Backyard Woodpeckers

Here is a male Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker that has been visiting the backyard every day for the past week, for a drink at the heated birdbath :



This male Hairy Woodpecker is now a regular visitor. The unsalted Peanut Butter is still proving to be a big hit :

Christmas Eve Birding

On Christmas Eve, seeing as it wasn't quite as cold as I was used to, I thought I'd walk around my neighborhood and see what I could find.
My biggest surprise was to find a Red-tailed Hawk that flew over the city, heading towards the general direction of the river.
This was a dark-phased bird that looked very similar to the one I saw last December at Holiday Park.
Maybe this will become a tradition and I will see these every December ! :-)

Here are my other findings for the day :

White-breasted Nuthatch - This is not a common bird in our area of town , so I was pleased to see this bird at a front yard feeder fairly close to home.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Black-capped Chickadee

White-winged Crossbill

Hairy Woodpecker - another fairly uncommon bird in our local vicinity.

Downy Woodpecker - 1 male

Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) - 3

House Finch - 2 flocks of about 10-15 birds.

Common Raven - 1

House Sparrow - 10-20 in almost every alley I looked.

Here are some photos :

Red-breasted Nuthatch



White-breasted Nuthatch



White-winged Crossbill

Merry Christmas !

Here's a male House Finch I photographed today on an enjoyable walk around my neighborhood. I had some other nice sightings that I will put up over the next few days.
I'd like to thank all my blog visitors & friends for all their kind comments and emails during 2008.

I look forward to sharing more photos & stories with you all in 2009.

Here's wishing you a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year !

Yet another White-winged Crossbill

And to think I didn't have a single photo of this species last year in my files.
This seems to be the year for them. At least around our birding area anyway.
I'm surprised I haven't seen any of their bigger cousins the Red Crossbill yet.
This male WW CR ( the only one we saw all day ) was taken on the Clarke's Crossing Bird Count :

Clarke's Crossing Bird Count

Today was another cold one, and this time it was the Clarke's Crossing CBC (Christmas bird count).
There were a few teams in designated areas, and our team, despite the nasty weather and blowing snow, managed to get the following 13 species :

Great Horned Owl
Hairy Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Black-capped Chickadee
House Sparrow
Black-billed Magpie
Common Raven
Common Redpoll
European Starling
Brown Creeper
White-winged Crossbill
Rock Pigeon
Merlin

Here are some photos I managed before my fingers froze up !

Common Redpoll





Black-capped Chickadee



Black-billed Magpie

Christmas Bird Counts

Well, its that time of year again. It looks like I have another 5 bird counts on my agenda this year, and 2 more in January.
This weekend was absolutely freezing, with temperatures not getting much higher than minus 29 degrees celsius and with the wind-chill it was almost minus 50.
Still, even that didn't stop myself and a hardy ( or is that crazy ? )group of local birders who all took part on counts at the Qu'Appelle Dam/ Elbow region.
The following day, another 4 of us braved the weather again for Gardiner Dam and the surrounding areas.
The total number of species for the Elbow count was 34 and we found 32 for Gardiner which under those conditions, I think is pretty darn respectable !

Some highlights for both were :

Glaucous Gull
Townsend's Solitaire
American Robin
Northern Shrike
Pine Siskin
Cedar Waxwing
White-winged Crossbill
Pine Grosbeak
Prairie Falcon
Snowy Owl
Great Horned Owl
Common Redpoll
Horned Lark
Gray Partridge
Sharp-tailed Grouse
Eurasian Collared Dove
Golden Eagle
Bald Eagle

Here is one of 15 American Robins that has not decided to migrate this year. There was also another small flock at Douglas Provincial Park on the Elbow Count. This male was at Coldwell Park yesterday :



And a male White-winged Crossbill from the town of Elbow :





Here is a Nuttal's Cottontail Rabbit , taken at an abandoned farmstead near Elbow.

Another White-winged Crossbill

Here is another male White-winged Crossbill from President Murray Park :