Category: Raptors
Vulture Awareness Day 2011- Bone Bustin’ Birds
Today is International Vulture Awareness Day. Always a fan of the underdog, I jump at the chance to talk about these birds, so for the past two years, I’ve featured Canada’s only vulture species- the Turkey Vulture. This year I decided to reprise an article I did on one of …
Now I’ve Got You. Oops.
We’re into the dull birding month in my yard – I have house sparrows and more house sparrows, as the hatch year juveniles are now flying with the adults. House finches, mourning doves and black-capped chickadees make the occasional appearance, but it’s basically sparrow-world out there. A couple of days …
Wednesday Wings: Noisy Neighbors
For the past few weeks, several times a day, I have been forced to quickly abandon whatever I’m doing in the house and run outside. No, it’s not an earthquake. We have (at least) four merlins playing in the sky above my house, all calling me with their continual ‘kee kee kee.’ …
Wednesday Wings: Ferruginous Five
Have you ever been so astonished by a bird sighting that your brain shuts down? No synapses firing, just a blank white void where your bird identification skills should be? It’s most disconcerting, I can tell you. One blisteringly hot prairie day earlier this month, my husband and I took …
Wednesday Wings: Tree Tops
At the back of our yard, we have a cluster of four fully mature white spruce trees – my own little boreal forest. These trees are about 50 feet high, and not surprisingly, a favorite perch of many birds. I know I’ve got a ruby-crowned kinglet in the back yard …
Wednesday Wings: A Rough(ie) Trip
The amount of birding I have done this month is embarrassing. Between our continually crappy weather and the fact I have been designing a 100+ page website, we made one whole trip. But it was a good one! About an hour’s drive south of the city there is a large Ducks …
Wednesday Wings: A True Prairie Hawk
Wednesday Wings: Osprey
Not all fishing trips are successful. This fish-less osprey is drying his wings in the wind after a failed attempt. Taken in Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Florida February 2010.
Hug A Vulture Today
Sept 5 is the first International Vulture Awareness Day. What does that have to do with birdwatching in Canada, you ask? Although most people are unaware of it, Canada does have a resident vulture species. Turkey vultures have been expanding their range northward in the last few years, and can …
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Vulture Awareness Day 2011- Bone Bustin’ Birds
Today is International Vulture Awareness Day. Always a fan of the underdog, I jump at the chance to talk about these birds, so for the past two years, I’ve featured Canada’s only vulture species- the Turkey Vulture. This year I decided to reprise an article I did on one of …
Now I’ve Got You. Oops.
We’re into the dull birding month in my yard – I have house sparrows and more house sparrows, as the hatch year juveniles are now flying with the adults. House finches, mourning doves and black-capped chickadees make the occasional appearance, but it’s basically sparrow-world out there. A couple of days …
Wednesday Wings: Noisy Neighbors
For the past few weeks, several times a day, I have been forced to quickly abandon whatever I’m doing in the house and run outside. No, it’s not an earthquake. We have (at least) four merlins playing in the sky above my house, all calling me with their continual ‘kee kee kee.’ …
Wednesday Wings: Ferruginous Five
Have you ever been so astonished by a bird sighting that your brain shuts down? No synapses firing, just a blank white void where your bird identification skills should be? It’s most disconcerting, I can tell you. One blisteringly hot prairie day earlier this month, my husband and I took …
Wednesday Wings: Tree Tops
At the back of our yard, we have a cluster of four fully mature white spruce trees – my own little boreal forest. These trees are about 50 feet high, and not surprisingly, a favorite perch of many birds. I know I’ve got a ruby-crowned kinglet in the back yard …
Wednesday Wings: A Rough(ie) Trip
The amount of birding I have done this month is embarrassing. Between our continually crappy weather and the fact I have been designing a 100+ page website, we made one whole trip. But it was a good one! About an hour’s drive south of the city there is a large Ducks …
Wednesday Wings: A True Prairie Hawk
Wednesday Wings: Osprey
Not all fishing trips are successful. This fish-less osprey is drying his wings in the wind after a failed attempt. Taken in Jonathan Dickinson State Park, Florida February 2010.
Hug A Vulture Today
Sept 5 is the first International Vulture Awareness Day. What does that have to do with birdwatching in Canada, you ask? Although most people are unaware of it, Canada does have a resident vulture species. Turkey vultures have been expanding their range northward in the last few years, and can …