Waxwings!

I was looking through my list and realized that I forgot to add my Cedar Waxwing. I have actually had this picture for a long time...at the same time as the Bohemian Waxwings that started this blog in the spring! It came the next day and I assumed it was another Bohemian but as I looked at pictures I noticed it was different. Here are both of them...Can you see the difference?

Cedar Waxwing on the right and Bohemian Waxwing on the left.

Northern Flickers.

Both Joan and my aunt Isabell have sent me pictures of these birds but I hadn't seen any yet! I finally got to see some in early September! There were 5 of them hanging around in the neighbor's backyard! So here are my male(right) and female(left) Northern Flickers. What's the difference? The male has that mark on its cheek.

Pigeon!

The day I went out to find my Gulls I was walking in Sorel and found a few Pigeons. I have seen Pigeons before but not so close up when I had my camera with me. So I finally got close enough to get a picture or 2! :0) There were several and they are all different! But here is one.

Ducks from the north.

The last time I went to Mommy's house I looked out at the lake to watch the ducks and saw something new! When I pointed them out to her she said that they come every year in the fall, stay for a week or two and then leave. She calls them her ducks from the north. They are actually Hooded Mergansers! :0) Male on the right and female on the left.

Gulls!

They all look alike to me!!! Well except for the big black one I saw while boating this summer! I found out that there are a bunch that hang out at a river side park in Sorel so I went to see them and get some pictures. I found a LOT of Gulls there! There were the usual Ring-Billed Gulls and the Great Black-Backed Gull that I was looking for.

Then I got home and was looking at my pictures and noticed some other grey Gulls that were much larger. So after looking through lots and lots of pictures I finally identified them as Herring Gulls.

Warblers!

They have moved on now...they were only here for a few days as they pass by. They flittered around in the trees, not stopping very long. Here is a Yellow-Rumped Warbler (left).

And a Common Yellow-Throat Warbler(right)! This was I found when I went for a walk in the woods. Once again I am amazed at how many different Warblers there are!

Update!

Ok, it's been a while again but here is my update on new birds. Then I'll start a Fall list.

Serge and I went to the Promenades this week and saw a big black bird picking at something in the parking lot. At first I thought, "Wow! Big Crow!" Then we got closer to it and I realized it was probably a Raven! So here is my not so great picture of a Common Raven.

I should keep up!

I really should come on here more often! I have quite a few birds to add to my list! A Yellow Warbler, a Belted Kingfisher that I saw at Mommy's house as well as an Eastern Kingbird! A female American Redstart and a Green Heron that I saw in Granby when we went camping.

Too Long!

Well I was just looking over my list and realized there were a few pictures I needed to add...more birds to add to my list! Here is a Great Blue Heron and a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker.

Whoa! Long Time No See!

Wow! I haven't updated in a looooong time!!! It got a little quiet at the feeders for a while. I guess they were all busy with their nests and eggs! The only ones coming around were the Grackles and Red-Wings...they were loud and messy, emptying the feeders all over the ground!

Now the babies have started coming around! Some are cute! Like the young Blue Jays who shriek at me when there are no more peanuts and don't even fly away when I go out to put more! The young Chickadees are noisy too! They are so lazy! They sit on the clothesline chattering while mom goes back and forth to feed them. There are a bunch of House Sparrows and House Finches too! Then yesterday a young Cardinal came by...it looks kinda funny with its regular female-like colours but with red spots all over! :0) There were young Ring-Billed Gulls and a Great Blue Geron at the river's edge this week! Plus a new bird to put on the list! A Common Tern! I thought I was just taking a picture of another Gulls but as I zoomed in on the computer I saw that it was different! I will be back in a few days to add some baby pictures but for now, here is the Common Tern.

May 10!

Joan is so lucky! Today she got a male Baltimore Oriole and a pair of Evening Grosbeak! Plus a few Goldfinches.

There was a Redpoll at the Goldfinch feeder today! I thought they were all gone!

I installed a bird bath yesterday and I thoughtit would take a week or two before a bird came to it but just a few hours later as I was preparing supper, a Blue Jay came by to take a sip of water.

In the last week I've seen a few new birds! A White-Crowned Sparrow, who I thought was a White-Throated Sparrow at first, came in late afternoon and keeps coming back every day.

On Thursday when I came back from Kelly's pre-school, I looked out to see another new bird! I quickly took a few pictures and went online to look through pictures. I'm getting good at identifying my birds, it didn't take long to find the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak. :)

Ped day = Fun day

Monday the kids had a ped day. Kelly's playgroup was going to visit the fire station so I brought Emily and Jeremy too. We packed the umbrellas, just in case, and went off on foot. It was cool, they got to sit in the fire truck and the fireman got all dressed up and even climbed up into the truck and put the lights and siren on! I always loved going to the fire station when I was little! :0)

After that I brought them to the river's edge! There weren't many birds around since there were a few people cleaning up the junk on the shore. I saw the Killdeer but it was up near the road. I finally found the Common Loon that I thought I saw the other day! It was far from shore though so I didn't get a good picture. :0( I'll go back another day, without the kids...About 10 minutes after we got home it started raining!!!

Oh! MY BIRD LIST IS UP TO 40!!!

Finally!!!

I've been trying to get a picture of the swallows that are swirling around here for two weeks now!!! They move so fast and they never land close enough to get a picture! Then today I could hear a lot of twittering and went outside to see. One was flying around over my pool and just as I got down on off the porch it went onto the wire above me! Yay! So I finally have some pictures of a Swallow and can tell what kind it is. This is my Tree Swallow.

Another beautiful day!

I decided to go for a walk with Kelly. We went down to the river. Boy the water sure is high this year!!! There were a few ducks too far for pictures and I saw the Cormorant again with my binoculars. I did stumble onto a Killdeer in the mess at the river's edge. Then I found a funny looking duck and took a picture. When I got home I found out it is a Pied-Billed Grebe. I also got a better picture of a Ring-Billed Gull.

It has been quiet at the feeder though. The Redpolls have disappeared. The House Finches aren't as regular and I haven't seen the Cardinals since I changed the seeds...they didn't have my regular kind when I went shopping. :0( The White-Throated Sparrow and a few Chipping Sparrows come by every day in late afternoon but mostly I have Grackles, Crows and Cowbirds right now. Oh, and I now have a female Goldfinch that comes in the mornings with the male.

Baie-du-Febvre

On Saturday I went for a drive with Mommy and Joan. We went out to Baie-du-Febvre, where the Snow Geese come in great numbers in the spring and fall. There weren't As much as we would have liked but we did get to see some. There were some different ones and we wondered if they were maybe a different kind of Goose but when I compared my pictures with others online I found out that there are two "morphs" of Snow Geese. White-morph Geese are white except for black wing tips, but blue-morph geese have bluish-grey plumage replacing most of the white except on the head, neck and tail tip.

There were also some Canada Geese hanging around but I didn't get very good pictures.

A beautiful day!

Another Wednesday with Kelly at daycare and it's warm and sunny! This morning I set out on foot to bring Kelly, stopped by the post office and the Sears counter and then went to look around at the side of the river. I saw a lot of ducks and geese with my binoculars but they were too far for pictures. I got a picture of a water bird that I have no idea what it is yet. *Edited to add that this is a Double-Crested Cormorant!

Then I walked to the woods and the snow is finally gone! But in its place was a lot of mud! I saw a few birds, one that I didn't get a picture of...but I did ran after this one a bit to try to get a good picture. Again I had to ask Lance, he said it is a Hermit Thrush. Oh, and I saw a pair of ducks!

I'm up to 30 birds!

More new birds have come by in the last few days! On Sunday 2 big American Crows came by to check out the peanuts I had thrown out for the Blue Jays. They are so cautious! It's kinda funny!

Then yesterday I saw a Finch that had a lot more colour than my usual male House Finches...I looked online and found out that it's a Purple Finch. I'm going to start watching them more closely and see if the female comes too.

This morning there was another bird! It was flashing reddish in the early morning sun and I knew it was Fox Sparrow!

Saturday

Today we went on our new quest to find covered bridges and get family pictures at each of them. While having our picnic under one bridge we found some new birds but I couldn't get close enough to get good pictures. I tried looking them up but can't tell what they are...

*Edited to add that this is an Eastern Phoebe.

Sparrows!

I can't believe how many different Sparrows there are! I can't believe how mant different Sparrows come to my feeder!!! I have identified 3 new ones that came to my feeder yesterday. Actually, there was a 4th but I didn't get a good picture and am still not sure what it was. Yesterday a Chipping Sparrow came for a few minutes, I don't have a great picture though. Then a White-Throated Sparrow came to scrath around on the ground. I was amazed at the flash of bright yellow over its eyes, and the black and white stripes on its head! Then I took some pictures of another Sparrow at the porch feeder and at first I thought it was another House Sparrow but after looking more closely at the pictures I realized that it was different. After a lot of looking I finally identified it as a Field Sparrow.

COOL!!!

Wednesday again and it was abeautiful day! After dropping Kelly off at daycare I put some clothes on the line while waiting for Serge to come home from a meeting. I could hear a seagull making a lot of noise and looked up to see what was wrong...and wow!!! I couldn't believe what I saw!!! The seagull was chasing a hawk! I ran inside to get my camera and it was still circling over the neighbor's house when I got back outside! I snapped a few pictures waiting for it to get closer and it did! It came right over our garage. So here is my best picture of the Red-Tailed Hawk.

Then I went for a walk with Serge and found this new bird. I needed help from Lance to identify it. It is a female American Kestrel. We then came home to find another new bird! LOL The White-Breasted Nuthatch. Cool bird day! :0)

Getting warmer.

The days are finally getting warmer, most of my snow is gone and I have some spring flowers out! I hung up a Hummingbird feeder just in case some might be here already.

Mostly the regulars have been by, there is finally a female Junco around and the female Cardinal came by for a few minutes today. This morning as I was preparing breakfast, Serge said, "There's a yellow bird". I got my camera but couldn't get a good picture and then it was scared away by a neighbor's cat. It hasn't been back yet but at least I know they are coming around.

Going to see the Snow Geese with my sister tomorrow...

Another Bird!!!

I couldn't believe it this evening as I was preparing supper! Another new bird! I ran for my camera but it flew away! Then I had to serve supper so I put my camera down and called everyone to the table. I watched the window all through supper and was really happy, as I was putting the dishes into the dishwasher it came back! Yay! I took a few pictures and then went to look through the bird lists online. I think it is a Tufted Titmouse, but am not sure.

Woodpeckers

I was just looking through my pictures and compared my Woodpecker pictures. I have figured out that I have 3 different ones. So now I am adding one more bird to my list of birds that visit my yard. Here are my 3 Woodpeckers: A male and female Downy Woodpecker, and a male Hairy Woodpecker.

By the way, here is my official list of backyard birds:

1. Common Redpoll (male and female)

2. American Tree Sparrow

3. Blue Jay

4. Bohemian Waxwing

5. American Robin

6. Common Grackle

7. House Finch (male and female)

8. House Sparrow (male and female)

9. Northern Cardinal (male and female)

10. Black-Capped Chickadee

11. Dark-Eyed Junco (male)

12. Song Sparrow

13. Eurpean Starling

14. Red-Winged Blackbird (male)

15. Mourning Dove (male and female)

16. Downy Woodpecker (male and female)

17. Brown-Headed Cowbird (male and female)

18. Hairy Woodpecker (male)

Yay!

I have finally seen a female Northern Cardinal! I had never seen one before, ever! Yay!

Walk in the woods.

This morning there were lots of birds at the feeder! The Cardinal came by, the Chickadee, 3 Starlings and of course the House Finches and House Sparrows. I now have 6 Redpolls that come by regularyly. The Junco came by for a bit and the Song Sparrow too. A few Canada Geese flew by...it will soon become a very busy sky with the Geese flying one way every morning and filling up the sky as they come back in the evening. I wonder why they do that...

I decided to go for a walk in the woods to see if I could find more birds. On my way I passed lots of Mourning Doves, a few Chickadees and lots of Grackles. There was what sounded like a crow over in the distance.

Once in the woods there was still a LOT of snow, making it hard to walk. After sinking down to my knees I turned back and found a fallen tree to sit on. I didn't see many birds as I was walking, the woods were very quiet. It smelled wonderful though! Smelled fresh, beautiful sun...a perfect spring day! As I sat quietly the birds started to sing and I hoped I could see some of them. Finally I got to see a Woodpecker but didn't have time to see what kind. A train passed and that shook things up a bit...there were birds flying around everywhere! :) Just after the battery died on my camera I saw two birds that I couldn't identify.

I ate my little picnic, listening to the sounds of the woods and then I lay down on the tree and almost fell asleep there in the woods, with the sun on my face. :) It was wonderful! When I opened my eyes and looked up at the sky I saw a huge bird circling high above me! Wow! I wished I had binoculars to see that better and try to find out what kind of bird it was!!!

I spent 2 hours in the woods by myself and then slowly walked back home. When I got home there was a flock of Redpolls in the yard!!! About 10 of them at the niger feeder (finally someone is interested in them) and about 30-40 of them in the birch tree and on the ground beneath it!!! Whoa! Where did they all come from?! There was also a new bird at the feeder on the porch. Looks like it's probably the female of one of the blackbirds...she is definately bigger than the sparrows. After looking at all the pictures online I am guessing that she is a female Cowbird.

Tuesday

There were some Starlings this morning and as I was watching them I noticed that there were 3 Redpolls , usually there are only 2. Then, just before noon I look out and there are 3 more Redpolls but these are different! They have reddish chests, so I guess the first 3 were females and these 3 are males.

A new bird! I can't believe how many different birds I get at my feeder! These 3 are black with brown heads. I looked them up and they are called Brown-Headed Cowbirds! LOL

Sunday Afternoon

It was such a beautiful day today! I went outside to soak up some sun! After the excitement of finding the Song Sparrow this morning I found two new birds that I had to identify. This, I believe is an American Tree Sparrow.
Then the next one I needed some help with. Someone from a birding group that I just joined told me that it is a Common Redpoll. I also saw a few Canada Geese flying by and a few Seagulls flew around too. Then Serge and I saw a male Woodpecker!