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What was happening at the FWG in February 2008
29 February — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan Red-tailed hawks: yes, hawks, plural. I saw an adult red-tailed hawk on the farm as I drove through on my way to the FWG, and 15 minutes later saw a first-year bird (photos below) in the Ash Woods. It had just caught a red squirrel (which I am relieved to say, I did not witness). The hawk was, of course, relentlessly pursued by crows, and I watched it land in three different places over the course of about 25 minutes. Each time it flew, it had the squirrel securely gripped in its talons. I felt so sorry for the squirrel (you know how much I love these feisty little creatures), but on the other hand, I was glad this magnificent bird had found something to eat. The squirrel is not really visible under the feathers of the hawk, but it is definitely there.
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28 February — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan
Yesterday a gorgeous Peregrine Falcon flew low over the Ash Woods, circled around them for a few seconds, then began climbing higher and higher before finally flying off toward the locks. The bird was so close and the lighting so good that I had a perfect view of that distinctive broad moustache, so much wider and bigger than on any of the other falcons. A cold day like today has the birds huddling in cover, rather than sitting long in the open. House Finches, Mourning Doves, Cardinals, etc., were all hidden in the conifers or in the dense tangles of grapevine covered trees, making quick forays to the two feeders but not lingering. Only the chickadees seem not to care about temperature! I've been enjoying crow watching, interested to see what these corvids find to eat (photo, above right). They are true omnivores; in recent days, I've seen them eating crabapples (of which there are still many, mostly ones that are unpalatable to birds except as a last resort), bird seed, voles, bread put down for the ducks, occasionally dog poop, seeds of manitoba maples, and any little scrap of food that might have been dropped by a careless human. Good pickings around the toboggan hill where the kids drop bits of cookies and other food. As for the farm foxes, all I can say about them is that they are doing very, very well — so well that I am getting worried! But more on that another day.
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21 February — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan Not a lot of activity around the FWG these days, although the chickadees, house finches and cardinals are all singing their little hearts out now! I've seen the red-tailed hawk hunting the fields at the farm, usually pursued by a gang of crows, but haven't seen it at FWG lately (not as lucky as Gillian with her great shot of it on the barn! [see 8 February, below]). Other birds seen recently include a lone robin, starlings, white-breasted nuthatches (2 together in the Ash Woods), downy and hairy woodpeckers, sharp-shinned hawk, dark-eyed juncos, house sparrows, crows, raven (heard in the distance).
There are three foxes around CEF at the moment, and they are hunting far and wide. Yesterday, the fields were cris-crossed with myriad fox tracks, one leading straight to a spot where a mallard had been killed and consumed. At one point I watched one of the foxes, having eaten something, possibly a vole, roll over and over in the snow, the way Tasha, my dog, does. He (or she) got up and trotted a short distance then did it all over again.
Earlier, I'd watched one fox intently hunting suddenly come across the path of another fox, also hunting (photo above). After a stand-off, one of them turned and went back the way it had come. The photos are the pits, because I was a long way off and these are severely cropped to get a close up image. The mallards, fewer today thank goodness (perhaps only 44–50 compared with over 150 in recent days), were being fed grain by one of the regular duck feeders, rather than the awful white bread of previous days. They certainly appreciated it, and I can certainly understand the lure of feeding them... although I don't do it.
And here's a photo (below) of someone else who likes sumac, only in this case, the other end.
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A few days ago I heard a very loud gnawing sound coming from the sumacs
near the pond. Investigation revealed a meadow vole having a good nosh
on a sumac stem. When I thought to get my camera out and try for a
photo, it vanished, but you can see the hole, the chewed stem and some
scat (the dark bits in the tunnel). 
8 February — photos and notes from Gillian Mastromatteo It was snowing lightly when I arrived at the FWG late in the morning, but the weather didn't dampen the enthusiasm of the birds feeding at the backyard garden feeder. Numerous house finches and house sparrows were chirping and singing away, and I observed five cardinals - three males (one in photo below) and two females - perching in nearby trees and shrubs waiting for their turn at the feeder.
Several fluffed-up mourning doves, energetic chickadees, and a pair of Downy Woodpeckers were also present in the vicinty. Four red squirrels were also foraging for seed on the ground, and one was completely undeterred by the baffles placed below the feeder to render it "squirrel-proof" (above right)! After watching the cheerful avian activity in the BYG I took a walk around the grounds. A large number of mallards were swimming in the pond or resting on the ice, and when I searched among them for any different species I came up with two American Black Ducks.
The feeder in the woodlot was another center of activity. In addition to the house finches, cardinals and chickadees I found a single White-breasted Nuthatch and a couple of juncos (below left) — all of the common slate-coloured variety — coming to the feeder as well. My most exciting discovery, however, was the Red-tailed Hawk sitting on top of the barn (below right). He perched there calmly for at least half an hour, surveying his surroundings with seemingly little interest, although he definitely kept looking down at me as I slowly approached the barn. Although I had seen red-tailed hawks flying overhead at the FWG before, this was the first time I had found one perching here. It was a great way to end my walk!
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7 February — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan Have we had enough snow yet? It is definitely beautiful but I think I'll be ready for spring soon. Just think, in about 4 1/2 weeks we'll probably be looking at red-winged blackbirds. Now, that is a cheery, spring thought to hold on to!  The pond was full of mallards again. This morning I counted at least 140. Fifteen or so were in the Ravine and when I stopped to look, it seemed to spook them because they all lifted up and dropped down into the pond, where once amongst the multitudes they acted quite unconcerned. Apart from that blip, the mallards are certainly not frightened of people or dogs, and today I discovered one reason why that might be. People are feeding them! I stood above the pond and watched as one fellow tore up three loaves of bread, to the delight of the mallards. Another couple stopped and I heard them say that they usually bring a few slices of bread along to feed the ducks. I was going to say something, but I didn't. I hadn't the heart for an argument, and besides I remembered all the happy times I spent when much younger feeding ducks. When I lived in Santa Cruz, California (back in the distant past when I was younger), we used to go as a family, with loaves of bread and spend a peaceful time feeding all the ducks (and gulls), and those times still bring back happy memories. I know the pleasure this brings to people. There are many arguments against feeding ducks bread, but I don't think the ones in our pond are being overfed by the stuff. More of a concern at the moment is whether we want the FWG mallard gang to become accustomed to being fed. On the other hand, I know people feed them all summer long in the Arboretum, so, whether they get fed here or in the Arboretum. After the duck feeders left, I squatted down and watched the mallards, becoming so absorbed that time seemed to stand still, and it was with a great start that I heard an apologetic little cough and looked up to see a young man wanting to get by! Fifteen minutes had passed, to my surprise. As some of you know, I like finding the extraordinary in the common. This is why I like grey squirrels, mallards, crows. We so easily dismiss the commonplace and forget to really look, turning instead to the rare, the colourful, the unusual. While looking at the mallards I noticed at least one hybrid mallard x black duck, (and there must be more there), along with a couple of black ducks. Sorry for another photo of the mallard bill, but I do think it is neat to see those serrations along the bill, looking so much like "teeth," and this photo shows them more clearly than the last.  Anyway, there was a lot of bird activity around the FWG in addition to the mallards. Eight male cardinals, 6 of them together at one spot with one female, were a beautiful sight in the snow. Downy woodpecker, mourning dove, dark-eyed junco, white-breasted nuthatch, house finches (still singing their little hearts out), crows and chickadees (of course), as well as the female first year cooper's hawk. She was sitting in an oak tree in the Ash woods, quite high up, and about 40 feet from the feeder. A couple of black squirrels ran along a branch just beneath her, and the feeder was full of birds, so I am guessing she'd eaten recently and was having a post-prandial rest. But perhaps not!
I spent some time watching a white-breasted nuthatch, which I heard long before I saw, giving a series of soft little 'clucking' sounds. It took awhile to locate him and when I did, I noticed he was sitting facing down the trunk, with his head and bill pointed up in that characteristic nuthatch position. Don't you think these little Sittidae are neat birds? I do. If you watch them for any time you'll notice them industriously storing seeds and nuts in various locations, provisions against harder times. Their habit of hacking away at wedged nuts and other food gave rise to the common name of nuthatch, 'hatch' being thought a variant of the Old English for 'hack' or hacking'. Little Nut hacker! Ever wonder why nuthatches spend so much time running DOWN the tree (although they do run up it too)? Me, too, but nobody seems to know exactly why this behaviour evolved, although of course there are plenty of theories. One being that it may give the bird an advantage over other birds which use tree trunks for foraging, by allowing them to see invertebrates visible only to those heading down. |
1 February — photos and notes from Christine Hanrahan FWG in the snowstorm I arrived at FWG this morning just as the snow began to fall. Within minutes it was coming down heavily, so photographic opportunities were not great. I spent a lot of time standing around under trees waiting to see what might turn up in the way of interesting birds. Well, all birds are interesting, but I mean something apart from the usual species. I was hoping for the brown creeper again, or a pileated woodpecker, or some redpolls, or .... but none of those made an appearance. While waiting, I did notice several chickadees busily pulling the seedheads off of burdock plants, flying to nearby branches, and feeding. They held the seed head tight to the branch with one foot, while rapidly pulling out the seeds and eating any they found. They did this for about 5 minutes. Later, I noticed that juncos (6 of them) were again making good use of the various brushpiles around the FWG. Last fall, I made 4 large brushpiles by consolidating three or 4 small ones, at different locations, and they have been well used. One of them has a regular runway entering into it, and another holds a stash of cones! I know that sometimes people question whether brushpiles are used by wildlife, but in my experience they are invaluable. Years ago at FWG, we had a very late song sparrow which stuck around into December. It survived at least until the snows came by spending much time in a large brushpile, darting out to feed on seeds of lamb's quarters of which, at the time, there was a large stand. There was little activity around the BYG while I was there so I suspected a hawk was around. And sure enough, after some looking, I found a first year cooper's hawk. I wasn't able to get very good photos as the snow was quickly coating the camera lens. This was the best I could do.  In addition to the cooper's hawk, other birds included
It was, in other words, relatively quiet in terms of numbers of birds, but in terms of sound, it was quite lively as the house finches were singing away, as they have been for the last few weeks. Even a cardinal was trying to get into the act, despite the cold and snow, by giving a very distorted attempt at a song. It sounded off-key and wobbly, but was still (faintly) recognizable as that 'cheer-cheer-cheer' song (of which there can be many variations).
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Has anyone seen the "white-winged" crows around the farm? A couple of
them have been around for several years now. I saw one today but could
not get a photo. Here is a shot from last year, just for an idea of
what they look like. This one has quite a pronounced
white patch, but the other one (not shown) has only a slender band of
white on the wings.