-15 ha, I laugh at your so called cold temperatures

Its been a bit nippy of late with more snow but it didn't stop me getting out on Saturday afternoon around the lanes of St-Clet. Below a not great piece of video of one of the Snowies, a female I think, note the extensive white patches either side of the back of the neck. She was the second bird of the afternoon, the first being a very dark immature, new for the area, individual number six of the winter.

A little later on I took a different route home and chanced upon the first male of the winter. It sat imperiously atop a rather tall tree and just would not look at me, the net result being a record shot of its side, good enough to ID it again.

Very little else was at large, a few Snow Bunts again and a couple of Lapland Longpurs were all I could muster, perhaps tomorrow will be better.

I'm still using the spice jar lid but In-Focus Optics UK assure me that my digiscoping rig is on the way so perhaps the first post of the New Year will be an improvement.

And now the photos for Dec 13 2008

Despite the snow, courtesy of a storm the preceeding week, and despite the cold, about -14, we still found reason to cheer with some good birding locally on December 13 2008.

Starting at dawn I, not Sandra-more sense, slid around the St-Clet area checking out the Snowy Owls. An easy one was on a barn roof just off Ste-Julie, a second sat fluffy faced on a low grain silo. Apart from a few Snow Bunts and Horned Larks that was it so it was back home in one piece for a brew.

Checking the email and news of a nearby Northern Hawk Owl was about to save a trip to Gatineau so off we went. For some reason, as soon as you cross the border into Ontario, there are more birds than our bit of Quebec. We passed several each of Rough-legged Hawk and Red-tailed Hawk idling by the roadside before reaching a minor road south of Vanleek Hill.

Our first drive took us a couple of miles along the bird's quiet road but no sign so, doubling back, we crept along, eyes on the tree tops (which, it has to be said, is my normal driving mode!). In a woody bit we flushed a couple of Pine Grosbeaks off the road which just waited until the traffic passed before resuming their gritting. As we were watching the grosbeaks a local property owner stopped and asked us whether we had seen the owl, we said not yet so he led us along the road to where the owl had appeared on an icy tree top. We soon attracted a crowd and locals passing stopped in the road to view through my scope, hopefully a small seed of interest firmly planted.

The owl's position, although good for views, was lousy for photos so we headed off to Casselman twenty or so minutes further west. We flushed loads of Snow Buntings and Horned Larks off the farm roads before seeing a Snowy Owl cruising across a field onto a pole. We then quickly found three more, two of which were absolutely bomb proof.

Heading back, we decided to do our once a year visit to the chip van in Alexandria for fries and the best onion rings anywhere, now that is a real lunch! As luck would have it we passed a fruiting bush containing three lumps of Ruffed Grouse, clumsily bouncing around and enjoying the fare.

Back at the Hawk Owl and it had changed trees so, once more into the cold for posterity, results below.

Pine Grosbeaks without a face full of berry mush

On the way to see the Hawk Owl we passed some Pine Grosbeaks gritting on a quiet road, so, taking the opportunity to get a photo of the birds without a face full of chewed berries, I took stills and video. The second bird is less active.

This short video shows the birds busily taking up the grit and also shows what a great finch this is, even as an immature they are colourful and, being about the size of a Spaniel, they are all the more impressive. We also saw a couple of Bohemian Waxwings too, our first of the winter.

Two of the six Snowies seen 13-12-08

My usual Saturday trip around St-Clet, QC, revealed two Snowy Owls, both immatures. Only one was in camera range and the first bird on the video is it. It seems to have back-combed its face!

Later, in Ontario, we visited the farmlands around Casselman, finding four Snowy Owls, two of which were tame, including this female, the second bird on the video. Unfortunately, on the second bird I had not pushed the camera far enough into the spice jar lid, a situation soon to be rectified when In-Focus Optics post me the digiscoping rig already paid for.

Northern Hawk Owl just down the road

This Northern Hawk Owl showed very nicely in nearby Ontario. on Saturday 13th December 2008. It even got locals excited and they all took a turn viewing through my scope, I hope none of them fancy it for their mantlepiece! More posts on the day later.

50 posts but not quite finished

An early morning run around the lanes, as I call the St-Clet area of Quebec, revealed a new Snowy Owl, the fourth of the winter there for me so far. One of the owls was on a barn roof about 120m from the road so I did a bit of video and digiscoping even though the light was not too great, overcast, light snow. The video shows two birds, the first is the one mentioned above, the slight vibration at times, caused by a brisk wind rocking the car, makes the video a bit blurry in places but the head bobbing action is worth seeing.

The second bird was 250m+ away but I took footage anyway. I'm taking any photo or video I can so that I can produce an ID reference based on the head spotting patterns which are surely unique to each bird. You can see the snow scudding across the field of view and, again, it was breezy. Normally a few judicious squeaks, as heard on the video, is enough to gain any bird's attention but at this range it required a less than subtle whistle.

Elsewhere in Quebec, Northern Hawk Owls continue to be seen, I'm hoping one comes our way soon, otherwise I'll have to go and see one anyway. I live in hopes of one at the pits one day.

The Snowy Owls are back

Back in Quebec after a week in England, snow on the ground, in St-Lazare at least, three Snowy Owls out around St-Clet and White-winged Crossbills feeding in the garden.

The trip back was interesting, the flight back ended in New Jersey when the Montreal leg was cancelled due to the weather. With options limited, a 24h delay or drive back, we chose the later and what fun it turned out to be. It snowed in the Adirondaks, several cars left the road, we were not one of them! We got home around 2.am, 24.5 hours after setting off from Preston, Lancashire.

Below a couple of shots and a short video of feeding crossbills.

Typical!

The last full day on these blessed shores (England) is nearly over and, typically, it dawned very foggy and stayed that way. I still went to the RSPB reserve at Leighton Moss, Lancashire and saw a few birds, 56 species to be exact, but the trip was disappointing because Leighton Moss now appears to cater more to Robin stroking grannies and less to birders. Their book selection was much reduced in favour of pithy gifts and the like, pity really but I suppose the buyers of such things are the common denominator on RSPB reserves these days.

Earlier in the week we were in Notts. We didn't get the chance to look at birds much, no information was forthcoming on the now resident Cetti's Warblers at Attenborough so I was not able to add that one to my Notts list. Likewise a Red Kite in the south-west of the county chose to be three miles north of where I was looking for it but never mind. Rather more galling was the discovery of a Penduline Tit at Attenborough, possibly as we drove out of Notts up the A453 overlooking the place. Hopefully this smart little bird will be eaten by a Sparrowhawk before too many see it, only joking, a Kestrel or even Merlin will do!

Our trip list this time is only around 80 species and photo ops were few. Below a few snaps, I`m sure you will know what they are.

Wet wet, wet

In England for a week, northwest first, then the Midlands, we took time out from Sandra's parent's 50 Wedding celebrations to drop in to Martin Mere Wildfowl and Wetlands reserve near Southport.

Squally storms blasted across the open fields with depressing frequency and the birds were just as brassed off with it as we were. Highlights were a Common Buzzard tearing bits off a dead bird at 200m range and a reasonable number of ducks, swans and geese to enjoy. After a couple of years away I find I appreciate the birds more than when I saw them daily and took them for granted.

Below a few photos and clips. More later if we see more and find a working broadband connection.

An hour before the rain came

The weather forecast for this weekend is not very encouraging, rain basically, so I slipped out before first light to look for owls, then on to St-Lazare sand pits for a looksee.

Owls were absent, but they will be here soon, the pits were a mass of honking Canada Geese with three Cackling Geese, cackling in the background. In with the small Snow Geese flock was the adult Ross's Goose from last week so I took a few more record shots, not great but certainly better than I had managed previously.

Also at the pits, my first Northern Grey Shrike of the autumn, an immature which preened part way up the tree. I took the video clip below on 60x through the scope and at 3x optical zoom on the camera, not great but...

Aside from a few flyover Snow Buntings nothing much else was afoot, still not too bad considering the murkiness.

I'm hoping for a break in the weather later today or tomorrow to go out and try to find a Cave Swallow, there are lots being reported in Canada, surely here in south-west Quebec we have at least one!

A Quebec tick - finally

It has been something of a barren year for me and new species for my Quebec list. This, in part, has been because I consciously decided to bird locally more, but it is also because any Quebec rarities have been three days travel on a good horse away. When a White-eyed Vireo showed up in Mont Royal (Montreal, get it) Cemetery, it looked like my luck had turned but would it stay to the weekend?

With typical consideration for the dramatic, Saturday was lousy. Heavy rain, zilch visibilty. Sunday was better so, after a check around St-Lazare sand pits (Ross's Goose still there) we went off into deepest Montreal to navigate the Ray Charles (or Helen Keller) memorial trafic system. Eventually we pitched up at the right place and found the bird's location by listening to the high volume drone of the photographers. Despite this, the bird showed within five minutes, perched up, stole a berry and then left. We hung around aother 45 minutes but the photographers had now formed a chorus so we left the smart little vireo to its wanderings.

Below a couple of photos to prove we had a successful twitch in Quebec and there is a bonus photo of a distant White-winged Crossbill in our garden.

Perhaps I should predict the Lottery numbers!

Taking a day off work to go birding in Quebec ,based on The Weather Network's forecast is a bit hit and miss. Cloudy skies but bright and warm seemed perfect for an autumn day's birding, instead it was blue skies all day so not quite so good. One of our favourite games when watching local weather is flipping from the English channel to the French channel to see who gets the best weather. You might think that it would be the same but no, usually there is a couple of degrees difference and I can't help wishing I was Bilingual so I could enjoy their warmer days when they get the nod from the weather experts!

Back to the birding. Early morning fog effectively ruled out birding until 10.00 so I did the shopping adding duck, turkey and chicken to my oven ready list. At the pits there were good numbers of Canada Geese, most in the process of preparing to commit suicide by flying out over nearby farmland. On the main island around 30 Snow Geese snoozed in the 17 degree heat so I scanned through picking out a slightly smaller bird, different in shape around the head which was neatly tucked under its wing. After several sweeps of the rest of the avian delights, I returned to the sleeper and up popped its head for three seconds, Ross's Goose!!! I then waited another 35 mintes before it stuck its head up again, had a look around, yawned and went to sleep. Brief but at least I was able to confirm the ID as pure Ross's and not a hybrid, species 196 for my patch list. The bird was about 200m away so photos were difficult, eventually it had a prolonged fidget and I got some distant video.

While waiting for the sleeping goose I also snatched a short video of the Hooded Mergansers as they breezed around. Later a Cackling (Richardson's Canada) Goose dropped in but I've spared you the video of that, now that was distant.

In addition to the wildfowl a nice little flock of White-winged Crossbills were roaming around, a portent for later on when 20 dropped into the garden making them Bigby species 140 and a new species for the garden.

Florida 2001

The slide copying continues and below are a few examples from a trip we made to Florida in April 2001. The trip was memorable for the fact that we were both ill throughout with Flu, and also for some excellent birding, especially a trip out to the Dry Tortugas.

We also visited the Everglades, stopping at Flamingo and walking the famously itchy Snake Bight Trail, managing to avoid all Mangrove Cuckoos, and the ridiculously named Ding Darling Preserve which was pretty quiet. We saw 155 species on the week long trip, the number seen was fairly low as we were concentrating on seeing some of the Floridian specialities although we were too early for some, begging a return at some point in the future.

Quebec wise its been nippy, there has been very little migration and the weekend was way too bright for my liking. I still harbour hopes of another pits tick before the winter shuts us down, perhaps a Ross's Goose tucked in with the Snow Geese that roost there.

Green Heron, pre-digital age.

Wurdemann's (Great Blue) Heron

Snowy Egret

Tricoloured Heron

Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

Florida Scrub Jay

Burrowing Owl

Little Blue Heron

Palm Warbler

Limpkin

Black Racer

Alligator

Black Vulture

Fox Sparrows are back

Another pointer to the impending winter is the October arrival of Fox Sparrows. At least five are around the area, paying regular visits to my seed carpet (which will one day attract a Harris's Sparrow). In lousy weather I took this short video. Any explanation why the sparrows continue to 'garden' for seeds when they are surrounded by several hundred thousand.

Out with the old

The digital age means that there is little point keeping thousands of slides, especially as most of them are pretty awful anyway, so I decided to continue the process of copying them using a digital copying attachment for my Canon Rebel. I have worked my way through the Gambia slides so thought I would post a few here. I still have thousands to go from other trips so expect more poor to average images of things you cannot identify.

Gambia is one of the West Coast African countries which can be pretty much covered in two weeks. This we did in 2001, taking a package tour and getting a local guide. The trip worked out pretty well, lots of great birds, a very genial guide and most of the hoped for species seen.

On the down side I did manage to get one of the dysentries, I broke the golden rule and ate some tepid prawns in Marie-Salmonella sauce and ended up going home in a coma! For a bad flier its a great way to travel although the subsequent squitting through the eye of a needle for two weeks is not recommended.

Incidentally, I recommend the Senegambia Hotel as the place to stay in Gambia, the grounds are superb for birding with zero hassle (and they were not responsible for the Prawn Cocktail), the rooms are fine, the food good and the staff very friendly. It really is worth the extra cost.

Western Plantain-eater (below). A big obvious bird.

Wattled Plover with wattles

A White-crowned Robin-Chat which is actually more like a thrush.

Red-billed Hornbills, very common.

African Pygmy Kingfisher, perhaps a misnomer as I think they actually eat insects and fish, not pygmys.

Little Bee-eater, not very big.






Hooded Vulture. They feed these things daily with disgruntled guests (just kidding, they use noisy kids really), they will walk up to you and try to eat your shoes.

Yellow-crowned Gonolek, stunning looking bird.

Egyptian Plover, one of the must see World birds. We took a battered Mercedes 18 hours up river to the town of Basse to find this bird.

Bearded Barbet, its a barbet with the beard.

Yellow-billed Shrike above, female Bufflehead below (the latter is not a Gambian species).