Great Horned Owl | The Ovenbird Blog

March 1 The End of Pajama Days

by Ellen Horak | Mar 1, 2026 | 2026

After my last blog February 8 we continued to only bird on nice weather days. We opted to drive into Hamilton on a sunny but cold day to traverse the Lake in hopes of Scoters and some Owl species. It has been a strange year with Lake Erie almost completely frozen and Lake Ontario with huge areas close to shore frozen. Standing at the lake you can hear loud “KRACKS” as the ice cracks along the shore. We had our best views of Black and Surf Scoters because the ducks were in small areas of open water surrounded by ice which meant no waves! Usually our views are far out and glimpses in the scope between waves. They were still quite a distance for Jerry’s camera but he did manage some recognizable shots and the looks through our scope were lovely.

After checking all the openings to the Lake we eventually ended up at 50 Point, the known spot for owls in the winter. We walked the usual area but did not find any Saw-whet owls and so headed to another area. Carefully scouting pines and spruce we checked for any visible lumps. Jerry found a carcass of a rabbit and a medium size owl flushed from a nearby tree. A Long-eared Owl. Margaret texted to ask about owl sitings and to let me know she was at 50 Point so we quickly spoke and met up. We continued along the path and another birder alerted us to a Long-eared Owl and as Jerry moved closer to the tree to see if he could see the Long-ear on the other side he came face to face with a tiny Northern Saw-whet Owl! Two owls in the same tree. We quickly backed away and quietly managed a few pictures before leaving it in peace. Angela and Michael also joined us at Fifty Point so they got to see the Saw-whet too. These owls are seen by a lot of people – there exact where-abouts are not posted on Discord and many people hide their lists on ebird but it is a known park for photographers, birders and just locals that like seeing nature. The owls return year after year and despite the popularity of the place we have not witnessed large gatherings of people disrupting the owls. Hopefully, like us, they snap a bad pic and then go on their way.

We met up with Angela and Michael the next day to see the celebrity Virginia Rail at F.W.R. Dickson and had quick looks, but no pictures as it scurried out to grab a peanut we had just brought to help it through the continuing cold. We then headed to Brant Park but only a bit of the main road was plowed and it was really tough going through the softening deep snow on some of the more popular paths. There were few birds and no owls and as we headed out a small snowstorm arrived so we opted to call it a day and head out for dinner.

On the Family Day weekend a rare Barrow’s Goldeneye was reported in Cambridge only 15 mins away from us so we had to take a look at it. We were heading to Keira’s for a family dinner but my food was ready to go and we had an hour before we needed to leave. We arrived at the Blair Lookout where birders had it in their bins so I got the scope out and after some time managed to get on it as it constantly dove for food. Eventually, everyone had good scope looks and Jerry walked down the road to access the river at another spot to get some pictures. While we were there an Iceland Gull flew by so we added 2 birds to the year list. I am interested in just how birding like this will pan out in real numbers, no chasing great distances but just waiting for the birds to show up close to us or by accident when we are out seeing other things. We had parked down a bit of a slope in some snow and with the warmer temps the snow was super slippery so with our “seasonal” tires we could not get back out onto the main road – it was super silly, not even that much of a hill. After repeated tries we needed a helping push from the birders that had congregated for the Barrow’s. Thanks Guys!

The next day we walked local trails following reports of some interesting birds in the neighbourhood. There was a Long-tailed Duck down at the trail head which is unusual on the river and in Brant County but certainly we had seen thousands of them on the Canal in Hamilton.

Then we headed onto the rail trail walking up from Paris towards Glen Morris as a Red-shouldered Hawk had been seen in the morning. We ran into Bill and had a nice chat and saw a number of species while we chatted but no Red-shouldered Hawk after the initial report. This is the first year that we have not had one in our yard after 6 consecutive winters of a Red-shouldered Hawk visiting. I’ve certainly been home more than other years but have not managed to see one.

A week or so later we were heading to Benson’s hockey game in Beamsville in the late afternoon and decided to quickly stop at 50 Point to try for a third owl species – a Great Horned Owl. Apparently, there was a possible nesting pair. We walked the area we had heard they were known to roost in but did not see any large lumps. We scanned another area, chatted with a local that said they had not seen them that day and so we decided to head out as the light was fading. Just as we started to drive along the road, I looked to my right and saw a lump in a small evergreen just off the road. We got out of the car and had glimpses of an alert Great Horned Owl through the branches and trees. Jerry took a picture and then the owl started moving around placing his back to us and stretching a bit and then he flew off back to the area they have been seen in probably to start the night’s hunt.

Jerry was struggling with his photography through most of the month after getting new lenses in his glasses and discovering that they had made them transitional lenses by mistake. With any sunlight or daylight the glass darkened on him and he had great difficulty seeing through the camera lens. It has been a frustrating few weeks for him. Thankfully they have now been changed again so he can finally see through the viewfinder.

Since then we have not birded except for our backyard feeders. We have added a few early migrants, the first Red-winged Blackbirds have arrived and today we had our first Common Grackle and a Sharp-shinned Hawk chased after the Doves in the yard. There is the “feel” of spring. A warmer day here and there, then another cold spell but we are closer to spring every day. The days are getting incrementally longer and the worst of winter should be behind us. The pajama days have come to an end. With as little birding as we have done this year we are still at 90 species seen since January 1. This is about average for us most years in Ontario, and as expected, quite a bit below our big years where by this time in 2024 we were at 145 and last year we were at 107 species in Ontario.

In other news…We have been busy finalizing all our travel plans for Costa Rica, trying to find required items for our trip and making sure we have most eventualities covered. Our focus most evenings has been to learn as many birds of Costa Rica as we can, or at least familiarize ourselves with the bird families and some calls. We will have guides for many of our outings but we also plan to bird on our own as well. Many birders opt to just write a cheque (a big cheque) and take a tour so that they need not worry about anything but seeing the birds and it is very tempting to travel that way but for two of us the cost is hard to justify. Certainly there are countries that a tour would make the most sense but Costa Rica is safe, we have heard, and easy to find your way around so we will give it a go. I do not think I will be blogging while we are away, but you never know. I suspect that evenings will be spent figuring out pictures and calls of species seen so that we can submit accurate ebird lists as least. I plan to journal our whole trip and then put together blogs when we get back with hopefully some great pictures and stories to share. This will likely not be until April when it will truly be spring here! Until then….

Happy Birding!

Week 15 Spring has Sprung!

by Ellen Horak | Apr 14, 2024 | Ontario Birds 2024

Reminder! Keep checking the 2024 Gallery as we are continually adding and updating pictures as Jerry takes better shots of birds we had in the winter and finally gets pics of birds he missed earlier.

With the eclipse on Monday we birded locally in the morning before heading to watch our grandkids so their mom could go to work. We did another drive past Paris Plains Church Road and saw and heard a Vesper Sparrow but no chance for a picture. Then we walked the TH&B Rail Trail off D’Aubigny Rd, one of our favourite spots in Brant County. We quickly added an Eastern Towhee that we heard and then after some effort, found singing away in the shrubs. We had super views of a local Peregrine Falcon cruising over us doing lazy circles and Jerry managed a few pics of it in flight.

The clouds moved aside so that we had great views of the eclipse with our grandkids and then after the sun came back out we headed to Safari Road Marsh in the evening to see if we could hear American Bittern and Common Gallinule that had been heard that morning. This marsh area along Safari Road near Valens has been flooding across the road for a few years now so the city blocks the section of road from traffic which, we the birders, absolutely LOVE! It used to be you took your lives into your hands to see the speciality marsh birds there when traffic was still allowed. Now it is a birders paradise to get the marsh species. We met up with Mourad, an excellent Hamilton birder, and we passed the time talking birds, waiting for dusk and listening for either of the species. And nothing! Maybe the eclipse messed their schedule but we ended up “dipping” (birder slang for missing a bird) on them. Just as it was getting dark a large number of swallows appeared and among them was a larger, all dark bird giving us our FOY (first of year) Purple Martin. Some consolation. All three of us also saw what we all believe was a River Otter in the marsh!

Tuesday morning we headed to Long Point. The forecast was sun and heat and with south winds during the night I felt it might be a decent day to pick up some early common migrants and hoping for some cool rarity. The Long Point Bird Observatory has been banding and studying birds since the 1960’s and is a spring ritual for most birders. At the Old Cut Research Station you can watch birds being banded. If you have not been, it is worth a trip, the station bands spring and fall from 9-12 each day.

We walked the paths and quickly saw birds that while not new for the year were giving Jerry the opportunity for pictures, numerous Eastern Towhees were scratching at the ground, Winter Wrens were moving low, Kinglets were flying past and we soon added Ruby-crowned Kinglet for the year. From Old Cut we checked out the nearby neighbourhood and saw our first Pine Warbler. Not in full breeding colours but a welcome sight anyway.

We then checked out the campground and saw numerous Thrush, Towhees and Sapsuckers offering us great views and photo opportunities. This Golden-crowned Kinglet was only interested in finding sustenance and ignored me walking beside.

A bit further along we found a FOY Brown Thrasher. Didn’t get great pictures as they can be a skulky bird but Jerry did get his eye!LOL

At the end of our walk we were standing in a campground when a tiny brown bird flew in front of me and behind Jerry just a foot off the ground. It was a Winter Wren, a bird we went weeks without seeing and had just heard on Sunday. At 4″ long and weighing only 0.3 oz these tiny birds have huge voices with a wonderful song. I managed a video (audio muted as we were talking) as it moved along and then it curled up on a branch for a bit of a rest. I suspect that it was exhausted from its flight across the lake as they generally are not that still around people.

While we were birding a report came in that a Black-necked Stilt was at the Strathroy Sewage Lagoons. The Stilts are a southern species that are rare to Ontario but nested at the lagoons last year and had a successful brood. It was only 1.5 hrs away so we headed to get the rarity even though it and others perhaps will be there all summer. The rule for a Big Year is always get the bird as quickly as you can.

The wind was picking up when we arrived but Trish, a London birder, (thanks!) gave us quick directions where to go and we found the Stilt without too much difficulty. It is a bird that is difficult to mistake with its long bright pink legs! It was a distance away so not a great picture but a record shot at least. We also saw a Spotted Sandpiper (the first reported in Ontario) and then heard a Sora on the way out.

Trying to be efficient as possible we decided to stop on the way home for pictures of a Great Horned Owl family that is nesting at a cemetery we were going past. Normally, we do not worry about getting pics of all the birds and especially bothering nesting birds but we are trying to get a pic of every bird seen this year so we stopped and spent all of 7 minutes at the site just before dusk.

We arrived home at 7:10 and were eating dinner at 7:45 and in bed by 10. I was tired having only managed to sleep 4 hours the night before and suffering from acute allergies. But we were back up at 6am Wednesday to head to Safari Road determined to hear the Bittern. This time we also remembered our rubber boots so we could wade down the road. We heard and saw Common Gallinules right away and then walked back and forth until we heard the strange oong-KA-chunk sounds of the Bittern. Google that call – it is one of the weirder bird calls. With not many other species around and the temps hitting 20C we headed home to do a house chore – putting more Feather Friendly dots on the rest of our windows.

We live in a solar passive house with lots of southern windows and we have had our share of bird hits and deaths – in the early years we used those big decals with limited success but a few years ago we found out about the dots and we did all the major south windows that got the most bird hits. With the dots up not one bird has hit those windows. Last year Jerry drew lines of soap on the other windows and that worked reasonably well. Most hits come during migration time as it seems our resident birds have figured out the perimeter of the house. Last week we were devastated to have two birds chasing each other hit our bedroom window and both died. One was a Junco and the other was a Purple Finch that Jerry had just photographed. We ordered more dots the next day.

After completing the windows we headed out in the evening to our local marsh, Grass Lake to see if any rails had returned but all was quiet. This is the spot where Sandhill Cranes nest too. It will be a regular spot for us to check over the next few weeks to try and see and hear the marsh birds and it is only 5 minutes from our house.

Thursday was a rain day and gave me time to start on this blog, hence the length of this blog, lots of time on my hands!

Friday was another rainy, windy day and we were in Hamilton to watch our grandson play in his hockey championships so in between games we walked along the lake at Confederation Park and added Northern Rough-winged Swallow and then we HAD to stop at Hutch’s for fish and chips! Then we headed to Valley Inn and found a Great Egret had arrived before heading back to another hockey game.

Sunday morning, prime time to bird found us yet again at the hockey rink as Benson’s team played the final and won their Division Championship! Go Bulldogs!!! We then headed west to Backus Woods near Long Point. It is a new spot for us and hosts Louisiana Waterthrushes every year. A few have been reported in the last few days around Ontario so we took a chance that an early one might be visible or heard at their prime territory. NOPE! But it was a lovely hike through beautiful scenery and we now know where to go in the next weeks when they will surely arrive. We then checked out Long Point again to see if any new migrants had arrived but again dipped on adding any new bird. On the way home we stopped at Port Rowan Wetlands and saw 2 Bank Swallows, finally a new bird and a quick stop at Turkey Point gave us our FOY Dunlin so we managed to add two more birds in the last hour of our birding day. A good week for mid April! the 15th week and 15 birds added.

Week 15 1 new rarity for a total of 16 rarities 15 new species 188 species seen J&E