Fox Sparrows and Wood Thrushes

My photo

In a recent post I showed this picture and identified the bird in the shadows as a Wood Thrush. I belong to the local birding forum and can learn and share with others in the group. Another birder and photographer, Heidi Staniforth, took a picture of the same bird later in the week when it ventured out into the open. The colours of the Wood Thrush and the Fox Sparrow are similar, but their markings are different. Here is a quote from the forum from one of our local experts.

Hi Ruth,

Definite Fox Sparrow in your shot, there.

Note the big triangular "sub-moustacial" marks bordering the throat. The only two birds in Ontario so marked are Song Sparrow and Fox Sparrow. And this bird, being quite reddish (I think?) must be the latter. What Heidi said about the large central spot, and the triangular shape of the spots, is also true - just a little harder to see in your photo that hers, but you can at least tell that they're not the nice rounded 'blobs' that a thrush would have.

Anyway, I know we're all up with spring fever and everything, but give those Wood Thrushes a break - it's a long way from Central America! We should begin to see them, at last, in about a month. And then - let the fun begin!

Later,
Peter C.

It is nice to know people who are in the know!!

Heidi's Photo of a Fox Sparrow

Friday Flowers: First Day of Spring

I stopped by the municipal gardens at the entrance to the city this week to look for my first spring flower. I have never seen a snowdrop and hoped to find one poking through some lingering spring snow. (Note to self:- plant snowdrop bulbs this fall)

We have had several very warm March days, but snow is still present in sheltered areas which do not receive as much direct sunlight. The gardens are mainly on the shady side of the road and were quite hard and frozen in spite of the above zero temperatures.

I looked closely and saw many green shoots starting to grow through the ground as they reached for the sunlight. Crocuses, daffodils, hyacinths and peonies were among the first plants to welcome the spring season even though they will not be blooming for a little while.

I went looking for a flower and found several birds instead feeding on last season's berries and seeds. These Cedar Waxwings were busy eating winter frozen crabapples from a tree. Robins and Mourning Doves gleaned the same fruit from the ground below.

My garden has nothing showing except for the first red knobs of rhubarb. As soon as the ground is tillable, I will plant some greens like arugula and chard. They grow well in cooler spring and fall temperatures and are not as inclined to go to seed as they do in summer weather.

What a busy, growing time of year!

Winter's Last Sunset

Tomorrow is the vernal equinox. While that may not be a big deal in equatorial parts of the earth, in the north it marks the end of the season of long, dark nights. Our days will lengthen steadily for the next three months and nature will experience its annual rebirth. Tonight's sunset was lovely, and I am not sorry to see that winter is coming to an end.

"Harshness vanished. A sudden softness
has replaced the meadows' wintry grey.
Little rivulets of water changed
their singing accents. Tendernesses,

hesitantly, reach toward the earth
from space, and country lanes are showing
these unexpected subtle risings
that find expression in the empty trees."

Rainer Maria Rilke, Early Spring

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Purple Finches and More

We are now in the best birding season of the year when new birds are arriving daily and the trees still remain leaf bare. It will be another six weeks before foliage will block the view of of the treetops and while I love the fresh green leaves of May, they do hide a lot of bird activity. Today I drove through the country as I heard that Great Blue Herons were already nesting in a rookery a few kilometers from my husband's workplace. There were no herons around when I got there so I went to what has become a favourite spot for easy bird watching.

Guelph Lake Nature Centre was a beehive of activity as many children were participating in the March break day camp. I stood by the feeders but had little expectation of seeing anything unusual due to the noise and traffic of little feet. There were plenty of Chickadees, Pine Siskins and Tree Sparrows about as usual, but I noticed a bit of unfamiliar red high in a nearby tree.

I have looked diligently for Purple Finches and have only seen one group of females feeding on grass seeds near the river. I had never found the males with the "raspberry wash" colouring. Several males came to the feeders and were not frightened off by the children.

I have taken pictures of extra red House Finches at my feeders and hoped that they were Purple Finches. But the reds of the two birds are very different and I will not mistake them again.

There was another bird there today. I heard it before I found it as it remained deep in the brush, scratching for seeds in the ground.


Can you see the Wood Thrush between the fence rails? (click picture to enlarge) It was very well camouflaged. I caught a brief glimpse of the reddish brown colour and thought it was a Fox Sparrow at first. (It really was a Fox Sparrow. See this post for clarification.) This bird was quite intimidated by all the people around but I imagine it would sing its lovely song in the evening and morning when things were quiet.

Once again I proved the rule;- you don't necessarily find what you are looking for, but you always find something you are not expecting.

Pairing Off

We visited Lasalle Park in Burlington on the weekend and watched many water birds on Lake Ontario as they paired off for the mating season. The Trumpeter Swans were very noisy and their honking sounded like rush hour in New York City. Many swans were "dancing" with their partners, bobbing their heads up and down in perfect synchronization as they swam in the water. They would fly up into the air and land again in another spot, starting the same routine again.

The mating pairs will soon be flying to northern Ontario to breed but many of the younger birds will remain in this bay for the summer. Trumpeter Swans are elegant, beautiful birds and the large yellow tags do nothing for their looks. Volunteers arrived in the early afternoon to do the daily count of the flock and the tags provide valuable information about their migration patterns.

This handsome pair stood together on the beach. The closeup below shows which bird is the cob (♂) and which is the pen (♀). "Ladies left" is the rule for banding and the males are banded on the right leg. I don't know of any other way for a casual observer to determine the sex of these swans.

The swans were not the only birds who had paired up.

The Ring-billed Gulls were plentiful and made almost as much noise as the swans. Most of our winter gulls have moved on and these common birds along with the Herring Gulls accounted for the majority of the seagulls on the bay.

These Black Ducks paddled around the docks with pairs of diving ducks and Mallards.

Just after we left the park, a group of about fifty Tundra Swans landed for a rest. I have never seen these birds and they do not stay around for long on their migration route. It is impossible to predict where they will be at a particular time. But that is the fun of birding. You can be certain you will not find everything you are looking for, but you can be just as certain that you will see something you did not expect.

Weekend Birding

I was out with Sam on Saturday (see his blog post here) and my husband on Sunday enjoying fine, spring-like weather and clear, sunny skies. I counted 45 bird species and am sure to have forgotten one or two. Many more birds are around, but I just didn't see them or identify them over these two days. Every week of the year, a different mix of birds is present.

Red-winged Blackbird

There are always coming, going and "passing through" species. The birds in green letters will be going very soon and the ones in red are newly arrived and will be stopping over for the season. The others are here year round, even though many of them, including Crows, Hawks, and Blue Jays do migrate and the birds we have in the winter may be different than the ones we see in the spring and summer. Here is my weekend list:

American Goldfinch, Pine Siskin, Common Redpoll, House Finch, Red-tailed Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Turkey Vulture, Trumpeter Swan, Canada Goose, Mallard Duck, Herring Gull, Ring-billed Gull, American Crow

Pine Siskin

Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal, Black-capped Chickadee, White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Winter Wren, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker

Greater Scaup, male and female

Redhead Duck, Greater Scaup, Goldeneye, Bufflehead, Black Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Common Merganser, American Coot, Robin, Kildeer, Red-winged Blackbird, Cowbird, Purple Grackle, Starling, House Sparrow, Mute Swan, Rock Dove (non-native species), Horned Lark, Tree Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow Song Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, Mourning Dove

What an interesting season. I wonder if I will equal or surpass this two day bird count again this year?

Friday Flowers: Honourable Mention

Wendy of Caregiving is not for Wimps recently featured her poinsettia plant which is flourishing indoors for a second season. She placed it outdoors last summer, brought it in again in the fall and the plant is once again producing red bracts. I received the poinsettia pictured above last November from my co-workers following my surgery. It has done very well too and is producing new growth. Indoor air in the winter is dry and natural light is poor so I am amazed when plants do well in my house. Believe me, they get little pampering, just some water once a week.

My Christmas Cactus is also blooming again. It often is an "Easter Cactus" as well, but Easter is later this year than it was last year by almost a month. Again this is a plant that really looks after itself and survives even though I neglect it much of the time.


Needless to say, unless one purchases greenhouse blooms, there are none to be found around here in mid-March. Langdon Hall is a Country House Hotel and Spa near our home which is surrounded by extensive, well-kept grounds. It is the place to visit if you enjoy art deco elegance and the feel of a English country estate. The cuisine is top rate and the chefs use seasonal herbs and vegetables grown in the garden above. I looked around for any sign of flowers or spring growth and found none yet, but before long plants like chives and rhubarb will be poking new shoots out of the ground.

Speaking of English estates, blogger Cheryl of My Wildlife Sanctuary lives in England at a latitude far north of us here in southern Ontario. She is enjoying beautiful spring flowers in their ocean moderated climate making me quite envious! It is lovely that I can visit virtually to see her daffodils and snowdrops and other garden delights. Perhaps I will find a snowdrop around here in the next week.

I hope so!

In memory of Grandma Devins
who passed away 19 years ago today.
I think of her whenever I enjoy flowers and birds
and remember often her great interest in people
as well as the world around her.

Peek a Blue!

Clouds, fog, wind, rain, sleet, snow...

The weather has been less than inspiring so far this month.
A peek of blue is welcome even for just a few moments.

Streamers blow off the lake
bringing snow showers and flurries in their path...
here they are and there they go.

Snow falls behind the red barn but as I drive closer, it disappears.

Peek a BLUE, I see you...
Please get larger and stay a lot longer!

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