The Winter Kinglet at Halls Rd.

Early January, we went for a walk on a really pretty sunny Sunday. We decided to go to our old favourite haunt, that we loved so much, and with the hopes of seeing a lot of birds.

It was so bright and sunny, and right in the middle of our little hike, little flurried began to fall. They were sparkly and gorgeous, back lit by the brilliant sunlight. It was stunning!

There indeed were quite a few birds. Lots of nut hatches, and Downy woodpeckers, there were blue jays, and tons of Chickadees as usual, and Juncos and a couple sparrows. The woodpecker, a boy, actually made the move to come and eat out of the container of seeds we brought with us. I am assuming he was hungry, mainly because in the past, only the females have been brave enough to feed from our hands. That, and it has been maybe twice only in a 5 year period that a woodpecker has even come to our hands to feed.

We actually learned something new this day as well. John spotted a tiny bird hopping around in one of the pine trees. Upon c loser look at it, we were surprised to see it was a Golden Crowned Kinglet. We had no idea they stayed in Ontario during the winter. Once we got home, we were able to research and find out that they actually Prefer colder weather, and they travel further North in Summer, and for breeding.

Leucistic Black Capped Chickadee

Recently, during a visit to Lynde Shores, where the chickadees go insane feeding from your hand, we noticed an odd looking one. It had white spots in the dark areas of its head and face, pink legs and a bit of pink in its beak. I had heard of other birds and animals with pigment missing but couldn't quite recall the term for them. We went home and looked into it and remembered it is called "leucistic". This chickadee we saw though was not quite as extreme as other examples we viewed.

Quite an exciting find as they are not too common to see. I took some shots on 2 different days in a row. One was overcast so more difficult to get a shot, one was sunny.

Lottsa Birds Today!

Another partial day off before a late shift at a trade show my work participates in. Good time to hit Halls Rd. while the hoards of kids and birders are (hopefully) at school and work.
Sure enough, it takes a couple minutes, but the tons of chickadees and eventually the other birds, smell food and begin to appear. There were again, hundreds of bombing by your head chickadees. Then, the downy woodpecker shoots out of nowhere and is on John's hand.
I got some cool pics. One, a one second chance capture of one of the red squirrels as it climbed around on the tree in front of us. So cute!!!

Holy Cow It's a Downy Woodpecker!

John and I went to Halls Rd. in Whitby on Monday. I had a lieu day off work so it was nice to get to go when no weekend crowds were there.

At first, quiet and no animal or bird activity. Then, the Chickadees started appearing. There were suddenly tons of them back and forth, eating seeds from John's hand. His hand was getting sore from their sharp little feet lol!

Then, we heard a woodpecker. Next thing you know, a woodpecker swoops out of nowhere and lands on John's hand. He said wow, it is so soft compared to the little Chickadees. It was a female  Downy Woodpecker....so cute!!!

Besides the bird, we saw the most glorious rocks at the shoreline of Lake Ontario this day too. Holy crap, it looked like someone threw paint spatters on a few of them, the pattern and colours we saw! Gorgeous!