Brown Thrasher and a few other notes

Some birds have moved on in the past few days, among them American Tree Sparrow, Fox Sparrow and Common Redpoll. Other fish-eating birds are here for the summer. A single loon is diving in our bay where it is joined periodically by single Ospreys and Great Blue Herons.

Less expected was the Brown Thrasher that was tossing leaves in the garden outside our kitchen window this morning.

We are still being visited several times each week by a female Red-bellied Woodpecker. She used to come for the sunflower seeds. Now, she only eats the suet.

Snow day - II

With the added inducement of cracked corn, birds of 20 species swarmed our feeders all day. It was hard not to stop and gawk out any of our windows.

There were seven or eight species under the feeder at any given time - click on image to view large and count the species.

Buffleheads, Hooded Mergansers, Mallards and Wood Ducks swam off the dock.

Redpoll numbers grew through day - there were 50 or so here at supper time.

Of course there were the regulars - Hairy, Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, White-breasted and Red-breasted Nuthatches, Black-capped Chickadees, Blue Jays and Crows.

The four Fox Sparrows stood out among the scores of Dark-eyed Juncos, American Tree Sparrows, Purple Finches and American Goldfinches.

Pine Siskins

Pine Siskins may show up here in any month although sometimes a year or more may pass between visits. This year, they have irrupted south of their breeding range throughout eastern North America and a half dozen or so showed up at the niger silo this morning, in the company or the more regular American Goldfinches and a Common Redpoll.

Weekend feeder update

There hasn't been a whole lot of change in the feeder gang this week. A lone Evening Grosbeak was here for a day. A pair of male Pine Grosbeaks and 5 or 6 American Goldfinches are daily visitors.

Here's what I've seen today:

Red-bellied Woodpecker -1
Hairy Woodpecker - 3
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Mourning Dove - 1
White-breasted Nuthatch - 2
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Blue Jay - 10 +
Black-capped Chickadee - 10 +
American Tree Sparrow - 2
American Goldfinch - 6
Pine Grosbeak - 2

While the bird activity has been constant this week, deer visits and persistence are on the rise.

Weekend feeder update

The backyard feeder is doing a good business these days. Finch numbers vary from day-to-day. Here's what I noticed this morning:

Red-bellied Woodpecker (female - see photo)
Hairy Woodpecker - 3
Downy Woodpecker - 1
White-breasted Nuthatch - 2
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Blue Jay - 12 +
Black-capped Chickadee - 12 +
American Tree Sparrow - 5
American Goldfinch - 6
Pine Grosbeak - 3

Pine Siskins were here on and off through the week, as were a few Common Redpolls.

A new yard bird for the year was Ruffed Grouse that landed in the cedar outside the bedroom window.

Near Gannon's Narrows today, I came across a flock of 30 Cedar Waxwings and an overflying dark phased Rough-legged Hawk.

A flourish of winter finches

Our sighting of our first Pine Grosbeaks of the season yesterday presaged an influx of other "new" birds at our backyard feeder. Before noon, the feeder had been visited by a pair of Pine Grosbeaks, 15 Evening Grosbeaks, several Common Goldfinches and singles of Pine Siskin and Common Redpoll.

Pine Grosbeaks - first of this season

Three of the six Pine Grosbeaks we saw today.
After watching the Northern Hawk Owl this morning, we returned home to find six Pine Grosbeaks at the bottom of our drive. These were the first we've seen in central Ontario this season and, like the Evening Grosbeaks, weren't expected given the this year's bumper crop of Mountain Ash fruit north of Lake Superior.
Ron Pittaway's Winter Finch Forecast, 2008 provides a thorough discussion of the distribution of irruptive winter finches in Ontario.
Male Pine Grosbeak in a Mountain Ash tree, we observed on the Marathon (Thunder Bay District), Ontario, Christmas Bird Count on December 21.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

We live just beyond the northern limit of the breeding range of this species. This is the first we've had visit our feeders.

Return of the Evening Grosbeaks

Throughout this week, we've had between one and six Evening Grosbeaks at the feeder. These birds put on a great show last season but we weren't counting on seeing them this winter. The nearest observations we'd heard of were of a handful of birds at Algonquin Park, a few hours to the north.

The spruce trees around ou house have produced a heavy crop of cones and these have attracted flocks of White-winged Crossbills. None have been tempted to sample the offerings from the feeders below.

Grosbeak vs. Grosbeak

More Blackburnian Warblers are singing in the patches of eastern hemlock along an adjacent cottage road. Each year, a few remain to breed.

A handful of Evening Grosbeaks continue to visit our feeders. Here is a brief video showing the usual outcome of an encounter between Evening and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks at the feeder.

Yellow-rumped Warbler and Rose-breasted Grosbeak

The pace of migration is picking up. We wake up to warbler song filtering through the strident calls of Evening Grosbeaks and Red-winged-blackbirds. The above photo depicts one of a pair of male Rose-breasted Grosbeaks that visited the feeder yesterday evening. The Yellow-rumped Warbler is abundant right now. The bird shown below allowed us to capture a few snippets of his distinctive song.

Arriving sparrows

A lone White-throated Sparrow appeared today - the first we've seen of this species since late last fall. We look forward to their distinctive song although none remain to breed within earshot of our house. This is not the case for Chipping Sparrows, which also arrived today,

Wood Duck at bird feeder

A common April sound is the squealing of Wood Ducks over the wetland and adjacent woods. Every now and then, a bird or two will walk up to one of our feeders. I looked our the window this morning expecting to see a flock of rain-drenched juncos instead of this striking fellow.

After the storm the pecking order was set aside

Here we have Evening Grosbeaks, Pine Grosbeaks and a Hairy Woodpecker. It isn't common for us to see both grosbeaks on the feeder at the same time. Typically, the Evening Grosbeaks displace the Pine Grosbeaks. After a prolonged, very heavy blizzard, these birds seemed more intent upon feeding.

Martha snapped this shot while I shoveled snow. Click on the image to see it at its best.