Year 2020

I saw 15 new bird species for Middlesex County in 2020 which was very nice.  I hope I can find a lot more for 2021.  I still need to see a lot more birds as lifers and for my Middlesex County list.

Here are the 6 birds that were lifers:

Mute Swan, American Bittern, Black-crowned Night Heron, Rough-legged Hawk, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and Cliff Swallow

Black-crowned Night Heron

Olive-sided Flycatcher

The next list, I saw these birds for the first time in Middlesex County.  I have seen these birds elsewhere in other counties or in Florida:

Gadwall, Northern Harrier, Sandhill Crane, Eastern Bluebird, Northern Mockingbird, Golden-winged Warbler, Northern Parula, Eastern Towhee, and Purple Finch.

 Northern Mockingbird

Sandhill Crane

Eastern Bluebird

I didn't find any butterfly or dragonfly lifers this year.

That wraps up the year 2020.  

Happy New Year 2021.....stay safe and stay healthy.

Good Birding!

A Brief Walk at Greenway Park

Greenway Park - London, Ontario

I went for a walk this morning at Greenway Park to see what I can find.  There were a lot of Canada Geese, Mallards, Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, and Common Goldeneyes in the Thames River. 

Common Mergansers

Common Goldeneye

It was nice to see two magnificent Bald Eagles together on a tree at the river.  They stayed there for some time.  

Winter Birding

November 30, 2020 - Uplands Wetland

I decided to go to Uplands Wetland to see what was there.  A lot of Canada Geese, Mallards, a couple of Black Ducks, a Hooded Merganser, Dark-eyed Juncos, American Goldfinches, American Tree Sparrows, Northern Cardinals, Downy Woodpeckers, Black-capped Chickadees and a Common Redpoll.

American Goldfinch

Black Duck

Hooded Merganser

Canada Geese

Common Redpoll

December 3, 2020 - Greenway

I walked along the river at Greenway.  We still have snow on the ground so Canada Geese were trying to find grassy areas to eat.  There were many Canada Geese and Mallards in the river...some Ring-billed Gulls.  I saw some Hooded Mergansers (6) and two Common Mergansers.

Hooded Merganser

I watched these two Common Mergansers with a fish.  It seems they were having a hard time handling it.

December 5, 2020 - Hyde Park Ponds

It was a quiet day today bird wise.  There were Canada Geese and Mallards in the pond.  Walking along the grassy area, I saw 9 American Crows fly over.  The Blue Jays were active.  It was nice to see a Winter Wren.  I don't see these too often.  Also some American Tree Sparrows.

Winter Wren

Some American Tree Sparrows below.

I hope I can get back birding very soon as I'm having eye surgery tomorrow.

A Nice Mixture of Birds

Birding Week of November 23-28, 2020

November 23, 2020 - The Coves

At the Coves, I saw four Great Blue Herons.  The photos below shows each one.  I also saw Downy Woodpeckers, White-breasted Nuthatch, Robins, Cardinals, Black-capped Chickadees, Dark-eyes Juncos, a large flock of Cedar Waxwings over 60+ eating berries, Blue Jays, Mourning Doves, Ring-billed Gulls, Carolina Wren, Bald Eagle, American Goldfinch and American Crows.  

American Robin

Here are some photos of the Cedar Waxwings.

November 25, 2020 - Fanshawe CA

I took a walk around the Dam area and the Tamarack Trail.  There is a separate large pond beside the lake which had over 100 Mallards.  I also saw two Great Blue Herons, and a couple of Hooded Mergansers.  It was a dull, overcast, drizzly day.  I had problems getting the right settings on my camera.  The photos were dark and most photos blurry.  At the Tamarack Trail there were White-breasted Nuthatches, Red-breasted Nuthatches, Black-capped Chickadees, Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals, Dark-eyed Juncos, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, White-throated Sparrows, a Song Sparrow and Mourning Doves.

November 28, 2020 - Hyde Park area

It was a quiet day today.  The highlight was seeing two immature Bald Eagles fly over.  I was looking for finches but didn't see any.  Saw some Northern Cardinals, Blue Jays, American Tree Sparrows, Mallards, Canada Geese and American Crows.  Although it was sunny, there was a cold westerly wind.

Birding walks - Week of November 16-21, 2020

 Week of November 16-21, 2020

I did some birding at the East Pond in the Coves.  The snowsqualls were heavy at times and also strong NW winds.  I took some photos of Hooded Mergansers swimming and diving.  There were 16 of them together. 

I also saw one female Wood Duck.

Springbank Park - November 18, 2020

Today was a better day weather wise.  It was cool and partly cloudy skies.  I saw two Bald Eagles at different times.  An immature and later an adult flying along the Thames.  When the adult flew by it flush a flock of gulls that were on rocks in the water. 

I was looking up at the trees and saw this raccoon poking its nose out of a hole in the tree.  It looked around for a minute and turned around and went back in the hole.  It's a very large old tree.  

Yesterday I was around the Hyde Park area.  It was fairly quiet.  There were Canada Geese and Mallards at the ponds.  I saw some Blue Jays, one Robin and a couple of American Tree Sparrows. 

I saw these Ring-billed Gulls at another pond in Hyde Park.  There were at least 85 resting on the bridge and on the grass area between the ponds.  I couldn't see anything different but Ring-billed Gulls.