Winter Wonderland

According to a good birding friend in Creston, she said it was a good winter for the little Northern Pygmy Owl and are seen on most outings. So, I thought, I'll go out and look for one! And I did! I'm up to 127 birds seen this year now. It's a beautiful day here. Sunshine and around zero degrees Celsius. The owl flew across an open field in front of me and landed in a large poplar. At first I wondered what it was. I always think Owls are bigger. The striking brown and white pattern and touches of yellow had me stumped for a moment. But when I got a better look I could see it was a pygmy owl. Here's a link to a nice video taken in Creston yesterday by Brent Wellander.

http://www.youtube.com/user/kootenayphotos

Merry Christmas!

Castlegar Christmas Bird Count

We had a good day for the bird count. No snow and temperatures just below freezing, in other words, not TOO cold! Three of us walked the streets of Shoreacres. There was a lone Trumpeter Swan (126) on Slocan Pool. A couple of days later I saw two swans. The Northern Shrike was seen a day before the count so there it can be included for count week. A Great Blue Heron also flew over the house the following day. The Blue Jay that first made it's appearance last December was sighted and heard. The usual suspects for this time of year were observed including: Canada Geese, Mallard, Common Goldeneye, Bald Eagle, Black-capped Chickadee, House Finch, American Crow, Barrow's Goldeneye, Common Raven, Northern Flicker, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Stellar's Jay, American Goldfinch, Song Sparrow, Bohemian Waxwing, American Robin, Dark-eyed Junco, European Starling, Red-winged Blackbird, Bufflehead and Hooded Merganser. Val & Al also reported Evening Grosbeaks at their feeder during count week and Pine Siskins and Red-breasted Nuthatch on count day.

Merry Christmas!

Winter Birding

The neigbhours have seen them quite often this winter but I finally saw my first Bohemian Waxwings (125) this morning on my walk back from the mail box. It was a small flock of about 20 birds and they looked like they were trying to settle down on a mountain ash tree to eat some berries. The Northern Shrike is back for the winter and I've seen him flying around occasionally. We heard a Great Horned Owl the other night while we were in the hot tub. We might even have seen it as we saw something glide by on quiet wings.

The Castlegar CBC is the Saturday so I'm hoping to add a few more species to my big year then.