Spring signs from the skies
Robins and blackbirds can be tough winter survivors
Gradually we are getting closer to spring. March will slowly but surely help spring take over from winter and life will be easier for all the birds and animals that have survived a difficult season.
A robin appeared in Nepean, reported by Robie Friberge, and five
red-winged blackbirds were seen at Mitch Owens and River Road in Manotick. One can never be sure if these early robins and blackbirds can be bona fide migrants or some of the over-wintering birds.
On Feb. 16, Ann Warren in Mississippi Mills observed two turkey
vultures soaring high up, probably coming north using the thermals.
Many of the winter birds are still being reported. Sue Grahame in Stittsville is feeding 12 pine grosbeaks coming every day for the sunflower seeds.
Bob Cermak notes that more of the pine grosbeaks with a number of the evening grosbeaks can be seen at the west end of the Larose Forest. There are feeders there that can be seen from the road. Wilson Hum says there are many
redpolls at the Hilda Road feeders in Ottawa and he saw Bohemian
waxwings on the Old Quarry Trail on the weekend.
Apparently the Ottawa crows have chosen a new roost or expanded from the overcrowded existing one. Stew Baxter reported that he has seen thousands coming to sleep in the big trees at the south end of Tawney Road, in and about Heaton, Magnus and Howland avenues in Ottawa. They wake up at 5:30 a.m. and have a loud rackety gabfest as they get ready to leave for the day at 6:30. They come in at dusk from a day out foraging for food.
The great horned owls will be starting their early nesting in March. They can be heard already hooting their courting calls. If you locate a nest, please do not publicize it, keep a good distance away and do not visit too often. The birds need plenty of privacy to do their hunting to feed a nestful of hungry chicks. Let them go through this nesting period undisturbed.
The Vancouver area has had a very exciting winter. First they had the red-flanked bluetail, a first record for Canada, a beautiful, colourful little bird. Back in November, another bird never seen before in Canada, and only once in the U.S.A., showed up in Courtney, B.C. It was a citrine wagtail from Asia. Both these birds were first years, the most likely ones to wander way off course when migrating. The wagtail stayed in a farmer’s field for quite a long time, making it possible for birders to come, often from far away, to see it. It walked about, not hopping, and distinguished itself by the constant wagging of the long tail feathers (hence its name).
Some of the Central American countries have wonderful birds including Belize, Guatemala and Costa Rica.
Steve Curtis spent some time in Belize this winter and made a short trip to Guatemala as well. He saw 175 species of the spectacular birds in Belize, including a rufous-tailed
jacamar, a blue-crowned motmot and a collared arucari and has many pictures. In Guatemala, he found a very handsome ocellated turkey in the Tikal Mayan Reserve.
Laurent Leger has been in Costa Rica and enjoyed himself getting pictures of the many herons and egrets there, including the snowy egret, “the bird with the golden slippers.”
And still further south, a new Antarctic penguin colony has been discovered. It was seen from space, helped by a large trail of poo leading to it. About 9,000 emperor penguins have a breeding colony there. It is in a little explored area close to the Princess Elisabeth station that was built only four years ago.
Alain Hubert led an expedition to find this colony, which had only been seen in satellite images. After three hours of searching among the crevasses and ice shelves, the explorers spotted the birds in the distance. It took them two more hours to get to it under the midnight sun of an Antarctic summer.
Mr. Hubert said the birds had never seen humans before and were not scared at all. “They started to come around us, surrounding us, just looking at us,” he commented.” I was not sure I was still on Earth ...”
The emperor is the tallest of all the penguins, standing three feet high.
Have a good week as February ends, and be ready to welcome March.
View more great photos online on our World of Birds minisite at otawacitizen.com/birds