Wednesday Morning walk in Springbank

Springbank Park, London, Ontario 

-7c, windchill -16c, strong S winds, snowflerries, cloudy

I went for a walk this morning in Springbank.  It was fairly quiet.  I saw Mallards, Canada Geese, a couple of Blue Jays, and Chickadees. 

As I was walking, I noticed the Canada Geese were very noisy, flying from the river in groups.  At the time, I did not know what the fuss was all about.
As I was driving out, I saw all these Canada Geese on the ground.  So I drove down to another lot to check it out, and I noticed a man was feeding them. Looked like he was throwing corn or something to these hundreds of geese. 

Springbank to Greenway

Greenway Park, London, Ontario      Overcast, 2c, damp, windchill -4c

I went for a walk part in Springbank Park to Greenway Park.  With the recent rain, plus temperatures and melting snow, the Thames River is very high. It was tricky walking as there was ice and the snow that's around is hard and crusty which made it slippery.  I usually fall a couple of times in the winter with the ice, etc. but so far, (had a close call) I've been OK this winter.
I also saw a Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Canada Geese and lots of Mallards.

Dark-eyed Junco

Buffleheads

There was one female winter Long-tailed Duck.

Long-tailed Duck  (female)

The Long-tailed Duck was hanging around with the Buffleheads.

Bufflehead  (left)   Long-tailed Duck (right)

American Black Duck

Domestic Goose

Walk along the Thames

Springbank Park, London, Ontario       -3c with windchill -10c, sunny

I decided to go to Springbank Park again to see if I can find some different species.  I pretty much saw birds that I've seen all week. 

Common Goldeneye

Common Goldeneye

Mallards

American Black Duck

Hooded Merganser (female)

Frigid Day

Springbank Park, London, Ontario     -13c, windchill -21c, sunny

A very cold, frigid morning.  At least it was sunny.  I didn't go very far because of the cold.  I checked out a few places along the Thames River.   Chunks of ice were flowing along the fast current.

Common Goldeneye

Bufflehead (left)     Common Goldeneye female (right)

Bufflehead

Common Goldeneye

The photos below were taken at the Springbank Dam area.  Lots of mallards trying to keep warm. 

Mallards

The fast current was really moving the ducks along.

The Springbank Dam has been stuck open since 2008 allowing the river to flow naturally.  This has been good for the at-risk species to thrive.  I was happy to hear that London City Hall council unanimously voted to decommission the Dam to allow the free-flowing river to protect at-risk species of turtles and fish.

Springbank Dam

Mild Day...more Birding

Springbank Park, London, Ontario           8C, mild, overcast

Today was a mild day compared to what we have had the last couple of weeks.  This brief thaw is really melting a lot of snow.  More cold weather coming.  

As I was walking this Belted Kingfisher flew in busy fishing.  

There were some Buffleheads and Common Goldeneyes. I also saw Canada Geese, Mallards, Blue Jay, American Goldfinch, and Red-tailed Hawk.  Also heard a Carolina Wren.

Bufflehead

Two adult Bald Eagles came flying in and landed on a tree.

More Birding at Springbank

Springbank Park, London, Ontario      -5c, windchill -11c, partly cloudy

I decided to go birding in the area of the Guy Lombardo Bridge, Wonderland Rd. this morning. There has been some ducks sighted on the Thames since  January 1 - Redhead, American Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Ring-necked Duck and Red-breasted Merganser.  I'm still looking.

Common Goldeneye

The buffleheads were busy feeding.  

Buffleheads

Pied-billed Grebe

Hooded Merganser

It was nice to see a variety of smaller birds.

Red-bellied Woodpecker

House Sparrow

Black-capped Chickadee

Northern Cardinal

Thames River

Magnificent Eagles

Springbank Park, London, Ontario          -2C, windchill -8C   sunny

I checked a couple areas in Springbank Park this morning.  Still it's hard to get right at the Thames River in some areas because of the deep snow.  There were crows flying around and I heard some blue jays.

Common Merganser

I went over to the dam area.  

An immature Bald Eagle came flying in, circled around and landed on a tree across the Thames River.  The eagle had an eye on the river.

Immature  Bald Eagle

This is what the eagle was looking at.  Dozens of Mallards and some Canada Geese.  The mallards kept close together.

Another immature bald eagle came flying in.  This one actually went down to the water and back up to the tree.