It's good to see Spring migration has started. Killdeers, Song Sparrows are singing, Red-winged Blackbirds singing, Cardinals singing which is so nice to hear. March has been mostly cold with the odd warm day. The snow has melted but we keep getting more snow. Now mid-March, the snow disappears fast through the day.
The ponds are ice free now.
London Christmas Bird Count (CBC), December 14, 2024
Weather -11c, feels like -17c, very cold, sunny, snow on ground
Time 8:00am to 1:00pm - 4 1/2 hours, a break at 10:30 to warm up at Tims
Where Greenway Park
Distance 6.4 km
Species: 28
Participants - 4
We started at the Greenway Park parking lot across from the lookout at Thames River. We saw the usual resident birds, the white Domestic Goose, some Domestic Mallards and 2 Cayuga Ducks. There were many Mallards, Canada Geese, Ring-billed Gulls, American Herring Gulls, and some Common Goldeneyes.
Some of the birds we saw along the river were Canada Geese, Mallards, Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers. lots of Ring-billed Gulls at the water or flying above in flocks, American Herring Gulls, Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Common Goldeneyes, Bufflehead, American Black Duck, Green-winged Teals, Northern Pintail, and a female Lesser Scaup.
There were one adult Bald Eagle and 3 immature Bald Eagles flying over. A Red-tailed Hawk that just caught a mouse.
Never seen so many Great Blue Herons (12) at this time of the year. Saw some flying over individually and six resting in trees at the cove with some flying off towards the Coves.
In the smaller bird category, 3 Golden-crowned Kinglets, American Goldfinches, Dark-eyed Juncos (18), Black-capped Chickadees, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpeckers, Northern Cardinals, White-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Mourning Doves, House Sparrows and Starlings. There were 5 American Crows.
We missed the American Robin and a Blue Jay!
We also saw 4 White-tailed Deer.
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| Common Mergansers |
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| Common Goldeneyes (females) |
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| Common Goldeneye |
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| Hooded Mergansers |
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| Green-winged Teal |
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| Northern Pintail |
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| Great Blue Herons |
December 11, 2024
We got our first snowstorm this week in London. About 2 ft of snow. I went to Springbank Park the day after the heavy snowfall. There were Canada Geese, Mallards, Common Mergansers, Ring-billed Gulls and it was nice to see a Northern Pintail. I don't see them to often. Lots of Dark-eyed Juncos, American Goldfinches, and Northern Cardinals.
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| Common Merganser |
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| Northern Pintail |
I went to Greenway Park to see what was around. There were lots of Ring-billed Gulls and some American Herring Gulls. Some Common Mergansers were around, Hooded Mergansers, Green-winged Teals (8), Great Blue Herons (6), and a couple of Bald Eagles flew by.
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| Common Mergansers |
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| Hooded Mergansers |
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| Great Blue Heron |
Today (Nov 18), I saw my first Hooded Mergansers of the season at the Coves. There were 3 of them together. I heard a Carolina Wren singing, saw some Black-capped Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, White-breasted Nuthatches, Downy Woodpeckers, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and American Tree Sparrows.
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| Downy Woodpecker |
At Greenway Park, there were 3 Greater Yellowlegs. This is the latest date (November 18) I have ever seen Greater Yellowlegs. Actually, I've never seen one for the month of November. I counted 6 Great Blue Herons...some were in the trees and others at the other end too far away for photos.
November 19 at Springbank Park, the Thames River is low right now so lots of rocks for the birds to stand on. Ring-billed Gulls below.
I counted over 200 Mallards.
Komoka Park - April 15
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| Eastern Bluebird |
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| Field Sparrow |
At Uplands North Wetland, April 16, I got my first Cabbage White of the year.
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| Common Grackle |
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| Canada Goose and goslings |
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| Osprey |
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| Red-tailed Hawk |
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| Red-tailed Hawk |
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| American Lady |
