Birding in Canada

Last month Allison and I went on holiday to Canada. We had a lovely time visiting friends and relatives in Manitoba and Ontario, saw the Northern Lights (a first-time sighting for me, and they were spectacular) — and I had the chance to get some birding in. 

Birding in another country is always fun because it offers the (always exciting) chance to see birds I wouldn’t see at home. Birding on another continent takes it to another level! 

That said, I got a good spot in before we even took off from Heathrow Airport. Glancing out of the window as the plane taxied towards the runway, I saw a female Kestrel hovering over the grass, mere yards from the tarmac. 

In rural Manitoba I managed some good sightings, including a couple of lifers like White-crowned Sparrows and a lovely-looking Eastern Bluebird in addition to the birds I’ve seen there on previous trips — Blue Jays, Dark-eyed Juncos, American Crows and many, many Canada Geese. Most impressive was a Bald Eagle soaring overhead. My first thought was: “surely not?” — but as it turns out, it’s well within their range, and what else could it have possibly been? Another lifer!

To Ontario next, for a few relaxing days at the cottage in Muskoka. I was happy enough with the Common Loons on the lake (it doesn’t feel like a trip to the cottage without a loon sighting), but a family of swans (two adults and a cygnet) added another new species to my life list — they were Trumpeter Swans, a species native to North America. My Canadian field guide (DK’s Birds of Canada, published in 2005) suggested that Ontario is not in their range, but there has been a rewilding project involving these birds in the past few years in the Georgian Bay area. One of them even had a visible tag number — L55, for the record. Also seen was a Golden Eagle overhead — again, I was sceptical at first, but that was what it was. Size aside, you can tell by the primary feathers sticking out as it soars (not that I’d ever seen one before, but years of studying field guides has its rewards). 

In Toronto, I spent a few hours walking around High Park. Located to the west of the downtown area, High Park is Toronto’s largest public park and has an outdoor theatre, a zoo, various sporting facilities, a museum and a few hiking trails. 

It’s also great for birding. My walk around there yielded a total of 17 species — some of them European imports like House Sparrows and Mallards, but most of them native North American birds like Black-capped Chickadees, Dark-Eyed Juncos (lots of those), a couple of Hermit Thrushes and — as in Manitoba — a lone Blue Jay.

Best of all, though, was the fact that the Hawk Watch was going on atop the appropriately-named Hawk Hill, just north of the Grenadier Restaurant which was where I had an excellent lunch. The Hawk Watch is the observation of migrating birds of prey takes place in every day in High Park throughout autumn — Toronto being on most birds’ migration routes south (birds heading south tend to follow the shoreline when they get to Lake Ontario), and the hill in the middle of High Park being an ideal spot from which to watch them. It’s one of very few raptor monitoring sites to be located in an urban environment. 

The friendly volunteers were happy to admit this foreigner into their midst and point out sightings that I’d other wise have missed: Sharp-shinned and Red-tailed Hawks, two-dozen Turkey Vultures and — repeating the Manitoba experience — a couple of Bald Eagles. There was also a Red-bellied Woodpecker that I would otherwise have had no chance of identifying. 

Bird-related chat centres upon plans to rename any species that got named after an eighteenth- or nineteenth-century naturalist, a big project that’s not without its detractors; there are those who still aren’t happy with the Grey (or is it Gray?) Jay being officially renamed the Canada Jay back in 2018 (either way, I’ve yet to see one of these). Commenting on how many House Sparrows I’d seen, I mentioned that they were in decline back home — and was told that I was welcome to take some home with me!

After leaving the Hawk Watch people, I  spotted a very small bird, in the restaurant car park no less. It looked like a Goldcrest but was in fact my first-ever Golden-crowned Kinglet, a close relative of our Goldcrest and one of the smallest passserines in North America. 

All in all, my Canadian holiday yielded a total of thirty species, of which eight were lifers. 

Birds of East Finchley

Recent walks around the suburb I call home have resulted in the sighting of 14 different bird species. Some are ones that you see every day around here, like Carrion Crows, Starlings and Feral Pigeons; if you’re walking to the Tube station, you can’t miss those. But by taking your time and looking up, there’s so much more. 

Overhead, the screeching can only mean one thing – Ring-necked Parakeets. These very distinctive birds, whose introduction to Britain has been the subject of several urban legends as colourful as the birds themselves, are very much a permanent fixture of the modern London bird scene. They, and the Starlings, are by far the most common visitors to the bird feeder in my front garden — although since I started putting out nyjer seeds on the feeder in my front garden, the Goldfinches are giving them a run for their money!  

Also seen flying overhead have been a few Jackdaws, who I have not seen on my home patch since January, and Black-headed Gulls, much more frequent and a misnamed bird if ever there was one.

On the bridge over the Tube line, I heard and then saw a Robin in a tree on the verge. Birdsong is not my strong suit but it’s got better over the years, and Robins are now among those I can readily identify by sound alone. They’re also among the earliest risers, in addition to which they sing all year round. Not much further along was a Great Tit, while looking up I saw about twenty Starlings perched on the roof of a tower block. 

Over in Cherry Tree Wood, the local park across the High Road from the station, it’s been a case of plenty of birdsong but not many bird sightings on my walks there of late. I can hear the Blue Tits but I’ve only seen one in a tree just outside the park itself. Less elusive were some ground-feeding Woodpigeons and Magpies, and a Carrion Crow loitering on the fence by the children’s play area. 

One bird that I’d not seen for several months (not in East Finchley at any rate) was the House Sparrow. A couple of days ago, though, I did. One male, not far from a row of terraced houses where I know there’s a breeding colony, and as such it’s rather noisy, and the sparrows much more visible, in the spring. 

Another bird I see on an infrequent basis in East Finchley is the Dunnock. The day before yesterday, though, I was in luck — timing is so often everything when it comes to birding, and I saw one flitting on a bench just around the corner from the Windsor Castle pub, not far from home. 

Refer to other blog...

Dear followers,

First of all, sorry about the lack of recent postings. Please be advised that in the interests of keeping all my blog postings on one page, I will from now on be posting all bird-related thoughts on my 'blog about everything else', a.k.a. Nick Young's World.

The link is below. The latest post (as of today) is about seeing a goldcrest in the middle of the City of London:

http://nick-young.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks for reading!

Nick

Birdwatching among the scultures

Last Thursday I took the day off work to go out to the Henry Moore Foundation in rural Hertfordshire with relatives who were over from Canada. It’s worth a visit even if, like me, you think art might not be your thing – because the sculptures that are on display in the grounds of the farmhouse where the Moores moved to during the war are truly breathtaking.

Naturally, I took my binoculars to see what I could see. There were Robins in the hedgerows, a fleetingly-glimpsed House Sparrow, and plenty of Rooks in the field with the sheep. There’s a bird table in the garden by the visitors’ centre where I saw a pair of Great Tits.

Sighting of the day, though, was a Treecreeper making its way up a tree next to one of the barns that Moore converted into a studio. I’m not sure when I last saw one of those – I’ve checked my notes and I am pretty sure they’ve eluded me in Coldfall Wood. Now that was worth taking the binoculars for.

Watch out, there's a Jay about

If you’ve heard a harsh screech on the streets of East Finchley recently, you may have been listening to a Jay. According to several correspondents, there are a lot of them about.

Smaller than a woodpigeon, the Jay has a pinkish-fawn body, a distinctive black ‘moustache’, a black tail and white and blue patches on its wings. Despite being the most colourful members of the crow family, Jays are more often heard than seen as they are secretive birds. However, there have been sightings on streets and in gardens recently as nesting pairs have been busy gathering materials.

Although they are woodland birds (Coldfall Wood is an excellent place to see them), numbers in the suburbs have risen in recent years – and as that photo on the back page of the February edition of The Archer showed, East Finchley is nothing if not tree-lined!

Jays are best known for eating acorns, which they store in the autumn so they can eat them all year round. However, they also eat insects, beetles and even the eggs and nestlings of smaller birds – something for which they are considerably less notorious than their cousins the Magpies. As such, they may well have a negative impact on smaller birds as they will be looking for more food with which to feed their young at this time of year – although I have been told by a fellow-resident who’s had some in her garden that Jays themselves can be victims to persistent Carrion Crows in this regard.

Tuscan interlude

Last week I went on holiday to Tuscany with my wife and mother-in-law. We had a blast – I can’t recommend Tuscany highly enough as a holiday destination!

On the bird-front, I heard more than I saw – we were staying in a hilltop village called Panzano which is about half-way between Florence and Siena on the 222 ‘Chianti’ route.

I didn’t take my binoculars as we had to adhere to Ryanair's baggage weight allowances, but I did see quite a few birds on my walks around the village – lots of Tree Sparrows (recognisable by their brown caps), some Starlings, Blackbirds, Collard Doves, Woodpigeons, Magpies, Jackdaws and at one point I swear blind I saw a Buzzard circling over the fields looking for rabbits.

There were also plenty of evidence of nests! Most of the buildings in Panzano are pretty old so there are lots of cracks in the walls that birds seemed to be flying in and out of all the time.

I didn’t get many chances to take photos but here’s what I did manage.

.

 Starling.

A bird was flying in and out of this crack in the wall but it was so quick I couldn't identify it.

 Male Blackbird.

 Collard Dove.

Not your usual venue

Recently, I opted for a more unusual birdwatching venue in East Finchley.

The future of Stanley Road Playing Fields may be an ongoing cause for concern, but with the land itself fenced off I wondered which birds I would be able to see on the field from the footpath that runs between the playing fields and the local primary school.

The field backs onto a street called Leslie Road, where Sparrowhawks have been seen recently. A photo of one even made it onto the back page of this month’s edition of the local paper (I wrote the article although I wasn’t credited for it; I cannot and do not claim credit for the headline).

I wasn’t so lucky. My favourite sighting was that of a Carrion Crow perched on top of a disused floodlight pylon, surveying the landscape. He even stayed there for long enough to allow me to photograph him. Magpies were busy scavenging across the playing field itself, as were a few Rooks.

I could hear but not see a Blackbird. I think I’m getting better at identifying bird calls.

However, most of the birding action was to be seen on the edges of the field – just like the hedgerows at the sides of fields in the countryside! There were three types of tit in the bushes, and I also spotted a Dunnock and a Robin. A very small flock of Starlings (is five enough for a flock?) flew overheard.

On the non-avian front, I also managed to see three Orange-tip butterflies.

Bird notes from Friday 6^th April 2012:

Carrion Crow 2

Rook 3

Magpie 2

Blue Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Starling 5

Robin

Dunnock

Great Tit