(all photos in this post are from the patch, during this time frame!)
Oh ya, it's a "condo birding update" .... The synopsis - I've hardly been "birding" from the condo. This time of year stinks... And I'm talkin "lack of good birds stink"...
With that said, I've still had some random sightings of great birds! Things are picking up!
February 4 - SNOWY OWL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! New condo bird... Finally had one on a chunk of ice, waay offshore... I saw it take a bath! How cool is that? (It was really distant, but I didn't really care)...
Also had a Red-necked Grebe swimming offshore mid afternoon... Clearly starving after being "frozen out" from Hudson Bay last week...
Feburary 5th - Red-throated Loon !!! - a strong NE wind, but few birds. The loon was up high and moving west.. Clearly "frozen out" from Lake Ontario, given that Lake Ontario hasn't frozen over for years...
February 8th - Canvasback! A beauty male just offshore with the geese in the morning...
February 10th - ICE! Ice all the way to the horizon...
Some really sweet ice!
February 13th - still lots of ice!!! A notable increase in gulls this day, and I was really surprised to see an adult LESSER Black-backed Gull... Migration underway with gulls as well, I think!
Other good birds were 2 Iceland Gulls, 1 Glaucous Gull, and 1 beauty American Robin on the front lawn of my building when I drove in... (A small group have wintered locally).
February 16th - SNOWY OWL!!! Ice conditions were excellent, with a great mix of solid stuff, and open water - keeping all manner of birds happy. The young male Snowy flew east mid day...
Other good birds were a "patch" Northern Shrike, another Robin, and a flyby Glaucous Gull... In the evening, I had another great highlight in the form of ---- another SNOWY OWL baby!!! A probable "adult" male, giving chase (poorly) to some big flocks of ducks waaay out - as the sun was setting.
February 17th - SNOWY OWL!!! A young female on the ice at dawn... 3rd bird in 24 hours. Flew around a little bit, but stayed perched for the first 3-4 hours of the day, floating on a small piece of ice, surrounded by floating slush...
(the female)
This day was pretty active. A short walk around the patch had more Robins, a/the Shrike, 1 American Kestrel, and a patch FIRST --- NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD!!! #189 ...
Another big highlight of the day was the gulls... Good ice for roosting, combined with an afternoon east wind, meant I had some very solid totals... No major highlights but I ended up with FOURTEEN Glaucous and SEVEN Iceland among the regulars! Ring-bill's are increasing as well...
Glaucous on far left, Iceland on far right.
Things are lookin up!
Glad you're coming to the realization of birds being frozen out..... ;)
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