April 9th – (More) Pot Pourri | Haldimand Bird Observatory

Thanks Joanne…times are getting hard…..when feeder watching gets THIS exciting. -JDF

Folks have been getting out (so as not to go stir crazy) and have been sending me photos of their sightings:

How many people can boast having a Pileated Woodpecker in their backyard….like Carol? -CAJ

Look at the size of the bill on this Hairy Woodpecker in comparison to that of a Downy – a great way to tell them apart. -CAJ

Cody’s folks live close to the north shore of Lake Erie and have a nice wetland on their property. Cody has been getting some wonderful sightings (and pictures):

A VERY early Gray Catbird. -CB

Hermit Thrush – the first thrush to return in the Spring (some even overwinter). -CB

Male Green-winged Teal. -CB

Male and female Blue-winged Teal – not nearly as common as they used to be. -CB

Short-eared Owl – a bird in sharp decline. Just up the road near Fisherville. -CB

Dave Maida recently got back from a trip to the American Southwest where he was lucky enough to see a California Condor, close cousin to our turkey Vulture.

California Condor. -DM

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder (beer holder?). You can see the similarity with the Turkey Vulture. -DM

A Turkey Vulture cleaning up the neighbourhood. -KMP

Eila spent a little time down by the lake (Ontario):

Horned Grebe in breeding plumage. -ELO

Silhouette of a……right, Fish Crow! How many of you got it? -ELO

Eila confirms that these are, in fact, Squills (you were right Marnie….not that I ever doubted). -ELO

Eastern Phoebes would have been hard hit by this morning’s snow – thank goodness it was short-lived. -ELO

And Karen does a regular “blog walk” around Caledonia where she got some stunning shots of male Red-winged Blackbirds:

Male Red-winged Blackbird showing some attitude. -KMP

Those red epaulettes are really effective signals to other blackbirds. -KMP

Normally by this time I would be happily involved with Katherine Paveley at Fern Hill School in Oakville doing some migration monitoring with the students but…..the school is doing a brilliant job with its virtual teaching. Here’s a note from Katherine:
Hi Rick!
I hope you and your family are safe and well. I wanted to share an update from Fern Hill School, feel free to share on your blog!

We have just completed our third week of online learning and the teachers, students, and parents seem to be adapting very well. We are all sad that we are unable to continue our migration monitoring as usual, but by working together to stay inside and stay safe we hopefully get closer to flattening the curve so we can get back outside.

The idea of online Field Studies may seem a bit challenging, however it’s been a lot of fun. Now more than ever it is important that students (and all of us) are connecting with nature in our own backyards and looking to nature for stability. I have been designing lessons and challenging students to explore their yards and discover the wildlife, including birds, that have been there all along. Each week I challenge students to learn different bird calls, identify spring blooms, look for crawling creatures, and do sit spots in their backyards to see what they observe. We’ve made nature journals to record our observations, and have been using great resources like the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to learn about bird calls and songs. Nothing could ever replace the magic of a bird in the hand, but we’re learning in new ways and having fun. In particular, for students that do not have access to feeders right now, the free feeder and nest cams have been a big hit. In the coming weeks I am excited to show them household items and food products that can be turned into bird feeders), and we’ll be doing some gardening and planting lessons as well. It’s fun for me as their teacher to see their photos and videos of their excitement as they learn to see their yards as rich habitats for all sorts of creatures and their surprise that it was there all along.
We miss you and Janice incredibly and can’t wait for spring to come again.
Stay safe and healthy!
Katherine