Joy of Birdwatching

Activity 4 In 1976, the Toronto Blue Jays played their first season of baseball in my home town.  Up until that year, I had never seen a Blue Jay --the bird-- in person, do it  was surprising to me, in 1976 that I would see bluejays suddenly appearing in my family's backyard.  I honestly believed that it was a marketing ploy where  the Blue Jay organization actually released live bluejays  into the city of Toronto to help create the excitement of our new ball team. Well excitement it did cause, but not for the sport.  In Toronto, our main viewing of birds were house sparrows and European Starlings.  I can't remember hardly any other bird in my yard so when this beautiful blue bird showed up, I was really impressed. The bluejay was easy at that time to identify due to the pictures of bluejays that were diplayed with the city ball team, otherwise, I may have had problems distinguishing it to a blue bird perhaps.  But if I used a field guide or had access to Merlin , I would have quickly learned  the differences. A bluejay is about the size of a blackbird.  it has the predominant colours blue and white with a bit of black trim.  A bluejay as well, has a crest of feathers on the top of its head.  I noticed bluejays like to stay within the branches of a tree but when they want to be heard, they have a loud screechie sound as opposed to a trill or song.  When in flight, they make their calls and fly high and straight.  They like to visit feeders and really love peanuts.  I have always had a fondness for bluejays even when they boldly screech  at me while awaiting  the next  toss of  peanuts.  I like to set out peanuts on my back deck banister and watch them fly in and scoop up that peanut.  

Activity 3 Today in Ontario, we awoke to about 10 inches of snow.  We went from green yesterday to all white today.  In anticipation of the snow, I had put out more suet and checked my feeders yesterday. This morning I had to shovel a pathway for my dog in my backyard in order for him to do his morning routine.  As soon as I stepped outside, I noticed that the buckthorn tree was filled with starlings, a few chickadees, 2  white breasted nuthatches and a pair of crows.  The bigger birds were waiting for (starlings and crows)  me to toss some dry cat food out to them while to chickadees took turns flying to the small bird feeder.  The 2 nuthatches were frantically scurrying up and down the tree pecking away at the bark.  It was a busy morning for birds. Once I had tossed out some catfood for the larger birds, I noticed that the crows, one-at-a-time went down and collected what offerings they wanted and the starlings, although fluttering around, gave them space to get first setting at the table. It appeared that as the crows took turns eating, while one went down to to eat, th other one was on guard acting as a sentinel.  I didn't see them going down together to eat at the same time. Once Mr. and Mrs. Crow (whom I'll call Edgar and Allena) had flown up to the rooftop to eat and stash their food, then the starlings settled and it was choas and bad manners at its best!!  Man they are fast, bold and furious in their approach to food that including alot of bickering.  It seemed like 2 minutes later, my backyard was quiet and had returned to whiteness with no more birds around.

Activity 2 The 3 birds I chose are the White Breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker and Hairy Woodpecker.  All 3 speices visit my feeders, are black and white in colour, and love to walk all over my ash tree while taking time to peck as well at the tree leaving lots of evidence of their visits. The Nuthatch is easier to identify as it is smaller, black, white and gray with the colour splats being solid and not spotted or lined.   The two woodpecker are almost identical in appearance and habits, but according to Merlin, are distinctly different.  They are black and white, with white being spotted and the back of their feathers.  The males sport as well, a red spot on their heads.  The downy has more spotting on its back and has a much smaller beak, while the Hairy has a beak nearly as long as its head, less white spotting on its back and more white on the underside of the tail.  Merlin has an excellent side-by-side picture which really helps point out the differences.  I still struggle determining which

Activity 1 - here in Ontario, Canada, I have always felt sorry for the bigger birds that cannot use my feeders due to their size.  When it starts to really get cold, I usually buy some cheap dry cat food and will throw out some  each morning after I put the dog out out.  These birds are waiting for me now and will call out, expecially the crows to their mate, when they see me.  Yes, they have me trained.  I find beauty in the the blackness and intelligence of the crows and have really grown to appreciate the cunninest and antics of the starlings.  They keep me amused for hours. Meet Edgar the crow and note the disgusted look on the starling as he tries to land on my empty suet feeder.

Activity 1: I watched the Ontario Bird Cams. It was easy to identify the Common Redpolls, Pine Grosbeaks, and the Black-capped and Boreal Chickadee by size, shape, and color even though I have never seen them in real life. I apologize, I should have marked my last post as Activity 3.

In the winter we have a steady supply of birds coming to our feeders and drinkers. Here is a beautiful Northern Flicker female waiting for the suet, and by chance, a Mountain Chickadee at the suet in the same picture. Our White Breasted Nuthatches really like the suet as well. We also have Cassin's Finches, Dark Eyed Juncos, Canyon and Spotted Towhees that like to forage for seeds on the ground and rarely visit the suet. Our Woodhouse's Scrub Jays like the suet and the seed on the ground.

Activity 1: Watching the Bird Cam link, I identified a nuthatch and a sparrow on my own by shape, color and markings. I did need some help deciphering which type of sparrow was on the screen, though.

Activity one: I was looking out into my backyard and I identified two birds. I noticed that one was very tall. I chose that the bird was goose sized or larger. it’s main colors were blue, brown and gray. The bird was wading so on the list, I found that it was a great blue heron. The other bird I saw was about goose  sized And its main color was black. The bird was on the ground and I identified it as a double crested cormorant.

Activity 4: I don't really have a favourite bird yet, but a bird I have only seen a few times which I really like is a smallish bird (bigger than a sparrow, smaller than a robin), with bright blue head, back and wings, orange throat and sides, and white belly. It has a short neck and short bill. It is found in southern Ontario year-round, though I rarely see it. The Eastern Bluebird!

Activity 1: I used a boreal bird cam, so looking at an area further north than I live. I saw two species of bird on a feeder, which I used Merlin to identify using size, colour, location, feeding habit. Really great tool! I've only used it for sound ID before, so using it this way with a bird feeder was great practice. I identified one bird as a Pine Grosbeak - I recognized it at sight as a finch based on its shape and beak, which was progress! I became sure of my ID once a female joined the fun at the feeder. The second bird was a little more tricky - a sparrow of some kind, I saw right away. It had a red cap, a bit of black on the face, but otherwise just looked like a generic sparrow to my untrained eye. It was after I started going through the suggestions, and reading the descriptions, that I noticed it had a notched tail and that some had a pink wash on their breast. I was able to ID it as a Common Redpoll. This is such a great way to hone my observation skills from the comfort of my living room! Helpful activity :)

I’m 75, live in an apartment with a patio. We’re not allowed to hang feeders, but hummingbirds are ok. We were surprised to find a chipmunk had discovered the sweet treat.

I saw a Mourning dove at the feeder and a sparrow at another feeder.  Very easy to identify by their size, shape and coloring.

My sister sent me a photo yesterday of a new bird at her feeder: a orangish-yellow bird with a body shape like a robin, but with a longer beak.  Given our location, I thought it could be an oriole, though I've never seen one before.  Merlin ID alternately suggests a female Baltimore or Orchard Oriole.  Based on the color/markings, I'm leaning Baltimore (larger wing bars, more orange in tone).

Activity 4: My favorite bird has a larger size, larger than a crow. It has a drab, brown color, with tufted feathers on the top of the head, and white feathers on the throat. My favorite bird has a distinct behavior of hunting for prey at night; it has large eyes for accomplishing this. The range of this bird is the continental United States, Canada, Mexico, and parts of Central and South America. This is a solitary bird. This bird has a distinct call, a "hoot" that comes in three then two (Hoo-Hoo-Hoo  Hoo-Hoo) My favorite bird is the Great Horned Owl; I had the fortune of seeing and hearing one while it perched on the lamppost outside my house. When/if I see it next, hopefully I can capture some photographs of it!

Activity 2: I have been working on identifying waterfowl. First, it can be hard to see the details if the bird is far from shore and/or the water is wavy. Then, there is the trouble of females sometimes being duller and quite different from the male of a species, but very similar to females of other, maybe related species. The female Common and Red-throated Mergansers are very tricky. I usually make my decision based on the length of the bill (and maybe how full it is, if I have a good angle), kind of like the difference between the Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers. I also try to get a picture to see if Merlin is more confident in identification than I am. But then, sometimes I make my guess based on what others saw and listed on EBird, like today the Greater Scaup couple I saw was a bit distant, on grey, windy day. The male was not as well seen. Someone else said Greater Scaup on EBird, while I flipped open Merlin and my Kaufman to see if I could tell. Sometimes, you just have to add a question mark.

Getting to know the Merlin ID was a great experience for me: with its help, I was able to identify several bird species that I had not been able to do before, and it was a pleasure to learn how many wonderful creatures live in our garden.

By Shape - House Finch vs Downy Woodpecker. (House Finch) Small sparrow-like bird that spends the day at the feeders and happily chases away other birds.  Downy Woodpecker is larger and hangs off the suet feeder.  He visits only intermittently. By Color - Red - Cardinal is red all over.  House Finch is raspberry on head and back.  Common Flicker has spotted chest but a bit of red on the back of the head. By Food finding behaviors - House Finches eat seeds from the feeder almost continuously.  Downy Woodpeckers eat suet from the suet feeders intermittently.  Mourning doves eat seeds from the ground under the feeders for most of the day. Favorite Bird - It must be the Northern Cardinal because I gasp every time I see one.  Cardinals are bigger than a sparrow but smaller than a crow.  The Cardinal might be just a little bit smaller than the Blue Jay that visits once in a while.  The Male Cardinal is really red all over.  The Female is a lighter shade.....almost a salmon to dusty orange.  They are shyer than the chickadees or the finches and fly away quickly if there is any movement near the feeders.  I'm pretty sure I have a pair living in my yard which has a lot of tree cover because I can hear the cheer, cheer, cheer high in the trees when I am working in the yard.

One of my favorite birds is the Dark-eyed Junco. It comes around this time of year. It’s a medium sized sparrow with a small head and slightly chubby. They are a dark grey almost silvery color with a white underbelly. They usually eat off the ground. I saw this one in my backyard. (Sorry it’s not a great photo but I didn’t want to scare it by getting close.)

I observed with my Grandmother two birds.  One was a Great Egret  and the other one was a Northern Cardinal. Differences were: Great egret -  long neck, white color, bill shaped like a spear to eat fish, large bird Northern Cardinal - short neck, red, bill shaped like a triangle to eat seeds, small to med size bird.

Activity #4: We have these beautiful Red-shouldered Hawks in our area. I've always wondered what they are. I figured they were hawks of some sort, but did not know what type. Now that I've starting my birdwatching hobby, I've discovered what type of hawk. My Merlin ID app picked up the sound yesterday morning and I started looking around for it. I found the hawk sitting at the top of the tallest tree in our backyard. It was perched on a dead branch at the very top. When I see them in various places, they are usually perched at the top of a tree on a branch with no leaves. Later in the day after I saw that one in my backyard, I saw one flying and was able to distinguish it from the black vultures by the lighter color with underneath. The three things that helped me identify this bird are sound, color, and behavior.

Activity 1. My two birds that I have been seeing in the backyard lately are the Black capped chickadee and the white crown sparrow. The chickadee is more of a plump bird as the sparrow looks like it is standing tall with more of a neck then the chickadee.

Notes below taken to support a sighting of Wilson’s Phalarope at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary in Great Vancouver, Canada, a species that is uncommon in this part of the world: Three individuals were observed in the West Field of Reifel Bird Sanctuary, from a position along the West of Seaward Dyke. The birds were wading in the very shallow water along the southern edge of the northernmost of the three sections of the West Field. Athlon Midas 10x50 binoculars were used for observation, from a distance of approximately 25 m. All three individuals were approximately the size of an adult crow, had grey heads with a band of black running across the eyes, and white belly and flank. One of the three individuals had a marked smudge of brown on the neck, the other two less so. Bills were long, slender, and straight. All three individuals were periodically engaged in what appeared to be feeding, very purposeful walking and energetic and earnest moving of the bill to where the prey was and very rapid thrusting of the bill into the very shallow water. Merlin Bird ID indicated Wilson’s Phalarope is uncommon in the area the observation occurred and so a great deal of time was spent comparing body shape and coloring with other possible species: (i) Greater Yellowlegs and Lesser Yellowlegs – the three observed birds had black, not yellow, legs; (ii) Dunlin – the necks of the three observed birds were longer than the rather stubby neck of the Dunlin (as indicated in the Merlin Bird ID photos); (iii) Virginia Rail – the bills of the three observed birds were black and not orange; (iv) Marbled Godwit – the bills of the three observed birds were shorter in proportion to body length than for the Marbled Godwit (as indicated in the Merlin Bird ID photos); and (v) Whimbrel – the bills of the three observed birds were straighter than for the Whimbrel (as indicated in the Merlin Bird ID). The observations and identification were confirmed with two other birders and on the weekly species list of sanctuary.

Tufted Titmouse: This tiny little bird flits around and rarely stays still. It hangs out primarily in the trees, with regular visits to a feeder for a seed. It will flit back several times a day. It has a beautiful dark gray crest and a white bib shading to pale yellow. Its gray wings taper to a darker gray wing edge. It has a very distinct call. I would swear the body must be primarily lungs! This is a loud little bird! Occasionally, it will perch at the top of the feeder while fluttering its wings and calling very loudly. From what I understand, that may either be a mating ritual or a juvenile wanting its parents. No matter, it's adorable!

Activity 4 - Black, crow size is distinctive, foraging on the ground  and roosting in trees, very distinctive vocalizations. One of my favorite birds is the American Crow. We walk daily and have a cadre of birds that join us. I always have mixed nuts and peanuts for them and they recognize us immediately. Over time they have become very brave and vocal, not aggressive but like us to know they are there. I choose to believe they are saying thanks for the goodies. Corvids or very smart. When I gesture that I am out of nuts. They seem to know and go about their business.

During the past Project Feeder Watch season, I realized that I was able to distinguish the Mourning Dove even at a distance before I could get my binoculars for a positive ID.  I knew when I saw that long pointed tail and that small head and slender neck, that I was looking at a Mourning Dove.  During the same time period, I also learned that I could easily tell when I saw a nut hatch (either red or white breasted).  They have a distinctive “pointed” sort of shape and of course can go up and down (head first) on a tree!