margaret to try for it on Tuesday. Monday is a duck hunting day so there is no access to the area. Would it still be there by Tuesday? We left at 4:30am, as per usual, and arrived just at 7:30. Normally, you have to use rubber boots or hipwaders to wade across a shallow channel on Lake Ontario between the mainland and Gull Island but with freezing temperatures in the last week the channel was completely frozen making the crossing a lot less treacherous and less anxiety-inducing. It was still very slippery but we crossed without mishap and I was very grateful I took my hiking stick.
Leaving the mainland to walk out to Gull IslandThe view from Gull Island back to the mainland
Can you believe that people would subject themselves to the conditions in the pictures? – cold, windy, slippery with the possibility of getting wet normally, to just see a bird? Ugggh! the things we do for this hobby!
Michelle from Ottawa had given us the location they had the bird (Thanks Michelle!) so we headed to that spot as soon as we got on the island. I checked along the rocks and ice along the edge and peeking out from behind a piece of ice was a lovely little Purple Sandpiper feeding voraciously on the icy rocks just at the waters edge. #430!!!!! Wow! Wow! Wow! I was convinced that we would not find the bird for some reason but there it was. We waited for Margaret to arrive 30 mins later and made sure she got the bird – #335 Ontario this year for her!
Purple Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper feeding in the freezing water
We also had some nice views of a Snowy Owl that was flying around the area.
Snowy Owl
Then we decided since we were out and suddenly at 299 for the year in Ontario we might as well hit the 300 so we stopped at Lakefront Promenade Park in Mississauga to see the Harlequin Ducks that have wintered there the last few years. It was another easy get with Jerry stepping out of the car along the canal and the ducks were right there. I didn’t even need to do my coat up or put on gloves.
Harlequin Ducks
On the way home we made another quick stop for a Dickcissel that was coming to a feeder in Harrisburg adding that species to our Life Brant County list. Not a bad day when you can get 3 for 3 in December and without too much effort. Ok, we did get up at 4:30am and walk out onto Lake Ontario but when I think back to all of the hours and things we endured for many birds this was a really easy, successful day.
Dickcissel
The next day we opted to head north a couple of hours to see if we could track down a White-winged Crossbill. We were still pumped after our 3 bird day and hitting 430 so you get silly forgetting that most birding days do not go that well. But we went anyway… The Crossbill is the only #2 ranked bird that we have missed this year and apparently it should have been more on my radar back at the beginning of the year. Because we were busy with Babi and the Condo our winter trips just did not happen and I really believed that we would not have a problem finding one somewhere in Canada but here we are with a week left and no White-winged Crossbill. It is an irruption year for finches meaning that there is little food in the Boreal forest for these pinecone eaters and so they move south to find food. Usually, Southern Ontario is far enough south but it would appear that our cone crop is not much better and there have not been the reports I expected in this area. I suspect that they travelled further into the States to find sufficient food. Anyway, there had been a large group of Pine Grosbeaks up at Earle Rowe Park and some White-winged Crossbills in that flock and so the chances were good that they might stick around. When we arrived around 10 there was Margaret walking the trail! We had not even discussed it at the Purple Sandpiper the day before but here we were searching for the same birds two days in a row. Another birder heard a Crossbill in the early morning so we were hopeful, but despite our best efforts we only managed to see Pine Grosbeaks at a distance that would not allow us to correctly ID a Crossbill in the flock. The Crossbills move around to forage a lot and so it is difficult to chase down reports that most often are just fly overs. Will we get lucky in the coming days? The clock is ticking…
So we now have 10 days left. One last blog coming for the year. Three years and it is almost over…crazy!
We started the week anticipating the possibility of Purple Sandpipers and decided to head to Niagara to catch up with the popular Black-throated Gray Warbler that had been hanging at Morgan’s Point for a number of weeks. We added this species in BC but we only heard them as they were high up in the trees. With nothing else to chase we figured we would see it and grab some pictures and take it off the heard only list. When we arrived a beautiful Cooper’s Hawk was hanging in the area and we hoped it had not just dined on a tiny gray bird. With a few other birders we kept moving around and checking its usual spots until it finally appeared in its favourite tree. We all had great looks and Jerry took some pictures. Target complete! We were really hoping that a Purple Sandpiper would be out on the point but a careful search turned up nothing.
Snow arrived for the next couple of days putting an end to our birding and then Babi ended up ill and being rushed to hospital at midnight. Jerry was back and forth to emergency until they admitted her and by Saturday Jerry had brought home the virus to end all viruses. By Monday we were both on the couch, coughing so hard we could dislocate ribs. Ok, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but IT WAS BAD! I don’t know if it is covid, RSV, or influenza but the two of us have never been sick like this. The first day or two we ate yummy soup but by day 3 I completely lost my sense of smell which made eating next to impossible. Everything became a ball of cardboard in my mouth. As I write this on Sunday a week later I can say that there is a glimmer that we are recovering but I’m not sure how long it will take to get my smell and taste back.
I spent lots of time watching the bird feeders out the window from the couch and was lucky to see the numerous hunting passes of our resident Cooper’s Hawk. He managed to catch a dove the one day and then was back hunting on the 3rd day after that. Many misses happened again before he successfully grabbed one right from below the feeder. I had just been thinking this Dove should not have been closing its eyes while it was out in the open like that and BAM! Another Dove gone. We have about 30-40 visiting our feeder this year so we have a fairly large supply for the Hawk. My views for the last week…
On Wednesday evening I managed to contain my coughing long enough to do a zoom presentation for OFO on our 3 consecutive big years and while it was a bit of a struggle to make it through, I did enjoy doing the presentation. Just wish I could have been feeling a bit better.
This was not the week to get sick. We ended up missing multiple Purple Sandpipers at Point Pelee the first weekend and then on Gull Island at Presquile and then at the Gull weekend in Niagara the second weekend. So disappointing that we were not able to chase any of them. We have been to every Gull Weekend since 2013 and were sad to miss a weekend with friends as well as the hunt for rare Gulls. I am so weak at this point that I am not sure I could walk down our driveway and back. I think it will take a bit to recover from this.
Robert Baumander interviewed me back in the spring about our Ontario Big Year for his Big Year Podcast show and he published it this week so take a listen when you get the chance. I talk really fast LOL! https://thebigyearpodcast.podbean.com
