My Bird of the Year 2017

December 31, 2017   -15C, windchill -18C, Partly cloudy.  The windchill is supposed to be -27C tonight!

My bird of the year 2017 is the Endangered Piping Plover. 
They are small stout shorebirds.  It was so cute seeing them scurry around on the sand down to the shore, etc.  I was really thrilled to see them! 

Birding in Springbank Park

Springbank Park - London, Ontario      -13C    feels like -17C    Sunny

I went for a walk in Springbank Park.  It was very, very cold.  We've had a lot of snow lately, so I couldn't walk right along the Thames River, I stayed on the walking road.  Some of the bird photos I took were quite far away.  With a lot of twigs and branches along the river, I could not see what was on the water very well.

Being very cold, the Mallards were sleeping/resting and staying close to keep warm.

Mallards

Mallards

Mallards 

Common Merganser (female)

Hooded Merganser

I also saw a Blue Jay, Cardinal, Black-capped Chickadee, Dark-eyed Junco, Common Goldeneyes and Canada Geese. 

A Walk Along Thames River

Springbank Park - London, Ontario    cloudy,  -1c, feels like -6c

The morning started out sunny so I thought I would go do some birding in Springbank Park.  It ended up turning cloudy...so much for the sun.

I saw these 2 Red-tailed Hawks flying over. 

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

There was a lot of Canada Geese on the grounds at the west end of the park.

Canada Geese

I walked along the river.  The river was high because of the rain and snow melt this past weekend.

Blue Jay

I found some Common Mergansers.  They were at the opposite side of the river amongst some Canada Geese. 

Common Mergansers (Males)

Common Merganser (female)

Further along the river there are a lot of shrubbery between the path and river so could not see what was on the river too well.  There was about 4 Black-capped Chickadees right in front of me.  Most of the time I could not get photos as they were to close!  I held out my hand and one landed on my hand.  Then it came back on my hand, again.  And another one landed on my head on my hat!  Sweet little birds!

Black-capped Chickadee

There was a little flock of goldfinches at a little stream going into the river.

American Goldfinch

Northern Cardinal

I also saw some Dark-eyed Juncos, Common Crows, Downy Woodpecker and Mallards.

Chilly Morning Birding

Springbank Park - near Wonderland Rd area, London, Ontario

Cloudy, -6c, feels like -13c.   wind W 19km/h

I went for a walk in Springbank this morning to see if I can find any interesting birds.  It was quite cold.  As I walked, I looked up and saw two large birds flying close to each other over the river.  I tried to get my camera on them but they were too far away at that point.  One of them decided to turn around and come back.  There were a group of gulls in the middle of the river and all of a sudden they took off  before the eagle flew by.  The gulls all returned to the rocks in the river.  Once again they took off again as the other eagle came along.  I got some shots of this one as I was ready.  I was pleased to see the bald eagles.   

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

Ring-billed Gulls

Ring-billed Gulls

It was lovely to see these handsome Hooded Mergansers.

Hooded Mergansers (males)

Hooded Merganser (female)