Winter Oddities

Last week I went out for a walk one morning before we were about to get our second snow storm in less than a week here in Toronto.  That's a whole lot of nothing to people in other regions but here in T.O. that can mean chaos.  Anyway, I took advantage of the cold dry morning before the weather turned bad.

I hit a lake park just to look around.  I was hoping for a random snowy owl sighting but that didn't happen.  Also the water was frozen over in the marina and pond areas so duck sightings were further out than I liked (I enjoy seeing and hearing the long-tailed ducks at this time of year).

It was a lot of cardinals and chickadees through my walk and not much else.  I like both those species but being down by the lake, I was really hoping for something different.

The birding Gods must have heard my silent wishing because suddenly this appeared in a tree right in front of me, maybe 12 ft from the ground.

A juvenile black-crowned night heron!

Then about 100 ft over I found a second night heron.

Black-crowned night herons just weren't on my birding radar for a walk in mid-February.  I left the park pleasantly surprised, heading for home as that thing called work was going to start for me in a couple hours.

I think about the last couple months and my winter outings.  This hasn't been my first outing with some "winter oddities".

On New Year's Day, Angie and I were out for a morning and chanced upon a grey catbird.  We were floored to see this bird.  Another just not on the radar.

A couple weeks later I was out for a walk near home and saw 3 common grackles.  I knew one was in this woodlot as I had seen it in December but now there were more.

As I waited for a moment to take a decent photo through the bush, 2 red-winged blackbirds flew overhead.  

Grackles and red-winged blackbirds aren't as surprising to see here as the other species above but I am still not used to seeing them in mid-winter.

There's a male eastern towhee overwintering near us and I have tried for it a couple times but haven't been successful.  Two winters prior I saw a female in the same park.  I remember hearing it long before I found it and was pretty stoked at my find.

Another park not too far from us there's an eastern meadowlark overwintering.  I tried for this bird twice and was not successful.  I abandoned going again because of what I have heard about how some photographers are conducting themselves.  Big long lenses yet still encroaching on the bird's space.  The numbers of people gathering to see this bird deters me.  Pandemic or not, I will pass.  I know not everyone going to see the bird and/or get photos is "trouble" but I'm more recluse than usual.  I'm fatigued through this second wave of covid and do everything I can to take my mind away for a while, that means having a stress free outing in the wild world.

Here's one more winter oddity right here at home.  A white-throated sparrow.  We see WTSP throughout the winter in most of the parks we visit but to have one with us all winter in our backyard is not a normal thing.  I see him almost daily and if I cannot spot him, I can usually hear him singing every morning.  He's my happy bird.  If you have followed my blogs over the years, you might have realized that I have a fondness for the white-throated sparrow.

So what about you, my "reader friend", are you going out?  Are you finding little winter surprises?

Update before I start posting this blog link throughout social media, I finally spotted that eastern towhee overwintering in a park just down the road from us.  Hooray!