Snowy Owls & Christmas Wishes

A pure-white Adult Male Snowy Owl! Lighting was horrible... I know...

I was driving through Essex County yesterday, and to my amazement, I had noticed a large owl atop a telephone wire along the road. I did not want to disturb the owl, so I quickly pulled over and shot some photos from my car! Its always a treat to see owls - and this one was a little extra special since it appears to be an adult male - almost completely white!  Its nice as well for me because its self found --- I have horrible luck finding owls and rare birds in general. 

I also want to wish my blog readers a very Merry Christmas! This time of year can be stressful at times, and the pandemic we are living through is (perhaps) making things even worse - but... Just remember that this time of year (even the solstice for the non-religious) can be a time to be thankful for what we have, to reflect on the year that just passed and year ahead of  us. For me - I like to think of ways that I can improve and become a better person. 

I think one thing that unites us (anyone reading this posting) --- is that we love nature. Nature is simply the greatest show on earth. We are blessed to simply be alive, part of nature and to be able to observe and appreciate nature. 

Seeing this owl absolutely made my day yesterday. Yes, it was getting dark out and I had poor photos but I can't help but share this special sighting. 

Good Birding, and Merry Christmas!

-Dwayne

Snowy Owls!!!

After attending a meeting in Sarnia today, I took a small detour on my way home and was amazed to find 4 Snowy Owls!  I pulled over onto the side of the road, put my hazards on - and snapped a few photos from the comfort of my car.

The lighting was already starting to get dark and gloomy but I attempted to photograph these amazing arctic visors.

An acquaintance from work was going to carpool with me but I told her that I wanted to go birding after the meeting. She stated that she would have "Burdened my Birdin' " ... I was certainly impressed with her pun!

Other birds seen included Bald Eagle, American Kestrel and LOTS of Tundra Swans!
Good Birding!

Some Bonus Pics from last weekend in Erieau. I was hoping this was a rough legged hawk, but I think its just a common red tailed hawk. Still I had nice views in good sunlight.

I invested in Tesla a few months ago and I was really interested to see what the new tesla truck would look like. The look has grown on me. Someone on the internet put a downpayment on a truck order and posted the receipt --- It has an owl on it!

Late November Birding - Snowy Owl in Essex!

I've managed to get a little birding in over the last month and figured I would publish some highlights. Two or three weeks ago, I had gone out to Colasanties in Leamington with the family but then tried my luck with a quick visit to the Hillman Marsh Area. A Long-eared owl was an excellent find... but admittingly... predictable. I tried to see if I could find this beautiful bird today but no dice. I did see Blake who mentioned a SNOWY OWL that he found in the Point Pelee Onion fields and amazingly, I ended up catching up with it!

I had read this week that there are several Fox Sparrows at Ojibway Park - near the bird feeders. My visit was successful! As I was photographing the Sparrow, several Black Capped Chickadees, Nuthatches and even a Tufted Titmouse landed at point-blank range --- perhaps expecting a handout?

Earlier this week, I had read that a Varied Thrush was seen near Kingsville, as well as Little Gulls at Kingsville Marina, so I figured I would try my luck with those birds. A few Northern Harriers were seen as well as American Kestels on the way.

Ring billed Gull in a contemplative pose. Perhaps he is considering how he can differentiate himself from the masses?

Black underwings make this an easy bird to identify. Always a pleasure to see this bird.

I caught up with the Snowy Owl Blake had mentioned earlier. A beautiful bird easily found in the Onion Fields near Point Pelee.  Pine Siskins were another exciting first-of-season bird at the Pelee Wings feeders. A female Purple Finch was in the mix as well.

FOS -Snowy Owl - Heavily Cropped

Can you identify three finch species in this photo?

Seeing a Little Gull was pretty exciting because today's sighting is only the second time I've seen one. I haven't been able to chase some of the mega-rarities in the province right now but I'm pretty happy that I was able to catch up with some of the great birds in this posting.

Good birding!
Dwaynejava

Birding Hiatus Birding... In February

A few weeks ago, in early February, I had seen a White-winged Dove at Rondeau and a friend of mine (Jeremy Birder) asked me if I had seen the abundant Common Redpolls at the Rondeau Visitor Center. I honestly did not see any... and that bothered me! I recall on that last visit that I had stopped many times as I drove to see small flocks of... wait for it... American Tree Sparrows! So today, I took some time in the morning and went back to Rondeau Park to go birding. 


While driving through Tilbury, I saw three or so Red-tailed hawks along the 401. Hundreds of American Crows were seen as well. The road leading to Rondeau had an American Kestrel and Horned Larks. I could hear them singing as I drove! (Note: this was written on Saturday Feb 23rd)

At Rondeau, I stopped by Rick & Anne's Cottage, and they graciously allowed me to view their feeders, which are host to these elusive Common Redpolls I have been seeking. Sadly, just as I arrived, Rick mentioned that a Cooper's Hawk was perched directly above the feeders and spooked the birds that were feeding. I actually saw it buzz around back towards the visitor center. Great!  So I waited, and waited. Slowly, after what felt like over an hour, some birds returned. Cardinals, Blue Jays, Tree Sparrows, American Goldfinches, Downy Woodpeckers, Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmouse (mice?) , White breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wrens, more American Goldfinches... but no Common Redpolls. Just as I was about to give up on seeing them, I saw what I thought might be a House Finch, or perhaps a Purple Finch? No... my elusive nemesis bird ... a single Common Redpoll!

Just two or three of these arctic beauties made themselves observable to me, .... very fleeting looks, this one above stopped in at tree-top level for a second -- then vanished! Definitely not soul-satisfying views.

I attempted to find the Ross's Geese and Snow Geese at Rondeau, but sadly (and I see this more and more) there is no access to the shoreline. Every street that runs up to Rondeau Bay, with the exception of Brock Street in Shrewsbury, is chained off with "Private Property" and No Trespassing signs.  I couldn't even salvage a diagnostic photo. Also, I had my scope in my wife's car today ... it wasn't my day to see these

As a chance consolation, Kory Renaud texted me with a Snowy Owl Surprise at some intersection in Essex. Upon arrival, I searched and searched but came  up empty. All I had seen was two Horned Larks, and a flock of 20 or so Snow Buntings. Finally, I found the owl after scanning the field for a third time.

Distant, heavily cropped photo of a Snowy Owl. It is a heavily barred juvenile just left of center. Can you see him?

Good birding!
Dwayne

Bonus Pic:

Trumpeter Swan at Lakeview Marina in East Windsor (Lifer! #318!)

10 of the 20 or so Bald Eagles at Peche Island in East Windsor

Snowy Owl Mobbed by Crows & Overwintering Red-headed Woodpecker

Snowy Owl being mobbed by a 'murder' of Crows

Snowy Owl trying to lose the Crow mob. (Heavily Cropped)

A recent Ontbirds posting from Paul Pratt mentioned that a Snowy Owl was seen in Chatham. Having some time off (Jan 2nd), I ventured off to see it while checking out some other hotspots. Upon arriving at the intersection described in the posting, I did not see anything. So I got out of the car and really scanned every telephone post/tree etc but no Owl. With a fresh recent snowfall, I realized that there is probably no way I'm going to find this owl if its sitting in a snowy field. As I was about to give up,  I pointed my scope to a  large group of American Crows in the corn-stubble field Paul described and noticed a white creature in the middle of the pack of Crows. I felt bad for the Owl... but - Chatham is like the capital of Winter-roosting Crows in North America (this is un-official and off-the-cuff but I have heard similar statements from media etc). The Owl was distant in the field (200m) and very isolated from any roads allowing only scoped views. Then I noticed the Owl was trying to lose the Crows but they followed close behind. Seconds later, I lost the Owl as it went over a cedar hedge along the southern perimeter of this field.

Can you find a Glaucous Gull in this photo?? *

Prior to seeing the Snowy Owl, I stopped at Lighthouse Cove to try and get better views of Glaucous Gulls, and sure enough, I was able to find one. The lighting was better than on New Year's Eve and one was much closer. The water had really frozen up and there seemed to be fewer birds to look at. Two Great Blue Herons were present, noteworthy considering they were absent from the St Clair NWA CBC.

Later at Wheatley Harbor, I followed up on another recent Ontbirds posting about a long-staying Iceland Gull. Upon arriving at the Harbor, I saw another birder with scope, Richard Carr.  We both made an effort to find "white-winged gulls", and one that we found seemed to have a dual-toned bill, so I 'ignored it' until I found one with with a solid black bill (which is consistent with a first year Iceland Gull). So I believe the leftmost gull in the photo above is an Iceland Gull.  In hindsight, could the other white-winged gull have been a second-year Iceland or a first year Glaucous? I did not really make size comparisons of this second gull we found so I guess its not worth deliberating over. I had to call it a day so I did not have time to re-find the other gull for further study.

Today, the family went out to Colasanti's in Leamington, so after we left, we took a quick detour through the Onion Fields to see a recently reported owl. I dipped on the owl, but found an overwintering Red-headed Woodpecker! Its undulating flight caught my eye as I was driving and it landed in a tree right next to the road. I was in total amazement!

Good birding,
Dwaynejava

Lifer Summary:
Iceland Gull #316

Bonus: A few random photos from the last week of 2012...Just for fun...

They Come in Threes

My last horrah of my Christmas vacation took place last Friday with a trip out to Point Pelee in search of White Winged Crossbills. Where are they??? :-)  I did see a three pack of Owls (Great Grey, Snowy and Screech) along with a three-pack of Falcons (Merlin, American Kestrel and the resident Bridge Peregrines) in my futile search for the Crossbills.

It was 50 degrees (F) out (Jan 6th) and sunny. Not much was seen at Point Pelee bird wise with the exception of some Red Breasted Mergansers at the tip. The tip of Point Pelee is really eroded!!! Its really up to the PPNP staff to figure this out, but I think foot-traffic along the 3'-4' erosion wall near the tip is a bad idea. As people approach this ledge, the wall seems to crumble due to the predominate sand content in the soil there.

I reluctantly stopped for 5 minutes at the GGOW site on the way to PPNP and got a chance to see Rick, my birding friend from Leamington. Check out this photo below of the GGOW. It crossed the road on McCain side road at one point, just 1'-2'  above the roadway. The GGOW has evolved its senses to hear lemmings under snow, but not to deal with a Chevy barreling down the road at 60km. Lets hope he makes it!

 

I met some birders today looking for Short-eared Owls out in the county. These guys from Virginia knew about birding hotspots in the county that took me almost three years to find out about. They told me that Northern Shrikes were seen yesterday in a location not far from the GGOW. My search for them today netted some Eastern Bluebirds and an obliging Merlin. American Kestrels were seen in a few places, but this one near the Onion Fields was not as shy as the others. The Snowy Owl above was also seen in the Onion Fields near Rd 19 and Rd D. Point Pelee was very quiet... a few Red Breasted Mergansers near the tip, a few Horned Larks in the onion fields but not much else was seen.

 

Merlin is really the star of this posting. I rarely see them. Kestrels are easy enough to find out in the county, although they can be very camera shy. I got home thinking it would be cool to see a Peregrine Falcon to make a "Falcon Hat-trick" (for the day) but I was thinking that the few people who read this blog would not really care if I did or not. Then it dawned on me that I needed to go to Canadian Tire (near the bridge) to pick something up anyway... So there you go... Falcon Three-Pack.

Good Birding,
Dwaynejava

An amazing video about Snowy Owls by Cornell's Ornithology Dept.

Amazing 3.5-minute documentary on the Snowy Owl. Amazing photography, videography and information. If you are reading this blog, you will love watching this.




Video: Short eared Owl
A recent video I took of a Short Eared Owl eating a mouse. Sadly, I stopped taking video about 30 seconds before it snapped up the mouse and swallowed the 80% of it remaining! I have uploaded this video and ran an edit to reduce shaky-ness, so hopefully, that anti-shake effect has taken effect by the time you watch this!
**Also, I had my hazard lights on, so I replaced that ticking sound with classical music... Just in case you were wondering!***



Video: Snowy Owl in Kingsville
My first self-discovered Snowy Owl. I drove by this owl at sunrise (7:55am) on Dec 24th, 2011. Location: Kingsville Ontario. 


Video: Great Grey Owl in Kingsville


***Sorry about the hip-hop music... I tried to cover up the original sound which involved camera's clicking and people talking... I think Enigma's "Return to Innocence" which has a nice native-american feel to it would have been more appropriate.


Holiday Beach CBC on Dec 27th, 2011
I joined the Holiday Beach CBC and walked Boblo Island which is located in the Detroit River a few hundred meters west of Amherstburg. It was a pretty good walk with some amazing birders, but sadly, I was not well dressed for the event. In particular, I spent the whole morning with icy-cold, soaked feet! I need to by buy waterproof boots if I want to keep doing this birding hobby!

Some results from our morning walk:
Great horned Owl
Great blue Heron
Belted Kingfisher
Brown Creepers
Northern Flicker

Many other seasonal birds (sparrows and finches etc).




Two blog postings I'm working on:
*Year-End Review
I'm planning on doing a month-by-month re-cap of 2011 and possibly an updated life list.

*Two-Year Blogging Anniversary
I may also create a post in celebration of my two-year blogging anniversary. 

Good Birding,
Dwaynejava

PS: Interested in past CBC results for a count-circle near you?
http://audubon2.org/birds/cbc/hr/count_table.html

Great Grey Owl Still in Kingsville

***Update: To my knowledge, the owl has not been seen in Kingsville since Jan 8, 2012***

Not satisfied with last night's views of the Great Grey Owl, I drove up to Kingsville again this morning and tried my luck at finding the owl again. As I was driving to yesterday's location, I noted a Snowy Owl on top of a telephone post. I pulled over and took some photos. Nobody was around and it dawned on me that I had discovered my first snowy owl! I've seen others, but they were pointed out to me by other birders.

Anyway, I quickly left, in hopes of finding the Great Grey Owl. I drove around for 30 or so minutes and then gave up. I had to go out this morning for breakfast with some friends so as I drove away, I noticed a mob of birders (& mobbing crows!) on Concession Rd 2 and knew something special was happening.

Check out this magnificent owl species below!

Incredible Camouflage!!!

Please treat owls ethically. Do not disturb them or play calls or use baits for them.  View them from a distance and respect their space as well as private property. Check out this excellent article (regarding owl ethics) from Ebird.org entitled: Got Snowies?

Good birding, and Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to all that celebrate!
Dwaynejava

Almost forgot: My first self discovered Snowy Owl!

Got Lemmings?

Update:

See these great blogs for more amazing photos of this boreal beauty.

http://burgbirder.blogspot.com/2011/12/day-of-owls.html

http://kenburrell.blogspot.com/2011/12/twas-2-nights-before-xmas-and-i-was.html