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.

More November Birding

November Birding

I went birding at Fanshawe CA, Uplands Wetland and Hyde Park this past week.  Here are some of the birds I saw. 

White-throated Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

European Starling

This is an American Red Squirrel.  They are not common in London.  I've never seen a Red Squirrel out west or NW London.  They are smaller than the common Grey/Black Squirrel.  They are cute.

At Uplands Wetlands, I saw one female Hooded Merganser and 4 American Wigeons.  A lot of Canada Geese and Mallards.

Hooded Merganser

American Wigeon

Most Turkey Vultures have migrated but one can still see the odd one in later November.  

Turkey Vulture

Variety of Wildlife

 Birding around London Area

I love the diving ducks.  I watch them as they dive under the water and I look to see where they come back up.  Sometimes a few are diving and sometimes like the Hooded Mergansers (9) I saw the other day, they all went under together and watch them pop up at different times.  

Hooded Merganser (female)

                                        

The American Wigeon surface-feeds like Mallards.

American Wigeons

American Wigeons

There has been lots of finches around lately.....especially Goldfinches.

American Goldfinch

Blue Jay

I really like sparrows.  This time of year one can see White-throated Sparrows, White-crowned Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Tree Sparrows, Swamp Sparrows and Fox Sparrows.

Song Sparrow

Red-tailed Hawk

American Robin

On November 5, 2020, I saw an American Toad on the trail.  It was a warm day, high of 17c which toads like.

At Springbank Park, a Red-necked Grebe showed up at the Thames.  This is a juvenile bird.  I have not seen one for years.

Cedar Waxwing

Great Blue Heron

I was looking for sparrows and a White-tailed Deer was staring at me.

Northern Cardinal

Mallards

Black-capped Chickadee

Downy Woodpecker