Week 4 Owl Week
A bone-chilling cold arrived this week with temps at -18 with a wind chill of -28. On Monday we just had time to do a drive locally through the fields on Paris Plains Church Road. It is a winter home to hundreds of Snow Buntings and usually there are a few Lapland Longspurs hanging with them. We found only a few Horned Larks with one Snow Bunting in a group. Jerry got his better pictures of a Snow Bunting and that was it.
On Tuesday we headed back to Toronto, I know, I know, I was NEVER going to bird that way again. BUT, the King Eider and Ross’s Goose were still being seen, a Common Eider was still hanging out near Peterborough and we had a location of an OWL! So I convinced myself to try again, it would be different this time and an OWL! It was the only day we would have available and it was, of course, cold and windy. We got to Tommy Thompson Park at 7:30 and trudged the 4 kms in the bitter cold, on the slippery, rough road. Did I mention it was BITTER COLD!? When we got out to the side with the lake the winds were gale force strength and trying to see anything while holding the scope somewhat stable was a ridiculous task. Not to mention my eye freezing from the onslaught of the wind. It is in these moments that my thoughts go to “what the F are we doing this for?” The ducks were reasonably close to shore and we scanned, and scoped, and scanned again. We moved from Pen D to the Pen C area where it had been reported. We took a break on the warmer path out of the wind, then went back out again. NO EIDER! Grrrrr! It was happening again just like last Tuesday. When we could not take the wind any longer we glumly gave up and trudged back to the car. There is nothing you can do to change the fact that the bird is not where you hoped it would be. One hour later a birder we met coming in when we left found the Eider in Pen B a further walk into the park! UGGGGG!
Our next stop was a newer location for the Ross’s Goose in a field instead of the lake and as we pulled up we could see the field was full of Canada Geese. We were looking for the small white goose among them. More scanning, more driving slowly the length of the field. The field was not flat so we knew there were hills that the small goose could be hidden from us but we tried our best to hit all the angles. Then a helicopter flew over and every bird took flight. Our job was easier as we quickly scanned through hundreds of geese looking for something white. NOTHING! Sigh! We were again dipping on the Ross’s Goose too, just like last week. Time was flying by and we still had two destinations so we opted to leave hoping to re-check the field late in the day. The Common Eider is a bird that is, well, common out East, so we will see this bird and I definitely do not need to chase it for this year but it is a great addition to our Ontario Life List and apparently it is the northern subspecies which is different than the eastern species. All that too say, birders can rationalize chasing any bird, LOL. We arrived at the Common Eider spot, pulled off the road, looked across the river with bins and saw a large duck in front of the yellow house as had been reported over a number of days. Jerry took pictures for two minutes, I scoped the bird to confirm and we were back in the car and driving off in 6 minutes. The one bird of the day I did not need and of course we got it. Why oh why could the King Eider not have been so predictable and stayed in one place?
The final stop was for an owl. I’m not even going to say what species it is. Birders can and will deduce what I am talking about. Owl locations are guarded and kept very quiet in the birding communities especially for the sensitive species. But, one person tells one person and they tell a friend and eventually two weeks later a whole lot of people know about the owl. We try to keep these locations on the down-low to protect the owl. I hope to get this species of owl out west in the summer but when you are counting birds you should take the opportunity when you get it, so we went. On the way we saw a woman taking a pic from the side of the road and stopped and saw a beautiful Barred Owl perched just off the road. Jerry got a couple of pics and we left. Barred Owls are plentiful and not on the sensitive species list. We have already seen a Barred Owl this year but Jerry got a great picture of this one.
We got to the location for the other owl and joined a couple of other birders hoping for a glimpse…and an hour later, NOTHING! BIGGER, LONGER SIGH! We left to give ourselves time to get back to the field for one final check on the Ross’s. There were even more geese, probably 600 or more and just at dusk a helicopter went over again so all the geese lifted up with most leaving and no white goose was seen. So last Tuesday we were 0 of 4 and this Tuesday 1 of 4! That is dismal birding my friends, DISMAL! The drive home was quiet but at least the traffic, for once was good and we got home by 7. I swear to all of you right now that I am absolutely NOT making another attempt on that King Eider at Tommy Thompson. I can only hope that another appears anywhere else at year end.
Wednesday morning we had a meeting with the staff at Memory Care and then we headed up to Kitchener for the annual Snowy Owl hunt. I was a tad nervous that the bad karma from Tuesday would carry over but we went anyway. Last year it was very difficult to find a Snowy anywhere in Ontario as they did not move down from the Arctic but this year they are back in some abundance and there had been a number of reports from the Linwood area. Hunting for Snowy’s involves driving up and down gravel roads looking at fields covered in snow for a lump of white with black “bits”. It was still windy so we were also dealing with blowing snow. There were many false stops for buckets, bags, snow covered rocks that looked like owls. There were a couple of other cars driving around and we stopped and shared info. No one had seen any. I had 3-4 spots that had been reported on ebird and we know the regular roads to find them. At the end of the second area I saw a lump near a fence, lifted my bins, and it was a Snowy! Yes! the curse had been lifted!
I was also scouting for Jude who was on his way to try for Snowy’s too so I quickly sent him the pin and pics hoping the owl would remain in that spot a bit longer. We continued up the road and turned onto the main road and both of us saw another lump in the first field. Sure enough, a second snowy minutes after the first! Things were looking up.
I was happy with seeing two and after sending Jude the second location we headed home. A Short-eared Owl had been seen in Brant County the last couple of nights 10 minutes from home so we wanted to try for that at dusk. We headed out at 4:30 and went up Paris Plains Road first and had a flock of about 150 Snow Buntings fly out of the field around our car and then back into the field. It happened too quick for photos but what an awesome sight those birds make. A bit further along the road we saw this strange bird flying low over the field, it had a strange lob-sided flight and the shape and size were strange to us. We both said “what was that?” and I quickly turned the car around to follow after the bird. It landed in a tree, we got bins on it to realize it was a Northern Shrike with a dead Junco! That was why it looked so strange in flight. It pecked at its dinner a few times, perhaps the death blow, and then hopped down into the thicket with its dinner. Jerry got out and walked over hoping for a pic and the Shrike popped up and sat for a minute and Jerry got some nice pics of it before it dropped back down and we left it to enjoy its meal. This bird is known as the Butcher Bird as it preys on small birds, lizards and frogs and it often impales its victims on thorns or barbed wire to keep for later and I assume making it easier to eat.
We then stopped to chat with a birder that had seen the Short-eared Owl the night before and got the exact location and Jude arrived, having gotten the Snowy and decided to join us in the Short-eared hunt. We headed down to show him the Shrike and he got pics of that. Jude has been going full speed this year and the Snowy and Shrike were year birds for him. He says he is not doing a Big Year but I think he will end up doing one by default. He is already in the number one spot. We headed over to Watts Pond Road where the owl was seen the last few nights and waited. I was nervous about where we were parked, it didn’t give very good “long” views and the evening before it was seen farther down the road. We drove down and back and then around 5:20 we drove down again. On the way back up the road we stopped at an open area near the beginning of a large berm. Jerry said wait here, it has good views and 30 seconds later a Short-eared Owl flew right out and near our car before turning back and moving through the field. I quickly honked for the guys further down the road and they moved down to see it. Jerry got pics, I watched the owl and a few more people arrived. We have always known there were Short-eared Owls in Brant County but we have never had consistent reports from one location. Perhaps this area might become that spot where they are reliable each winter.
We were all cold, hungry and happy to have seen the owl and we were happy to have seen two owls added to our list. The Short-eared owl was Judes 130th bird of the year! We headed home and as we turned off West River road we saw a bird up on the wire above the road. It was dark by this time and hard to see but we could tell by the shape and tufts that it was an Eastern Screech Owl! A three owl species day! and it put me at 100 birds for the year. Jerry took some pics in the dark and we continued the short drive home. What a difference from the day before. From low, low to high, high. And I guess that is why we do this – always a mystery as to what will happen, and what you will or won’t see…
The next few days we had things to do for Babi and to organize for our BC trip next week. We needed to buy a tripod that we could fit in our carry on bag as we hate to check luggage when we fly and had to head to a store in London to get it. On Sunday we took a few short local hikes and went out to see a Greater White-fronted Goose in Brant Waterworks Park. Last week we had driven to Simcoe to see one for our list and of course this week one showed up 20 minutes from home. It is a Brant County Life bird for me though so worth the walk in beautiful sunshine and warmer temperatures.
Week 4 4 species added Ellen 100 species Jerry 99 species