December 29, 2020
Jane's notes
Tuesday morning was very cold -20 but sunny. While I was driving
down Greenbank Road, I spotted two raptors, no Jane I always fall for
it, they are fake ones to scare off the ducks and geese. When I got to
Hilda feeder there were about 8 other people there. I guess they had
put out the seed because there were many Blue Jays, Black-capped
Chickadees, a few American Tree Sparrows, several Northern Cardinals,
three Mourning Doves and two White-breasted Nuthatches. Barb C. pointed
out the Red-bellied Woodpecker, it flew away, then back to a closer
tree and even closer. But it never stayed too long anywhere. I think
the last time I saw a Red-bellied Woodpecker was around the back of Bell
High School, in Bells Corners.many years ago.
Next
we decided to try for the Boreal Chickadee on Fernbank. First a pit
stop, Bill and Barb went on ahead of us. When we arrived Bill said the
Boreal Chickadee was there five minutes ago. The homeowner
welcomes everyone who comes to see 'her Chickadee'. She opened the
window and said good morning and then told us where he usually eats (red
peppered nuts) and then flies to the small tree quite close to where we
were standing. We waited and waited and waited and it did come and
gave everyone many photo ops. We did not see a Boreal Chickadee when we
were at Algonquin Park, so I was very happy to see one much closer to
home. Along with the Boreal Chickadee, there were many well fed
Black-capped Chickadees, Red as well as White-breasted Nuthatches, Blue
Jays, a couple of Common Redpolls and Dark-eyed Juncos. Before leaving
Barb B. very thoughtfully suggested we take up a collection for the
homeowner to purchase seed (she has 13 feeders in front of her house).
Since
we were close to Dwyer Hill Road, we drove to Old Almonte Road to see
if our luck would continue. Again the homeowner was welcoming telling
us the Eastern Towhee stays the night under the back porch and comes out
where there is a hole in the lattice work. In the early morning, her
husband puts seed out just for it. Lynn Z. thought she saw an owl so
Barb B and I walked the trails around the house, looking for an owl,
nope none. No luck finding the Eastern Towhee, but we did see
American Goldfinch.
On the way
back on Dwyer Hill Road, I saw a raptor, pulled over, but realized I was
too close to the trees and therefore could not see the bird. Oh well.
On Fallowfield we stopped for a small flock of Common Redpolls.
Now
we had to search in earnest for a Snowy Owl, we drove down Shea, no
owl, then down Aitkin, looking, looking, finally approaching Eagleson we
saw at least 7 photographers in the field shooting photos of the Snowy
Owl perched on the fence post. None of us agree with going on private
property, so the views and photos were from afar. Okay there must be
another around, we checked out Rushmore, nothing, no we saw a huge flock
of Snow Buntings. Down Brownlee, nothing, I had my hopes raised when I
saw a vehicle parked, no doubt having a phone conversation, here I
thought everyone in the area were looking for Owls!. Okay let's drive
slowly down Eagleson toward Richmond. We stopped where one winter we
saw three Snowy Owls, well we did not get three, but we got one, but
this one was even further away. Barb decided to go back to the first
the Snowy Owl area, hoping it would fly closer, not sure if it did.
We
drove the roads around the dump and all we saw were hundreds of
American Crows. We circled around and ended back on Moodie Drive, time
for everyone to go home. While driving off I saw a raptor above my car,
with the brief look I think it was a Red-tailed Hawk. When Barb B.
sent their photos, she reported while they were driving home they
spotted a Red-tailed Hawk.
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