Winter Birding - February 2025

 February 10-15, 2025, Greenway Park and Springbank Park

I was only out for two days this week as we had some snowy days.  

I went to the parks and walked along Thames River to see what I can find.  I really enjoy looking at the ducks.  Common Goldeneyes, Bufflehead, Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Mallards and Canada Geese.

Common Goldeneye

The Northern Pintails have been around for a few days.  I managed to find them.  Two males and one female.  They are not common here.

The male Ring-necked Duck is still around

 

On this day, I saw 9 Great Blue Herons in the trees.

Again, the Bald Eagles were flying around and resting in trees ....a joy to watch..

I saw some Hooded Mergansers.  I always just see a few at a time.  They are never here in big numbers.

The Red-breasted Merganser is more of a rare find here.  This female below was busy diving.

London CBC - December 14, 2024

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.

Common Mergansers

Common Goldeneyes (females)

Common Goldeneye

Hooded Mergansers

Green-winged Teal

Northern Pintail

Great Blue Herons

A Snowy Week In London

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.

Common Merganser

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.  

Common Mergansers

Hooded Mergansers

Great Blue Heron

It was a nice surprise to find a Hermit Thrush!

Some Rarities this Week

Fanshawe Lake Area- February 3, 2024, -1c, overcast - Lake was half frozen.  I saw Canada Geese, Mallards, Common Mergansers, Northern Pintails, Bald Eagle, Northern Cardinal, American Robin, Blue Jay, Downy Woodpecker, White-throated Sparrow, Dark-eyed Juncos, White-breasted Nuthatches, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Golden-crowned Kinglet, American Goldfinch, and Pine Siskins.

I don't know what kind of spruce trees these are, they are loaded with pine cones.

Pine Siskin

It was nice to see the Northern Pintails.

Northern Pintail

February 9, 2024 - Record breaking temperatures today.  It was 11c in the morning when I was birding.  The afternoon was a record 14c.   Winters sure have changed from when I was young!  I thought I would check the Thames River along Wonderland Road to see what I can find along the river.  Lots of Canada Geese and Mallards and I also found 4 Northern Shovelers. Beautiful ducks - 2 males and 2 females.  We rarely see them in this area.

Below - Female Northern Shoveler in the middle left and female Mallard to the right.

February 10, 2024 - I went to Kilally ESA to find the Greater Scaup which had been sighted this past week.  I finally found it with a couple of Mallards.  This is another duck rarely seen in our area.

Findings End of September 2023

This week, I went to the Coves and Uplands Wetland a couple of times.  Rusty Blackbirds, Red-winged Blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbirds and Grackles are migrating through this area.  The trees would be covered with blackbirds and groups of them flying around.

Green Heron

Green Heron

I always enjoy watching Great Blue Herons and Green Herons.

Great Blue Heron

Killdeer

Rusty Blackbird

Sandpipers have been migrating too.

Solitary Sandpiper

Mourning Doves

It was a nice surprise to see an American Wigeon and a Northern Pintail at the wetlands.

American Wigeon

Northern Pintail

There are still some Great Egrets around.

Great Egret

Great Egret

A different day at Uplands Wetland, I still see Rusty Blackbirds, Red-winged Blackbirds, Turkey Vultures, some Green-winged Teals, Belted Kingfishers, Killdeers, lots of Blue Jays, Yellow-rumped Warblers and Palm Warblers.

Immature Green Heron

Eastern Phoebe

I was looking up at a woodpecker high in a tree when I came across this guy sleeping in a hole.