Category: UNS Birding Blog
-
Canada’s Snowbirds Are Heading South!
Back in December, some rural parts of the province were treated to flocks of Snow Buntings. These birds of open country feed in fields and along roadsides where they will scatter as cars approach, often spooking the driver who wonders if they all made it safely out of the way. Fields where corn has been…
-
Winter Vacation
While many Canadians would prefer to be swimming in the tropics right about now, who would have thought that some birds consider the icy waters of Lake Ontario a great place to spend the winter. For them our climate is just ducky. Diving ducks such as scoters, scaup, goldeneye and mergansers are right at home…
-
Delightful Winter Visitors
Ontario residents are starting to notice redpolls in their travels. These Chickadee-sized songbirds from the north are winter visitors that head south in years when the seed crop on birches is poor. They are being seen in small flocks and occasionally larger ones with dozens of birds but have yet to appear widely. Named for…
-
A GOOD YEAR… for birds
The year of 2020 certainly hasn’t contained the word good due to COVID. If you enjoy watching birds it has been an incredibly good year with sightings of many different species over the spring and summer months, and the coming winter season is looking to be just as good. The most recent reports of new…
-
South American Visitor
It is every birder’s dream to one day find something special. That happened recently north of Whitby when a small songbird from South America showed up along a walking trail. This Variegated Flycatcher is found on the other end of the world but got its migratory wires crossed, heading thousands of kilometres out of range.…
-
Sex, Hiking and COVID-19
It may be an urban myth, but there’s wide-spread belief that during or in the aftermath of crises, such as the 2003 blackout, 9/11 and the like, people turned to, well sex. Given our current situation, there’s no reason to believe that this urban myth won’t live on. Since one of the only other activities…
-
Snowbirds
You know winter can’t be far off when the Snow Buntings show up. These Arctic travellers are the true Canadian snowbirds but their idea of a winter getaway means heading into southern Ontario, not Florida. Flocks have already made an appearance in fields, along roadsides and shorelines. Some will head further south while others will…
-
A NEW VISITOR!
Look who has joined the backyard dining table, the Evening Grosbeak! Many customers have told us that they are thrilled to see the addition of this Grosbeak feeding at their sunflower feeders. I only had the pleasure of observing this beautiful bird at a family cottage in Muskoka over 30 years ago, so this is…
-
Evening Greedy
Imagine the surprise experienced by some backyard birders in recent days when their feeders were inundated by a flock of Evening Grosbeaks. For most this was a first. In fact, it was a scene not experienced in parts of the GTA for decades. These beauties have left the north woods looking for cones on evergreens…
-
Little Brown Birds
A family of birds that tends to rank lower on our list of favourites is the sparrows. These small songbirds don’t attract much attention but some species have characteristics that make them stand out. The song of the White-throated Sparrow is arguably one of the sweetest sounds in nature and is synonymous with the north…