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. 

Bonaparte Gulls

I'm aware that Bonaparte Gulls (124) fly by in large numbers. To date, I have never seen any. That changed today. It wasn't a large group and they weren't flying. But I'm struggling to figure out why some have pink legs and some have red legs. Bonaparte's have pink legs, so are the ones with red legs a different species? I need a gull expert! Help!

Sweat Bees

Finally discovered what was making ant hill type holes in my thyme plants. Sweat bees! Their heads are metallic green and their bodies are bee-like; yellow with dark stripes. They are good native pollinators so if the honey bees (which is non-native) populations crash, we know we have native bees around to do the job. Also, native are mason bees which are back and look like flies.

Northern Harrier

I must have been in a hypnotic trance the first time this bird flew by because she had to come by a second time to show me that she wasn't a Cooper's Hawk but a Northern Harrier (123).  She flew by low to the ground, slowly, showing off her white rump patch. It just didn't register the first time. I just looked and thought, 'oh there's that Cooper's again!' The Harrier is still around somewhere because I can hear the crows are agitated and cawing back and forth. I'm pretty sure my subconscious mind knew it was a Northern Harrier and that's why it sent the bird around a second time for my conscious mind to register it. This is only the second time I've had a Northern Harrier here in 3 years. Gail: I'm pretty sure it's the same bird you photographed. I guess it will pass Michael's Hawk watch tomorrow!

Common Nighthawks

My neighbours Al & Val called to tell me they had a bird roosting on the roof of their house. I went over for a look and we decided it was a juvenile Common nighthawk. What a rare treat to see this bird at rest and to observe it's plumage in detail. Normally, we only see it at dusk while it twists and turns catching insects. 

Saw a small flock (6) of Horned Grebes in front of our house and heard reports of larger flocks on Kootenay lake near Nelson. The Ospreys are still around. I went kayaking last week and saw four Great Blue Herons. 

Larry found a huge Western toad in our small pond beside our deck a few weeks ago. Turns out is probably a female which can lay 16,000 eggs. I have noticed, as well as tiny green pacific tree frogs, we have lots of little broad toadlets.