Category Archives: birds

  Pygmy Owls are altitudinal migrants: high country in the warm months; valley bottoms in the cold months. Although seen, the Pygmy Owl has not been as common this winter as some other years. It may be that this year’s … Continue reading →

  The Ruffed Grouse that visit my yard have long been a staple of my observing, and so is their consistent behaviour: It is a ground-foraging bird. Even with snow, grouse find clearings under trees. In a dozen years of … Continue reading →

  The rowan trees (mountain ash) remain heavily loaded with berries. Often by this time of year, many trees are depleted and birds have spread their seeds widely. A few rowan berries are being eaten by robins, but the many … Continue reading →

  The Great Blue Heron is with us year round. It eats almost anything it can swallow: fish, voles, frogs. But how does it find food in the winter when frogs are hibernating, voles are under snow, and fish are … Continue reading →

  On Saturday, I watched three flying raptors. The closest and most difficult to record, was a falcon: a female kestrel as it left its perch. While I saw four Red-tailed Hawks, this soaring one was the only one that … Continue reading →

  Finches crave salt. To satisfy this, mixed flocks of hundreds of them will alight on salted winter roads and feast. There is, of course, a problem with this: traffic. Indeed, some truckers refer to them as grill birds, owing … Continue reading →

  What is a resting grub going to do to protect itself when it merely wishes to sleep through the winter inside an old tree? Apparently, nothing. When the Pileated Woodpecker finds you, it’s lights out. A female Pileated Woodpecker … Continue reading →

  Just goldeneye ducks. A jaunt began with a female goldeneye expressing (what looks like) joie de vivre. It ended with two male Barrow’s Goldeneyes leaving blue wakes across golden waters.